Theologians Under Hitler

I am glad to present here a post from last July which I placed on another web log. The post was the first in a series dealing with the book written by Robert P. Ericksen which tells the story of three prominent theologians in Nazi Germany and how they essentially accomodated and abetted the fascist state.

The book is an excellent one, and only slightly professorial at times. The information is vitally important for anyone who wants to understand the church of America during the last few years. Sadly, there have been those in the U.S. church who have looked the other way and couched their language in the face of illegal foreign adventures, torture, and an assault on civil rights.

Here then is the post of July 31, 2006, in its entirety.

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Theologians Under Hitler -- the Book

Our wonderful local library system, which ordered "Theologians Under Hitler" at my request, recently notified me that the book had come in. Late last week I retrieved the book from the hold shelf and have begun reading what is sure to be a fascinating history. Although the book is over twenty years old, I had never heard of it until the DVD with the same title was recently released.Over the coming days and weeks, I plan to present here some of the information in this book. For now, I will relate part of a blurb on the back cover of this paperback edition. James Richmond of Times Higher Educational Supplement writes: "He [Robert P. Ericksen, author of Theologians Under Hitler] also poses the following questions: Could the same sort of thing happen again? If so, in what kind of political, economic and international circumstances? And would we avoid being the Kittle ["Kittel"], Althaus or Kirsch of our time? Ericksen soberly asks us to ponder these questions well before answering." (Kittel, Althaus and Hirsch [not "Kirsch"] are the three theologians dealt with in this book.) If ever there was a time to ask these questions it is now. Would the circumstances of an attack on our country help to provide an environment for authoritarianism? And has this not already happened to a significant extent? Would economic malaise create an environment where a strongman could emerge, offering a steel will, if not actual solutions? And would such an environment be profound enough that otherwise learned, intelligent people would either offer their enthusiastic support, or look the other way? There is much more to be said, but if you will excuse me, I'd like to get in some reading of Theologians Under Hitler before bed. I can hardly wait.