The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany. By Susannah Heschel

Abstract

This is not Susannah Heschel's first foray into the history of the outrageous synthesis of Protestant Christianity and National Socialism—she has written brilliant articles and edited books on the Nazification of German theologians, the attempt to dejudaize the New Testament, catechisms, hymnals, liturgical books, and church life in general and the preposterous quest for a Jesus acceptable to Aryanizing trends in contemporary theological thought—but, for the depth of its research, the scope of its ambition, and the clarity and vigor of the author's prose, The Aryan Jesus certainly is her chef d'oeuvre to date. On the cover of this book is a photograph that graphically illustrates the perverse success of this synthesis, as well as the theme of the book. The photograph, taken in 1935, is of the Altar of the Antoniterkirche in Cologne. Surmounted by a crucifix, the altar is profanely draped with an altar cloth with the Nazi swastika emblazoned on it and surrounded by wreaths lovingly bedecked with banners decorated with the Nazi Hakenkreuz. One can hardly imagine a more scandalous symbol of the capitulation of the now openly anti-Semitic churches to Nazi ideology, nor of the pathetic desire of pastors, theologians, and parishioners to be cherished by Hitler—an unrequited love, in the end—and integrated into the Führer's sickening “new world order.”