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A Church Undone: Documents from the German Christian Faith Movement, 19321940. Selected, translated, and introduced by Mary M. Solberg. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2015. Pp. xvii, 486. $59.00 paperback. ISBN 9781451464726.)In selecting, translating, and introducing over twenty documents composed by members of the pro-Nazi "German Christian Faith Movement," Mary M. Solberg has filled a significant gap in the English-language literature concerning both the German Church Struggle (Kirchenkampf) and the religious dimension of the Holocaust. Asking "What were they thinking??" Solberg concludes that the German Christians constructed a powerful myth "that complemented, strengthened, and served National Socialist goals" (p. 3). They were "true believers, not only in Jesus Christ, but also in Adolf Hitler and his Nazi revolution," whose work enabled other Germans to understand life in the Third Reich "as fully compatible with their Christian faith" (p. 13).In her introduction, Solberg outlines her rationale for selecting documents, which includes chronology, key issues, and diverse authors and document types (pp. 27-31). She also reflects on what these sources can teach about the momentum of antisemitism, the power of public discourse, Christian self-identity, and the power of cultural context to shape the church (pp. 32-41).In terms of the Protestant Church Struggle, A Church Undone enables scholars and students to study the words and ideas of the (mostly) men who are often known simply as the enemies of Karl Barth, Martin Niemoller, and the Confessing Church. Solberg has selected an illuminating mixture of theological, church-polit- ical, and popular texts, many by prominent figures like Ludwig Muller, Joachim Hossenfelder, Reinhold Krause, Emmanuel Hirsch, and Gerhard Kittel. They envision a new church order in which German Protestantism would be remade in the image of National Socialism, reordered as a unified Reich Church ruled by an authoritarian Reich Bishop. (Solberg settles for the more muted terms "National Church" and "National Bishop.") As a vigorous Volk church, membership would be based on German blood, ministry directed solely to the racial community, and ultimate authority vested in the Nazi regime (pp. 48-50, 109-14, 400-04).One striking aspect of this vision was the invocation of Martin Luther, as in "The German Prophet," a section in "The Handbook of the German Christians" (1933) written by Anna Ilgenstein-Ratterfeld. … |
