Joe Keysor
Puritan Board Freshman
An e-mail from Rich at Puritan Publications in response to my inquiry suggested I post something on this forum.
I wonder how many Christians are aware of attempts to link Christianity to Hitler. Two extreme examples are The Holy Reich by Richard Steigmann-Gall (Cambridge University Press) and "Hitler's Christianity" http://www.nobeliefs.com/Hitler1.htm These argue that Hitler and the Nazis were Christians or strongly influenced by Christianity. These ideas are quite common and becoming more so.
A more sensible approach recognizes that Naziism was fundamentally different from Christianity, but states that centuries of Christian anti-Semitism laid the foundations for the Holocaust and built up the reservoir of hate Hitler only tapped into. This is also a common view (see The Holocaust in Historical Context, Stven Katz, Oxford Universioty Press). It relates anti-Semitism directly to the New Testament, which supposedly teaches hatred of Jews.
As far as I know there has been no substantive Christian response (though there are many books I don't know about of course). To me, an adequate response would have to:
1. Provide a working definition of Christianity that is biblical yet accessible to non-Christians.
2. Give a biblical explanation of sin and evil.
3. Examine traditional religious anti-Semitism to show it was both contrary to scripture and also significantly different from modern racial and secular anti-Semitism.
4. Examine many of Hitler's religious statements and show why they do not agree with the bible.
5. Examine Hitler's philosophy and show why it is contrary to scripture and where, and also show its secular origins.
6. Examine Christian support for Hitler, and show this was a deviation from biblical Christianity, not proof as many claim of a Hitler-Christian connection.
I am working on a book of this type, it is turning out to be quite long, hundreds of pages. Eventually I hope to find a publisher. Any questions or comments, useful sources, or Christian works on this subject, are welcome.
I wonder how many Christians are aware of attempts to link Christianity to Hitler. Two extreme examples are The Holy Reich by Richard Steigmann-Gall (Cambridge University Press) and "Hitler's Christianity" http://www.nobeliefs.com/Hitler1.htm These argue that Hitler and the Nazis were Christians or strongly influenced by Christianity. These ideas are quite common and becoming more so.
A more sensible approach recognizes that Naziism was fundamentally different from Christianity, but states that centuries of Christian anti-Semitism laid the foundations for the Holocaust and built up the reservoir of hate Hitler only tapped into. This is also a common view (see The Holocaust in Historical Context, Stven Katz, Oxford Universioty Press). It relates anti-Semitism directly to the New Testament, which supposedly teaches hatred of Jews.
As far as I know there has been no substantive Christian response (though there are many books I don't know about of course). To me, an adequate response would have to:
1. Provide a working definition of Christianity that is biblical yet accessible to non-Christians.
2. Give a biblical explanation of sin and evil.
3. Examine traditional religious anti-Semitism to show it was both contrary to scripture and also significantly different from modern racial and secular anti-Semitism.
4. Examine many of Hitler's religious statements and show why they do not agree with the bible.
5. Examine Hitler's philosophy and show why it is contrary to scripture and where, and also show its secular origins.
6. Examine Christian support for Hitler, and show this was a deviation from biblical Christianity, not proof as many claim of a Hitler-Christian connection.
I am working on a book of this type, it is turning out to be quite long, hundreds of pages. Eventually I hope to find a publisher. Any questions or comments, useful sources, or Christian works on this subject, are welcome.