Preaching in Hitler's Shadow

Preaching in Hitler's Shadow

Author: Dean G. Stroud

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2013-10-25

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 0802869025

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What did German preachers opposed to Hitler say in their Sunday sermons? When the truth of Christ could cost a pastor his life, what words encouraged and challenged him and his congregation? This book answers those questions. Preaching in Hitler's Shadow begins with a fascinating look at Christian life inside the Third Reich, giving readers a real sense of the danger that pastors faced every time they went into the pulpit. Dean Stroud pays special attention to the role that language played in the battle over the German soul, pointing out the use of Christian language in opposition to Nazi rhetoric. The second part of the book presents thirteen well-translated sermons by various select preachers, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, and others not as well known but no less courageous. A running commentary offers cultural and historical insights, and each sermon is preceded by a short biography of the preacher.


Book Synopsis Preaching in Hitler's Shadow by : Dean G. Stroud

Download or read book Preaching in Hitler's Shadow written by Dean G. Stroud and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2013-10-25 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What did German preachers opposed to Hitler say in their Sunday sermons? When the truth of Christ could cost a pastor his life, what words encouraged and challenged him and his congregation? This book answers those questions. Preaching in Hitler's Shadow begins with a fascinating look at Christian life inside the Third Reich, giving readers a real sense of the danger that pastors faced every time they went into the pulpit. Dean Stroud pays special attention to the role that language played in the battle over the German soul, pointing out the use of Christian language in opposition to Nazi rhetoric. The second part of the book presents thirteen well-translated sermons by various select preachers, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, and others not as well known but no less courageous. A running commentary offers cultural and historical insights, and each sermon is preceded by a short biography of the preacher.


Preaching to Nazi Germany

Preaching to Nazi Germany

Author: William Skiles

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1978700644

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In Preaching to Nazi Germany, William Skiles argues that clergy expressed various messages that aimed to limit Nazi interference in church affairs and at times even to undermine the Nazi state and its leaders and policies.


Book Synopsis Preaching to Nazi Germany by : William Skiles

Download or read book Preaching to Nazi Germany written by William Skiles and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2023 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Preaching to Nazi Germany, William Skiles argues that clergy expressed various messages that aimed to limit Nazi interference in church affairs and at times even to undermine the Nazi state and its leaders and policies.


Preaching to Nazi Germany

Preaching to Nazi Germany

Author: William Stewart Skiles

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 563

ISBN-13:

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This dissertation examines sermons delivered by Confessing Church pastors in the Nazi dictatorship. The approach of most historians has focused on the history of the Christian institutions, its leaders, and its persecution by the Nazi regime, leaving the most elemental task of the pastor--that is, preaching--largely unexamined. The question left unaddressed is how well did Confessing pastors fare in articulating their views of the Nazi regime and the persecution of the Jews through their sermons? To answer this question, I analyzed 910 sermons by Confessing Church pastors, all delivered or disseminated between 1933 and the end of World War II in Europe. I argue that new trends in preaching popular among Confessing Church pastors discouraged deviation from the biblical text in sermons, and thus one result was few criticisms concerning German politics and society. Nevertheless, a minority of pastors criticized the Nazi regime and its leaders for their racial ideology and claims of "Aryan" superiority, and also for unjust persecutions against Christians. They condemned Nazism as a morally corrupt ideology in contradiction to Christianity. Further, I argue that these sermons provide mixed messages about Jews and Judaism. While on the one hand, the sermons express admiration for Judaism as a foundation for Christianity and Jews as spiritual cousins; on the other hand, the sermons express religious prejudice in the form of anti-Judaic tropes that corroborated the Nazi ideology that portrayed Jews and Judaism as inferior. In the final section of the dissertation I explore the ministries of German pastors of Jewish descent and argue that they not only experienced persecution from the Nazi state, but also from their own congregations. Nevertheless, the themes of their sermons are consistent with those found in those of their colleagues. My research demonstrates that the German churches were in fact places to offer criticism of the Nazi regime, which was often veiled through biblical imagery and metaphor. Yet the messages reveal criticism from a position of obedience and subservience to the state, and at the same time the expose a confused ambiguity about the Jews and Judaism and their relation to Christians in Nazi Germany.


Book Synopsis Preaching to Nazi Germany by : William Stewart Skiles

Download or read book Preaching to Nazi Germany written by William Stewart Skiles and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 563 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation examines sermons delivered by Confessing Church pastors in the Nazi dictatorship. The approach of most historians has focused on the history of the Christian institutions, its leaders, and its persecution by the Nazi regime, leaving the most elemental task of the pastor--that is, preaching--largely unexamined. The question left unaddressed is how well did Confessing pastors fare in articulating their views of the Nazi regime and the persecution of the Jews through their sermons? To answer this question, I analyzed 910 sermons by Confessing Church pastors, all delivered or disseminated between 1933 and the end of World War II in Europe. I argue that new trends in preaching popular among Confessing Church pastors discouraged deviation from the biblical text in sermons, and thus one result was few criticisms concerning German politics and society. Nevertheless, a minority of pastors criticized the Nazi regime and its leaders for their racial ideology and claims of "Aryan" superiority, and also for unjust persecutions against Christians. They condemned Nazism as a morally corrupt ideology in contradiction to Christianity. Further, I argue that these sermons provide mixed messages about Jews and Judaism. While on the one hand, the sermons express admiration for Judaism as a foundation for Christianity and Jews as spiritual cousins; on the other hand, the sermons express religious prejudice in the form of anti-Judaic tropes that corroborated the Nazi ideology that portrayed Jews and Judaism as inferior. In the final section of the dissertation I explore the ministries of German pastors of Jewish descent and argue that they not only experienced persecution from the Nazi state, but also from their own congregations. Nevertheless, the themes of their sermons are consistent with those found in those of their colleagues. My research demonstrates that the German churches were in fact places to offer criticism of the Nazi regime, which was often veiled through biblical imagery and metaphor. Yet the messages reveal criticism from a position of obedience and subservience to the state, and at the same time the expose a confused ambiguity about the Jews and Judaism and their relation to Christians in Nazi Germany.


Hitler's Cross

Hitler's Cross

Author: Erwin W. Lutzer

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Published: 2015-12-15

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 0802493300

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The story of Nazi Germany is one of conflict between two saviors and two crosses. “Deine Reich komme,” Hitler prayed publicly—“Thy Kingdom come.” But to whose kingdom was he referring? When Germany truly needed a savior, Adolf Hitler falsely assumed the role. He directed his countrymen to a cross, but he bent and hammered the true cross into a horrific substitute: a swastika. Where was the church through all of this? With a few exceptions, the German church looked away while Hitler inflicted his “Final Solution” upon the Jews. Hitler’s Cross is a chilling historical account of what happens when evil meets a silent, shrinking church, and an intriguing and convicting exposé of modern America’s own hidden crosses. Erwin W. Lutzer extracts a number of lessons from this dark chapter in world history, such as: The dangers of confusing church and state The role of God in human tragedy The parameters of Satan's freedom Hitler's Cross is the story of a nation whose church forgot its call and discovered its failure way too late. It is a cautionary tale for every church and Christian to remember who the true King is.


Book Synopsis Hitler's Cross by : Erwin W. Lutzer

Download or read book Hitler's Cross written by Erwin W. Lutzer and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2015-12-15 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Nazi Germany is one of conflict between two saviors and two crosses. “Deine Reich komme,” Hitler prayed publicly—“Thy Kingdom come.” But to whose kingdom was he referring? When Germany truly needed a savior, Adolf Hitler falsely assumed the role. He directed his countrymen to a cross, but he bent and hammered the true cross into a horrific substitute: a swastika. Where was the church through all of this? With a few exceptions, the German church looked away while Hitler inflicted his “Final Solution” upon the Jews. Hitler’s Cross is a chilling historical account of what happens when evil meets a silent, shrinking church, and an intriguing and convicting exposé of modern America’s own hidden crosses. Erwin W. Lutzer extracts a number of lessons from this dark chapter in world history, such as: The dangers of confusing church and state The role of God in human tragedy The parameters of Satan's freedom Hitler's Cross is the story of a nation whose church forgot its call and discovered its failure way too late. It is a cautionary tale for every church and Christian to remember who the true King is.


Demonizing the Jews

Demonizing the Jews

Author: Christopher J. Probst

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 025300098X

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The acquiescence of the German Protestant churches in Nazi oppression and murder of Jews is well documented. In this book, Christopher J. Probst demonstrates that a significant number of German theologians and clergy made use of the 16th-century writings by Martin Luther on Jews and Judaism to reinforce the racial anti-semitism and religious anti-Judaism already present among Protestants. Focusing on key figures, Probst's study makes clear that a significant number of pastors, bishops, and theologians of varying theological and political persuasions employed Luther's texts with considerable effectiveness in campaigning for the creation of a "de-Judaized" form of Christianity. Probst shows that even the church most critical of Luther's anti-Jewish writings reaffirmed the anti-semitic stereotyping that helped justify early Nazi measures against the Jews.


Book Synopsis Demonizing the Jews by : Christopher J. Probst

Download or read book Demonizing the Jews written by Christopher J. Probst and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The acquiescence of the German Protestant churches in Nazi oppression and murder of Jews is well documented. In this book, Christopher J. Probst demonstrates that a significant number of German theologians and clergy made use of the 16th-century writings by Martin Luther on Jews and Judaism to reinforce the racial anti-semitism and religious anti-Judaism already present among Protestants. Focusing on key figures, Probst's study makes clear that a significant number of pastors, bishops, and theologians of varying theological and political persuasions employed Luther's texts with considerable effectiveness in campaigning for the creation of a "de-Judaized" form of Christianity. Probst shows that even the church most critical of Luther's anti-Jewish writings reaffirmed the anti-semitic stereotyping that helped justify early Nazi measures against the Jews.


Then They Came for Me

Then They Came for Me

Author: Matthew D Hockenos

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2018-09-18

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0465097871

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"First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out-Because I was not a Communist..." Few today recognize the name Martin Niemöller, though many know his famous confession. In Then They Came for Me, Matthew Hockenos traces Niemöller's evolution from a Nazi supporter to a determined opponent of Hitler, revealing him to be a more complicated figure than previously understood. Born into a traditionalist Prussian family, Niemöller welcomed Hitler's rise to power as an opportunity for national rebirth. Yet when the regime attempted to seize control of the Protestant Church, he helped lead the opposition and was soon arrested. After spending the war in concentration camps, Niemöller emerged a controversial figure: to his supporters he was a modern Luther, while his critics, including President Harry Truman, saw him as an unrepentant nationalist. A nuanced portrait of courage in the face of evil, Then They Came for Me puts the question to us today: What would I have done?


Book Synopsis Then They Came for Me by : Matthew D Hockenos

Download or read book Then They Came for Me written by Matthew D Hockenos and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out-Because I was not a Communist..." Few today recognize the name Martin Niemöller, though many know his famous confession. In Then They Came for Me, Matthew Hockenos traces Niemöller's evolution from a Nazi supporter to a determined opponent of Hitler, revealing him to be a more complicated figure than previously understood. Born into a traditionalist Prussian family, Niemöller welcomed Hitler's rise to power as an opportunity for national rebirth. Yet when the regime attempted to seize control of the Protestant Church, he helped lead the opposition and was soon arrested. After spending the war in concentration camps, Niemöller emerged a controversial figure: to his supporters he was a modern Luther, while his critics, including President Harry Truman, saw him as an unrepentant nationalist. A nuanced portrait of courage in the face of evil, Then They Came for Me puts the question to us today: What would I have done?


Betrayal

Betrayal

Author: Robert P. Ericksen

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9781451417449

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Important and insightful essays provide a penetrating assessment of Christian responses in the Nazi era.


Book Synopsis Betrayal by : Robert P. Ericksen

Download or read book Betrayal written by Robert P. Ericksen and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Important and insightful essays provide a penetrating assessment of Christian responses in the Nazi era.


When a Nation Forgets God

When a Nation Forgets God

Author: Erwin W. Lutzer

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Published: 2015-12-18

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 0802493319

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This excellent book is so important. It clearly and powerfully explains what the parallels are between Germany's fall from grace and the beginning of our own fall. - Eric Metaxas, author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy In When A Nation Forgets God, Erwin Lutzer studies seven similarities between Nazi Germany and America today—some of them chilling—and cautions us to respond accordingly. Engaging, well-researched, and easy to understand, Lutzer’s writing is that of a realist, one alarmed but unafraid. Amidst describing the messes of our nation’s government, economy, legal pitfalls, propaganda, and more, Lutzer points to the God who always has a plan. At the beginning of the twentieth Century, Nazi Germany didn’t look like a country on the brink of world-shaking terrors. It looked like America today. When a Nation Forgets God uses history to warn us of a future that none of us wants to see. It urges us to be ordinary heroes who speak up and take action.


Book Synopsis When a Nation Forgets God by : Erwin W. Lutzer

Download or read book When a Nation Forgets God written by Erwin W. Lutzer and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2015-12-18 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This excellent book is so important. It clearly and powerfully explains what the parallels are between Germany's fall from grace and the beginning of our own fall. - Eric Metaxas, author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy In When A Nation Forgets God, Erwin Lutzer studies seven similarities between Nazi Germany and America today—some of them chilling—and cautions us to respond accordingly. Engaging, well-researched, and easy to understand, Lutzer’s writing is that of a realist, one alarmed but unafraid. Amidst describing the messes of our nation’s government, economy, legal pitfalls, propaganda, and more, Lutzer points to the God who always has a plan. At the beginning of the twentieth Century, Nazi Germany didn’t look like a country on the brink of world-shaking terrors. It looked like America today. When a Nation Forgets God uses history to warn us of a future that none of us wants to see. It urges us to be ordinary heroes who speak up and take action.


Moroni and the Swastika

Moroni and the Swastika

Author: David Conley Nelson

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2015-03-02

Total Pages: 532

ISBN-13: 0806149744

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While Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist government was persecuting Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses and driving forty-two small German religious sects underground, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continued to practice unhindered. How some fourteen thousand Mormons not only survived but thrived in Nazi Germany is a story little known, rarely told, and occasionally rewritten within the confines of the Church’s history—for good reason, as we see in David Conley Nelson’s Moroni and the Swastika. A page-turning historical narrative, this book is the first full account of how Mormons avoided Nazi persecution through skilled collaboration with Hitler’s regime, and then eschewed postwar shame by constructing an alternative history of wartime suffering and resistance. The Twelfth Article of Faith and parts of the 134th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants function as Mormonism’s equivalent of the biblical admonition to “render unto Caesar,” a charge to cooperate with civil government, no matter how onerous doing so may be. Resurrecting this often-violated doctrinal edict, ecclesiastical leaders at the time developed a strategy that protected Mormons within Nazi Germany. Furthermore, as Nelson shows, many Mormon officials strove to fit into the Third Reich by exploiting commonalities with the Nazi state. German Mormons emphasized a mutual interest in genealogy and a passion for sports. They sent husbands into the Wehrmacht and sons into the Hitler Youth, and they prayed for a German victory when the war began. They also purged Jewish references from hymnals, lesson plans, and liturgical practices. One American mission president even wrote an article for the official Nazi Party newspaper, extolling parallels between Utah Mormon and German Nazi society. Nelson documents this collaboration, as well as subsequent efforts to suppress it by fashioning a new collective memory of ordinary German Mormons’ courage and travails during the war. Recovering this inconvenient past, Moroni and the Swastika restores a complex and difficult chapter to the history of Nazi Germany and the Mormon Church in the twentieth century—and offers new insight into the construction of historical truth.


Book Synopsis Moroni and the Swastika by : David Conley Nelson

Download or read book Moroni and the Swastika written by David Conley Nelson and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2015-03-02 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist government was persecuting Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses and driving forty-two small German religious sects underground, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continued to practice unhindered. How some fourteen thousand Mormons not only survived but thrived in Nazi Germany is a story little known, rarely told, and occasionally rewritten within the confines of the Church’s history—for good reason, as we see in David Conley Nelson’s Moroni and the Swastika. A page-turning historical narrative, this book is the first full account of how Mormons avoided Nazi persecution through skilled collaboration with Hitler’s regime, and then eschewed postwar shame by constructing an alternative history of wartime suffering and resistance. The Twelfth Article of Faith and parts of the 134th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants function as Mormonism’s equivalent of the biblical admonition to “render unto Caesar,” a charge to cooperate with civil government, no matter how onerous doing so may be. Resurrecting this often-violated doctrinal edict, ecclesiastical leaders at the time developed a strategy that protected Mormons within Nazi Germany. Furthermore, as Nelson shows, many Mormon officials strove to fit into the Third Reich by exploiting commonalities with the Nazi state. German Mormons emphasized a mutual interest in genealogy and a passion for sports. They sent husbands into the Wehrmacht and sons into the Hitler Youth, and they prayed for a German victory when the war began. They also purged Jewish references from hymnals, lesson plans, and liturgical practices. One American mission president even wrote an article for the official Nazi Party newspaper, extolling parallels between Utah Mormon and German Nazi society. Nelson documents this collaboration, as well as subsequent efforts to suppress it by fashioning a new collective memory of ordinary German Mormons’ courage and travails during the war. Recovering this inconvenient past, Moroni and the Swastika restores a complex and difficult chapter to the history of Nazi Germany and the Mormon Church in the twentieth century—and offers new insight into the construction of historical truth.


The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Author: Victoria J. Barnett

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2017-10-15

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1506433375

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In his preaching, Dietrich Bonhoeffer‘s strong, personal faith--the foundation for everything he did--shines in the darkness of Hitler‘s Third Reich and in the church struggle against it. Though not overtly political, Bonhoeffer‘s deep concern for the developments in his world is revealed in his sermons as he seeks to draw the listener into conversation with the promises and claims of the gospel-a conversation readers today are invited to join.


Book Synopsis The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by : Victoria J. Barnett

Download or read book The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer written by Victoria J. Barnett and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2017-10-15 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his preaching, Dietrich Bonhoeffer‘s strong, personal faith--the foundation for everything he did--shines in the darkness of Hitler‘s Third Reich and in the church struggle against it. Though not overtly political, Bonhoeffer‘s deep concern for the developments in his world is revealed in his sermons as he seeks to draw the listener into conversation with the promises and claims of the gospel-a conversation readers today are invited to join.