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A Church Undone: Documents from the German Christian Faith Movement, 1932-1940
Decades after the Holocaust, many assume that the churches in Germany resisted the Nazi regime. In fact, resistance was exceptional. The Deutsche Christen , or German Christians, a movement within German Protestantism, integrated Nazi ideology, nationalism, and Christian faith. Marrying religious anti-Judaism to the Nazis racial antisemitism, they aimed to remove everything Jewish from Christianity. For the first time in English, Mary M. Solberg presents a selection of German Christian documents. Her introduction sets the historical context. Includes responses critical of the German Christians by Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
- GenresHistory
486 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2015
32 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
Mary M. Solberg
4 booksMary Solberg is Professor Emerita of Religion at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 27, 2017
Just got done with this timely read, a must-have for Protestant Clergy.
The most painful part for me was the constant wedding of Luther and Hitler. Luther paved the way for Hitler, Luther's vision was realized in Hitler's actions, you can't have one without the other. Naturally I anticipated this; it was still painful.
What was less expected and what really struck me about these writings of the leaders of the German Christian Movement was not the antisemitism; along with the Luther stuff I expected that. It was how again and again these pamphlets and articles delved into fanatical German nationalism. Again and again they wrote how clearly set above all others the Germans were by virtue of their blood, that völkisch blood was more important than the Blood of Christ. Germany First. And then they proceeded to edit the Bible to fit their narrative. More than anything, this timely anthology highlights the clear and present danger in mixing faith and nationalism.
edit: Best part was Bonhoeffer on Stupidity, something I've seen around Facebook a lot since:
"Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one's prejudgment simply need not be believed--in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical--and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous."
The most painful part for me was the constant wedding of Luther and Hitler. Luther paved the way for Hitler, Luther's vision was realized in Hitler's actions, you can't have one without the other. Naturally I anticipated this; it was still painful.
What was less expected and what really struck me about these writings of the leaders of the German Christian Movement was not the antisemitism; along with the Luther stuff I expected that. It was how again and again these pamphlets and articles delved into fanatical German nationalism. Again and again they wrote how clearly set above all others the Germans were by virtue of their blood, that völkisch blood was more important than the Blood of Christ. Germany First. And then they proceeded to edit the Bible to fit their narrative. More than anything, this timely anthology highlights the clear and present danger in mixing faith and nationalism.
edit: Best part was Bonhoeffer on Stupidity, something I've seen around Facebook a lot since:
"Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one's prejudgment simply need not be believed--in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical--and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous."
March 30, 2022
Provides a set of primary sources of the German Christian movement of the 1930s. Includes an introduction that is not focused enough on the content and context. The particular selections in this volume vary from well reasoned learned essays to the most ridiculous propaganda. One can see the range of ideas as well as some of the responses.
The „German Christian“ movement that sought to Germanize the church in Germany in the 1930‘s included a range of voices. German Christian doesn’t refer to a Christian who happened to live in Germany, but a Christian who in one way or another, mixed the idea of a pure German race with religion.
Some in the movement sought only to make the church more relevant and have a larger voice in the society. The only way they could see to stay relevant and to maintain or gain influence was to comply with the cultural demands, specifically the demands for purity of the German people. Some thought it was a small sacrifice for the greater good. It began when the Aryan law of 1933 sought to eliminate clergy with Jewish heritage. Some sought not to remove any practicing pastors from posts, but only perhaps to eliminate any men of Jewish heritage from the theological training programs so in the future, there would be no pastors with a Jewish heritage. This concession was given in the idea that by doing so, more Germans would come to church and more Germans would hear the gospel. The church would be more relevant to the new cultural situation.
The cultural situation was seen almost universally as revolutionary. This new National Socialistic force was sweeping over all areas of life. It sought to change every aspect of life, church included.
There was also a contingent of the German Christian movement who wanted a unified national church. A single national church could be such a powerful witness, they thought. Why is the church divided among itself? There should be but one church, or at least one Protestant church. In this, they envied the Catholic Church. But rather than a unified global church, they sought a unified exclusively German Church - at least for Germans. Other peoples could have their own church as well.
At the extreme of the German Christian movement were those who sought to eliminate the influence and teaching of the Old Testament which they claimed was a faulty moral foundation. They also sought to remove the influence of theology from the church. By that they meant Paul and his teaching. With this technique, they reduced Christianity to the gospels and Jesus‘s teaching.
This theology was build on academic liberal theology. The ‚historical Jesus’ techniques were used to reject scriptures that contradicted their model as later additions or insertions or not genuine. Through his process they redefined Jesus in their own image. Humans have a remarkable ability to uncover the ‚real‘ Jesus that is always remarkably similar to the political or philosophical ideals of the searcher of the historical Jesus. Many German Christians had convinced themselves that Jesus was not Jewish but rather Aryan. A clearly preposterous idea, but one them made arguments for with ‚evidence.‘
The German Christian movement relied on the then current racial science that taught the bad blood is irretrievable. No amount of culture or civilization can change the leopards spots and in their minds, Jews were irretrievably damaged and destructive to pure blood. Jews were a contamination that should be avoided, just as one avoids infection.
The fundamentalist, priests, and Baptists were not directly involved in the „Church Struggle.“ their number we comparatively so small, most thought them irrelevant.
Another problem was that too many people believed the obviously hollow professions of support for Christianity that Hitler pronounced. Some thought he was even a pius man. This effective propaganda that Goebbels and his National Socialists made many Christians think Hitler was with them.
It is clear that we must call some of he German Christians our dear Christian brothers—misguided, but brothers nevertheless. Other of course had no interest in the Jesus we serve.
The German Christian movement was not just populist rabble, it counted as its members some influential theologians, Gehard Kittle,of Kittle’s Wordbook fame, among them. Although primarily an anti-theological movement, it too had its own highly prized theologians. In addition, young theology students were among the most enthusiastic supporters. It was new, energetic, and exciting.
One might think that the German Christian movement has its beginning when Hitler became chancellor. This is wrong. The struggle for the German church predates this. It was not forced upon the churches politically, but rather came about as a cultural influence. A cultural influence that soon gained near total political power. But as always, politics is downstream of culture.
The church struggle had almost nothing to do with the church being subject to outside political power, and everything to do with a movement from writhin. Of course there was also the influence of Nazis whose only interest lie in undermining the church.
The movement peaked quite early in the Third Reich. In the few years leading up to Novemebr 1933, the movement gained supporters and also in the summer church elections gains a lot of positions of power within the church. When Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, the political apparatus was brought to bear and Bishop Müller became head of the Prussian church and later the national church. But a speech in November 1933 by a second tier figure in the movement turned off many followers. The speech denigrated both the Old Testament and Paul as un-German. This caused many to break with what was now revealed as an anti-Christian movement.
Lessons from this book:
A church that grasps for power is misguided. The church must battle only to serve. It not seek its own advantage, but the advantage of others. Only by making itself low and raising up the weak does it operate it divine power.
A church that reframes itself to orient its mission with the Zeitgeist of the surrounding culture is easily misguided. Sufficient distance must be kept, especially, but not exclusively, from political institutions. The church must never conflate itself with any other institution or movement. The church is the exclusive instrument of the good news of Jesus Christ.
The church must be willing to give up cultural influence to stay true to its nature. Times come when the easy path is to go along with the dominant cultural moves in which the church is invited to participate and to influence the society but on terms set by the culture. The church must radically define itself in service to the culture, but never as the servant of the culture.
Language is important. The attempt by German Christian movement to change the vocabulary of the church was a pernicious attempt to hijack words of to change their meaning, to smuggle in foreign ideas with familiar words, and to eliminate certain words as not culturally appropriate to suppress certain ideas. The church‘s language should be the language of the Bible.
The agenda for the church cannot be set from outside. The agenda must rise from inside and be grounded in the word and in prayer. Any external agenda will inevitably force the church to bend and twist its theology to fit with that agenda, rather that following the mission that God set for the church.
A church that sidelines theology for the sake of influence will eventually be sapped of strength. It‘s not that everyone must agree on every point of dogma, but the church must act theologically, not pragmatically. All decisions and actions of the church must grow from a theological root. Actions and decisions that grow from pragmatically will tend to weaken the theological roots the church is built on.
There is no other basis on which to build the Church than Jesus. Not any Jesus, but the Jesus revealed and expounded in the Old Testament, Gospels, Acts, Episltes, and Revelation. The Written word is the only authoritative ground for any discussion about church.
The „German Christian“ movement that sought to Germanize the church in Germany in the 1930‘s included a range of voices. German Christian doesn’t refer to a Christian who happened to live in Germany, but a Christian who in one way or another, mixed the idea of a pure German race with religion.
Some in the movement sought only to make the church more relevant and have a larger voice in the society. The only way they could see to stay relevant and to maintain or gain influence was to comply with the cultural demands, specifically the demands for purity of the German people. Some thought it was a small sacrifice for the greater good. It began when the Aryan law of 1933 sought to eliminate clergy with Jewish heritage. Some sought not to remove any practicing pastors from posts, but only perhaps to eliminate any men of Jewish heritage from the theological training programs so in the future, there would be no pastors with a Jewish heritage. This concession was given in the idea that by doing so, more Germans would come to church and more Germans would hear the gospel. The church would be more relevant to the new cultural situation.
The cultural situation was seen almost universally as revolutionary. This new National Socialistic force was sweeping over all areas of life. It sought to change every aspect of life, church included.
There was also a contingent of the German Christian movement who wanted a unified national church. A single national church could be such a powerful witness, they thought. Why is the church divided among itself? There should be but one church, or at least one Protestant church. In this, they envied the Catholic Church. But rather than a unified global church, they sought a unified exclusively German Church - at least for Germans. Other peoples could have their own church as well.
At the extreme of the German Christian movement were those who sought to eliminate the influence and teaching of the Old Testament which they claimed was a faulty moral foundation. They also sought to remove the influence of theology from the church. By that they meant Paul and his teaching. With this technique, they reduced Christianity to the gospels and Jesus‘s teaching.
This theology was build on academic liberal theology. The ‚historical Jesus’ techniques were used to reject scriptures that contradicted their model as later additions or insertions or not genuine. Through his process they redefined Jesus in their own image. Humans have a remarkable ability to uncover the ‚real‘ Jesus that is always remarkably similar to the political or philosophical ideals of the searcher of the historical Jesus. Many German Christians had convinced themselves that Jesus was not Jewish but rather Aryan. A clearly preposterous idea, but one them made arguments for with ‚evidence.‘
The German Christian movement relied on the then current racial science that taught the bad blood is irretrievable. No amount of culture or civilization can change the leopards spots and in their minds, Jews were irretrievably damaged and destructive to pure blood. Jews were a contamination that should be avoided, just as one avoids infection.
The fundamentalist, priests, and Baptists were not directly involved in the „Church Struggle.“ their number we comparatively so small, most thought them irrelevant.
Another problem was that too many people believed the obviously hollow professions of support for Christianity that Hitler pronounced. Some thought he was even a pius man. This effective propaganda that Goebbels and his National Socialists made many Christians think Hitler was with them.
It is clear that we must call some of he German Christians our dear Christian brothers—misguided, but brothers nevertheless. Other of course had no interest in the Jesus we serve.
The German Christian movement was not just populist rabble, it counted as its members some influential theologians, Gehard Kittle,of Kittle’s Wordbook fame, among them. Although primarily an anti-theological movement, it too had its own highly prized theologians. In addition, young theology students were among the most enthusiastic supporters. It was new, energetic, and exciting.
One might think that the German Christian movement has its beginning when Hitler became chancellor. This is wrong. The struggle for the German church predates this. It was not forced upon the churches politically, but rather came about as a cultural influence. A cultural influence that soon gained near total political power. But as always, politics is downstream of culture.
The church struggle had almost nothing to do with the church being subject to outside political power, and everything to do with a movement from writhin. Of course there was also the influence of Nazis whose only interest lie in undermining the church.
The movement peaked quite early in the Third Reich. In the few years leading up to Novemebr 1933, the movement gained supporters and also in the summer church elections gains a lot of positions of power within the church. When Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, the political apparatus was brought to bear and Bishop Müller became head of the Prussian church and later the national church. But a speech in November 1933 by a second tier figure in the movement turned off many followers. The speech denigrated both the Old Testament and Paul as un-German. This caused many to break with what was now revealed as an anti-Christian movement.
Lessons from this book:
A church that grasps for power is misguided. The church must battle only to serve. It not seek its own advantage, but the advantage of others. Only by making itself low and raising up the weak does it operate it divine power.
A church that reframes itself to orient its mission with the Zeitgeist of the surrounding culture is easily misguided. Sufficient distance must be kept, especially, but not exclusively, from political institutions. The church must never conflate itself with any other institution or movement. The church is the exclusive instrument of the good news of Jesus Christ.
The church must be willing to give up cultural influence to stay true to its nature. Times come when the easy path is to go along with the dominant cultural moves in which the church is invited to participate and to influence the society but on terms set by the culture. The church must radically define itself in service to the culture, but never as the servant of the culture.
Language is important. The attempt by German Christian movement to change the vocabulary of the church was a pernicious attempt to hijack words of to change their meaning, to smuggle in foreign ideas with familiar words, and to eliminate certain words as not culturally appropriate to suppress certain ideas. The church‘s language should be the language of the Bible.
The agenda for the church cannot be set from outside. The agenda must rise from inside and be grounded in the word and in prayer. Any external agenda will inevitably force the church to bend and twist its theology to fit with that agenda, rather that following the mission that God set for the church.
A church that sidelines theology for the sake of influence will eventually be sapped of strength. It‘s not that everyone must agree on every point of dogma, but the church must act theologically, not pragmatically. All decisions and actions of the church must grow from a theological root. Actions and decisions that grow from pragmatically will tend to weaken the theological roots the church is built on.
There is no other basis on which to build the Church than Jesus. Not any Jesus, but the Jesus revealed and expounded in the Old Testament, Gospels, Acts, Episltes, and Revelation. The Written word is the only authoritative ground for any discussion about church.
December 8, 2024
How does a Christian church betray its calling and serve a monster? The answer can be seen in the documents of the German Church as it began its descent into madness. Mary Solberg's book A Church Undone shows how the church embraced the doctrines of Nazism and gave up on trying to follow the teachings of Christ.
That statement may actually be too narrow. There was a confused environment in the German church in response to Hitler's rise to power. While much of the church embraced Nazism, some of the church resisted and opposed the German Christian cause. However, if you want to understand the German Church and their embracing of Nazi doctrine, you can do no better than to read the original documents.
Solberg translates and arranges the documents in a way that helps the reader see the progression of thought from inception to execution. Often she will place opposing texts next to each other so the reader can see how this all played out in the German Church.
Solberg provides insightful introductions and commentaries to all the texts included in the volume. This volume is a collection of texts and as such, the writing style, accessibility and content vary from selection to selection. Solberg does her best to ensure that the reader can follow what is going on throughout the book.
What is interesting is the correlation between some of the arguments included and the arguments put forth by sections of the American church today. For instance, one selection speaks about how the German church does not need to follow the sermon on the mount because that makes Christians 'weak.' What is needed in the German church today (back in the 1930s, so argued) is for a combative Christ who will defeat their enemies. Along with this, the church needs to abandon the sign of the crucified Christ as that can be seen as too 'liberal.' We need a masculine, victorious Jesus. When read in the context of modern debates about how the sermon on the mount is too liberal and the church needs to stop being winsome and more aggressive; we can see the old adage about history echoing in the present in real time.
This is an academic volume, although Solger has done her best to make it accessible. Each section varies from academic papers to popular pamphlets. But overall, a reader does not need special theological training to read this.
I highly recommend this to all people interested in the history of Christianity, Bonhoeffer, Nazism and the current issues facing the church.
Grade: A
That statement may actually be too narrow. There was a confused environment in the German church in response to Hitler's rise to power. While much of the church embraced Nazism, some of the church resisted and opposed the German Christian cause. However, if you want to understand the German Church and their embracing of Nazi doctrine, you can do no better than to read the original documents.
Solberg translates and arranges the documents in a way that helps the reader see the progression of thought from inception to execution. Often she will place opposing texts next to each other so the reader can see how this all played out in the German Church.
Solberg provides insightful introductions and commentaries to all the texts included in the volume. This volume is a collection of texts and as such, the writing style, accessibility and content vary from selection to selection. Solberg does her best to ensure that the reader can follow what is going on throughout the book.
What is interesting is the correlation between some of the arguments included and the arguments put forth by sections of the American church today. For instance, one selection speaks about how the German church does not need to follow the sermon on the mount because that makes Christians 'weak.' What is needed in the German church today (back in the 1930s, so argued) is for a combative Christ who will defeat their enemies. Along with this, the church needs to abandon the sign of the crucified Christ as that can be seen as too 'liberal.' We need a masculine, victorious Jesus. When read in the context of modern debates about how the sermon on the mount is too liberal and the church needs to stop being winsome and more aggressive; we can see the old adage about history echoing in the present in real time.
This is an academic volume, although Solger has done her best to make it accessible. Each section varies from academic papers to popular pamphlets. But overall, a reader does not need special theological training to read this.
I highly recommend this to all people interested in the history of Christianity, Bonhoeffer, Nazism and the current issues facing the church.
Grade: A
August 27, 2019
Book provides a glimpse into the German Christian Faith Movement in the early moments of the rise of Nazism. The book as a whole is highly academic, and is mostly transcribed historical texts from the era; however, the small explanations of the texts and how they connected to the greater movement within the Christian Faith movement and their embracing of the Nazi ideology was very enlightening. Provides a glimpse into how faith movements lose sight of their faith when they are co-opted for political movements.
August 4, 2023
In a lot of my experience learning about Nazi Germany, it seemed like I learned about the German church almost exclusively through the lens of the Confessing Church and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, specifically. It is almost as though our social expectation of Christianity is so desperate to have Christianity represented in a positive light that the notion that the Church would have been silent, or worse, actively complicit with a murderous regime, is so repugnant that the resistance of one pastor and a (really relatively) small church movement is amplified to the extent that it drowns out the reality of what was the larger experience of the church under the regime. While the German Christian movement was another minority that actively courted the support of the regime, it provides a remarkable look at how the church actively courted a murderous regime in order to serve its own ends, and it is chilling. What is worse, is that I can draw certain parallels between the blood and soil nationalism and the desire for a ‘positive Christianity’ (a desire for a ‘strong Christ’ over a ‘weak, effeminate Christ)’ in some of the United States church movements today. It is a disservice to the Zeitgeist that the information found in this book has largely fallen by the wayside of history, because these trends seem to be infiltrating their way back into culture today.
January 24, 2025
An important resource for the development of the thought and perspective on the relationship between the Church and the State in the years indicated. The material allows the reader to see what the Germans themselves were thinking.
October 27, 2025
Difficult and terrible yet necessary read
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews