Demonizing the Jews
Subtitle: Luther and the Protestant church in Nazi Germany
By: Christopher J. Probst
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Bloomington
Language: eng
Number of pages: 251
ISBN-13: 9780253000989; 9780253001009; 9780253001023
Subjects: Church and state; Christianity and antisemitism; Bekennende Kirche; Church history; Protestant churches; History
Description: "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 antisemitism 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 antisemitic stereotyping that helped justify early Nazi measures against the Jews." -- Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p.         ) and index.
Table of contents: title: Protestantism in Nazi Germany; title: "Luther and the Jews"; title: Confessing church and German Christian academic theologians; title: Confessing church pastors; title: German Christian pastors and bishops; title: Pastors and theologians from the unaffiliated Protestant "middle".