(German Christian) Church

Christ of the Third Reich

German Protestantism was birthed in the resistance of Martin Luther against the many corruptions in the Catholic Church, and his stance against such practices as the selling of indulgences, the sedition of doctrine, dissensioned views regarding the priesthood and so on are well-known: his 'ministry' began with the nailing of the 99 theses on the door at Wittenberg, and his life afterwards, focused on the Grace of God, and non-ending disputes and intrigue with the Vatican. He was not anti-semitic in the beginning of his ministry but by the end he had developed a rather monstrous view, even inciting riots against the Jews for failing to heed his warnings of eternal damnation even to the point of admonishing congregates to drive them out of town and burn their synagogues. While his great stand against corruption of the true Ways of God, and his separation or "protest" against the Roman Church, including rebelling against absolute Papal authority, has been lauded by Protestants and evangelicals everywhere (even a few Roman Catholics), his unfortunate and severe 'hate crime' against the Jews, is lesser known but cannot be said to have had no influence in the countenance of the Protestantism in Germany. (See: See "The Jews and Their Lies.

On the other hand, the "German Church" was not a unified entity from that point on: there were many in Germany with Bible based doctrines, declared heresy by Rome from the 1500s on, including German Baptists, Anabaptists, German Bretheren, and those who came to dominate whom most call "Lutherans". As we have mentioned elsewhere in the site, as Hitler came into office a National Bishop, Mueller, was appointed over a Protestant Church federation.The Protestants at the time included mainline protestants, true to doctrine and church attendance but not wavering greatly from centuries old doctrine since Luther, many 'liberal' believers, including theologians, pastors and laity who had declared Bultmann's theological approach of dismissing in the word what did not assault human reason (Higher Criticism); Social Gospel advocates, a trend which had caught on in America and in which many had been trained in US schools such as Union Theological, and a few ardent believers whom could be described as fundamental evangelicals.

A New Church for a New Reich

large group, though was a group which in historical perspective was very troubling: The Deutsche Christen, or German Christian Church which integrated and redefined traditional Christianity to include and align with the Third Reich. The doctrines of the Deutsche Christen were meant to replace centuries old doctrine. Many of the beliefs were anti-Semitic and defined as heresy. Christ was re-interpreted as the Nietzchean 'superman', an Aryan of the highest order and not a Jew, and Paul was dismissed as irrevelant, or in some cases as an 'introverted', overly self-conscious Jew whose writings 'judaized' Christian thought in an unhealthy way. The Apostle Paul was referred to as the 'rabbi Paul' to further emphasize his Jewish influence. (See Paul in the Eyes of the Nazis);

---