Theological Dilemma Research Articles

SEBUAH UPAYA MERUMUSKAN PEMIKIRAN MORAL KRISTIANI BERWAWASAN GENDER BERHADAPAN DENGAN KDRT

In social reality, domestic violence is a sadden event that continously happend to women. In gender analysis, gender injustice and patriarchal culture are regarded as the main causal factors of violence against women. From the point of view of women (victims of violence), the Holy Bible is often used to legitimate gender injustice and discrimination against women. For the faithful, this matter has risen a theological dilemma. In one side, this opinion is based on the experiences of the victims. But in another side, the Holy Bible is believed as the Word of God that reveals the God’s will to save human beings (men and women). Therefore, in the context of domestic violence, moral thinking based on gender on christian marriage is really needed.

Quakerism and Approaches to Mental Affliction: A Comparative Study of George Fox and William Tuke

This thesis compares the healing ministry of George Fox with the humanitarian reforms of William Tuke. Fox, a radical religious leader, claimed to heal by the power of the Lord working through him. Tuke, a prosperous merchant, managed an innovative asylum. Fox and Tuke lived in different times and occupied different social roles but shared a commitment to Quakerism. Both were laymen, working outside the parameters of established medical practices and saw insanity as a condition of the soul. Their reflections on their faith in conjunction with accounts of their healing reveal how they perceived madness. Their definitions and treatments of this condition resulted from the inter-play of inherent theological dilemmas of the faith, with the practicality of living in a predominantly non-Quaker world. Quakerism elevates personal spiritual experience over any other authority, raising the problem of distinguishing illusion from Divine revelation. Fox and Tuke determined similarly between the authentic and non-authentic, using a yard stick of high moral standards and reliance on communal judgment. Internal unease and division, coupled with hostility or mockery from the wider society, resulted in a persistent Quaker ambiguity towards ‘madness’ – empathy towards unusual experiences with anxiety to disassociate the group from this mind-set.

Iran’s Long Reach

This short analytical book attempts to serve American decision-maker policychoices with respect to the “pivotal” country of Iran. The pivotal state thesishas sought to organize the United States’ national security strategy after thecollapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war.1Maloney applies itto the Iranian case, given that country’s geostrategic value and significant rolein global issues and negotiations (pp. 4-5). She adopts the thesis’ mainassumption that by investing attention and resources in regional heavyweights,the United States can benefit from the “multiplier” effect of theirweight. Arguing that as the United States seeks to change its strategicapproach toward the region, the author posits that focusing on the Muslimworld’s pivotal states will help prioritize challenges and opportunities andthus better serve its vital interests (p. 5). She proceeds to do so by making thecase for Iran’s crucial importance while outlining what she perceives to be itspolitical, economic, security and theological dilemmas – presumably so thatWashington and its allies can take advantage of them.The study also attempts to examine the shifts from reformist (Khatami)toward more radical (Ahmadinejad) politics in Iran’s domestic scene. Shetraces the reasons why the Iranian “reform movement,” under Khatamifailed and attributes that outcome to self-imposed constraints (redlines), fearof bringing about instability, and the movement’s elitist structure (pp. 12-13). Maloney also points to Ahmadinejad’s “perverse” but “compelling”incentive to preserve the long-standing antagonism toward the UnitedStates. She expresses her concern that such shifts may serve to undermineany remaining international consensus necessary to address “problematicelements of Iran’s foreign policy” (p. 23) ...

Liberal Cults, Suicide Bombers, and other Theological Dilemmas

This essay explores how death becomes political for left liberals and Islamist suicide bombers. The general objective is to challenge the unexamined assumptions about politics and death that circulate in left liberal denunciations of violence apparently inspired by Islam. To this end the essay discusses a number of influential characterizations of the relationship between death and politics, Islam and legalism, and monotheism and authority. The horror and fascination with the figure of the suicide bomber reveals an unacknowledged affective bond that constitutes the muscular liberal left as a political formation. This relies on disavowing the sacrificial and theological underpinnings of political liberalism itself — ignoring the continuities between what is called the ``West'' and the theologico-political enterprises inspired by monotheism. Exploring the conditions of the muscular liberal turn in left politics, the article suggests that a political crisis has emerged in a globalized world made up of political communities and juridical orders that have been emptied of authority and certainty. This crisis of ``sense'' conditions the horror felt by the supposedly rational liberal in the face of Islamist terrorism. Will a deconstruction of monotheism help to recognize and address the crisis of value resulting from the decimation of modern emancipatory projects? The commentary concludes by discussing how the writings of Jean-Luc Nancy on monotheism offer liberal left thinkers insights for rethinking the crisis of value that results from the collapse of grand emancipatory enterprises and the fragmentation of political identities.

A Transformative Eucharistic Vision for the Entire Oikoumene

This article begins from the awareness that in a world of affluence, millions are hungry. It addresses the question as to whether this is merely an economic issue or whether it also poses an ethical and theological dilemma, considering ways in which the situation we are living in challenges our faith in the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. It asks how, in the situation as it is, there is any possibility of believing in such a transformation. Finally it questions whether there is any relationship between hope for the transformation of hunger amidst affluence and belief in the transformation of bread into the body of Christ, and outlines a transformative eucharistic vision for the global Christian Church.

The fall of man and the failure of Jonathan Edwards

Creating a coherent doctrine of the fall of man requires of theologians, both past and present, an intellectual effort of Herculean proportions. Jonathan Edwards, regularly described as America’s greatest theologian, struggled to present a coherent interpretation of events in the Garden of Eden that led to Adam’s rejection of God’s righteous plan in favor of an inferior alternative. In light of Edwards’ profound work, Freedom of the Will, this theological dilemma becomes all the more complex. The key to Edwards’ understanding of Adam’s Edenic purity and his mysterious choice of rebellion is found in the doctrine of self-love wherein Adam responded to the innate principle of self-love, choosing that which appeared most pleasurable at that time.

Fundamentalism in Crisis--The Response of the Gush Emunim Rabbinical Authorities to the Theological Dilemmas Raised by Israel's Disengagement Plan

Fundamentalism in Crisis--The Response of the Gush Emunim Rabbinical Authorities to the Theological Dilemmas Raised by Israel's Disengagement Plan

José Pardo Tomás, El médico en la palestra: Diego Mateo Zapata (1664–1745) y la ciencia moderna en España, Estudios de historia de la ciencia y de la técnica, no. 25, Valladolid, Junta de Castilla y León, 2004, pp. 456, €25.00 (hardback 84-9718-252-9).

That few figures in early eighteenth-century Madrid were as unconventional as the physician Diego Mateo Zapata makes his professional and social success all the more remarkable. He was, to begin with, of Jewish background. What is more, the Inquisition tried him twice, in 1691 and 1721, for secret observance of rites such as Purim. Despite the weighty evidence against him, he nevertheless managed to get off lightly and eventually returned to practice medicine close to court circles. (These episodes of persecution would not be forgotten; a century later one of Francisco Goya's drawings sympathetically depicted Zapata as a prisoner in chains.) The physician's marrano background and occasional crypto-Judaism were so far from being a secret that they gave rise to another source of public embarrassment. Madrid's rumour mill assured that it was known about town that a botched circumcision had left him virtually castrated. The delight that his many enemies took in taunting him as a “capon” was merely part of the rougher side of early modern medical polemics. And in this no holds barred context, Zapata gave as good as he got. It was indeed thanks to such exchanges that Zapata forged his reputation. He arrived in Madrid around 1686 as a licentiate in medicine—his lack of “pure blood” ensured that he would never receive a higher degree, nor certification by the Protomedicato (royal licensing board). Thanks to help from fellow “New Christians”, he found work at the city's general hospital. He quickly began to make a name for himself by publishing attacks on several senior physicians, including prominent figures at court. His early work defended Galenist physiology, and roundly opposed belief in the circulation of blood, a doctrine that was slowly making headway in Spanish medical circles. By 1701, however, Zapata had gone over to the opposite side. Lauding the “new medicine”, including the circulationist theories he had previously rejected, his works now trumpeted “practical studies of diseases” through recourse to “experience” (viz. anatomical and “chemical” experiments). At the same time they promoted a vaguely Baconian programme critical of the Galenist and Aristotelian syllabus then taught in the universities. The rest of his career—he was active until his death in 1745—was marked by further controversies. In addition to his struggles with the Inquisition, he also tangled with his fellow physicians over a host of practical and theoretical problems, ranging from the protocol of consultations among medical personnel to the theological dilemmas posed by caesarean sections. Pardo highlights numerous general lessons that one can learn from this admittedly singular case. First, his careful reconstruction of the intricacies of the debates in which Zapata participated shows how hard it is to draw clear lines separating different schools of medical opinion. Earlier interpretations that pitted a handful of quixotic novatores against the traditionalists overseeing the windmills of the academic establishment are here revealed to be at best an over-simplification of a much more complex situation. Specific public arguments—including Zapata's own shifts of opinion—often disguised bids for favour and protection from equally voluble patrons. The more important among these included not just the heads of leading aristocratic families, but also the coterie of royal physicians that controlled licensing as well as most of the major medical posts. The monarchy's role in promoting the “new” science is another myth that Pardo takes on. The arrival in 1700 of the new French dynasty did indeed introduce some fresh air into the brackish backwaters of Spanish medicine. However, this book provides fresh evidence in favour of the growing consensus that this change was well under way before the Bourbons reached Madrid, and that Italy was just as important as France as a source for the innovative currents with which Zapata eventually cast his lot. Finally, the author has especially illuminating things to say about the nature of medical practice during this period of transition. Of particular interest is his analysis of the consultas, or formal opinions, whose abundant circulation in manuscript or print form constituted the most important form of debate among physicians in larger cities such as Madrid or Seville. This is a thoroughly researched and highly suggestive study of a wide range of significant issues. It deserves a wide readership.

Some Reflections on Culture and Health: a Response to Prof. Bernard Ugeux

International Review of MissionVolume 95, Issue 376-377 p. 143-150 Some Reflections on Culture and Health: a Response to Prof. Bernard Ugeux John Oommen, John Oommen Dr John Oommen u head of the Community Health Department at the Christian Hospital in Bissamcuttack, Orissa, IndiaSearch for more papers by this author John Oommen, John Oommen Dr John Oommen u head of the Community Health Department at the Christian Hospital in Bissamcuttack, Orissa, IndiaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 March 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.2006.tb00549.x AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume95, Issue376-377January‐April 2006Pages 143-150 RelatedInformation

Vergewe en vergeet: ‘n Pastorale perspektief

This article focuses on pastoral care concerning people who have been victimised by others. The aim is to highlight the theological dilemma created for such people by the Christian imperative to forgive. The article argues that pastoral care goes beyond this imperative. The focus is rather on healing and wholeness. After this has been achieved, true compassion toward others who are down-trodden and have been hurt, becomes possible. In this way forgiveness can be internalised. This pastoral approach is theoretically substantiated by the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur and the practical theology of Donald Capps.

The Sword of the lord: military chaplains from the first to the twenty-first century

The Sword of the Lord is the first book to examine military chaplains and the development of the military chaplaincy across history and geography - from the first to the twenty-first century, from Europe to North America. The scope of this work reveals the astonishing fact that the military chaplaincy has existed in a recognizable form for more than 1600 years. Contributors analyze specific historical moments in the development of the chaplaincy, beginning in antiquity and progressing through the Crusades, the English Civil War, the American Civil War, both World Wars, and the Vietnam War. Four key themes connect the chapters of this book. The first is the basic issue of historical development over time. Where and when did the military chaplaincy begin and how has it changed? A second theme involves the emotionally and spiritually intense relationships that develop between chaplains and the men and women they serve. How have military chaplains dealt with the enormous responsibility of ministering to soldiers about to kill or possibly be killed? The third theme is that of chaplains' often precarious position between military and religious authorities. Are military chaplains primarily morale boosters, retained by rulers and military commanders because they prepare soldiers to fight hard and face death bravely? Or are they above all pastors, caring for the spiritual needs of their constituency? How do they balance conflicting duties and demands? A fourth related theme is the profound moral and theological dilemmas raised by the chaplaincy. Even under the least morally ambiguous circumstances, chaplains work in the midst of violence, coercion, and suffering. How have they understood their tasks and carried them out in deeply troubled and brutal times? What are the ethical implications of their work? In addition to contributions by historians, this book includes vivid accounts by two former chaplains - an American rabbi who served in World War II and an American Catholic priest who served in Vietnam. This remarkable work treats with care and sensitivity a fascinating and important topic. Anyone interested in military history, religious studies, ethics, or pastoral care will profit from reading this book.

Theological Innocence and Family History in the Land of Perpetrators: German Theologians after the Shoah

Questions about theological dilemmas in the face of the Shoah have been addressed by Jews and Christians alike in the wake of the genocidal anti-Semitism perpetrated by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. In Germany, theologians have also picked up the issue of the credibility of Christian faith Auschwitz, and their writings are usually subsumed under the heading of Theologie nach (theology Auschwitz). Almost all of the answers provided by German after Auschwitz theologians were written from within theological categories; these writers thus claim to speak generally as Christian theologians but neglect to contextualize themselves as German theologians. But what would happen if we broadened this field of theological inquiry beyond the limits of the internal logic of theological reasoning? What if we approached those through the lens of cultural criticism and asked about the positioning of German theological discourse in a country that wrought genocidal devastation across Europe? What if we brought to bear upon German theologies Auschwitz an interpretive perspective that included the impact of family history, of generational differences, and of narrative strategies on the construction of theological positions? In one word, what does it mean to do theology in the land of perpetrators?

The Empress Theodora: partner of Justinian

Preface Introduction Chapter 1. A New Dynasty Takes Power Chapter 2. The EarlyLife of Theodora Chapter 3. The Early Years in Power Chapter 4. The Nika Revolt Chapter 5. Theodora's Friends and Enemies Chapter 6. Theodora and Foreign Policy Chapter 7. The Theological Dilemma: The Search for Common Ground Chapter 8. Theodora's Quest for a New Strategy Chapter 9. The Coercion of Rome Chapter 10. Afterword Abbreviations Bibliography Notes Index

Problems and Parables of Law: Maimonides and Nahmanides on Reasons for the Commandments (Ta'amei Ha-Mitzvot) (review)

Reviewed by: Problems and Parables of Law: Maimonides and Nahmanides on Reasons for the Commandments (Ta’amei Ha-Mitzvot) James A. Diamond Problems and Parables of Law: Maimonides and Nahmanides on Reasons for the Commandments (Ta’amei Ha-Mitzvot), by Josef Stern. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998. 201 pp. $49.50 (c); $16.95 (p). One wonders if it is possible to contribute anything novel and enlightening to the virtually inundated field of Maimonidean studies. Though the field is undoubtedly worthy of all the attention, the caliber of scholarship does not always rise to the exacting standards of circumspection which Maimonides himself demanded of his readers. Josef Stern’s book qualifies him to be counted among the best of Maimonides’ modern interpreters by remaining faithfully mindful of the Guide of the Perplexed’s prefatory admonitions that its diction has been chosen “with great exactness and exceeding precision.” By way of a series of studies, all revised versions of previously published essays, Stern addresses serious theoretical and existential quandaries raised by Maimonides’ revolutionary and controversial account of the rationale for the commandments (ta’amei ha-mitzvot). As the title suggests, Stern’s focus is aimed at resolving the problems engendered by historically conditioned commandments as well as casting the commandments themselves in the hermeneutical mold of the parable. According to Maimonides, no law is without its rationale, and what distinguishes huqqim, traditionally understood to be divine yet arbitrary decrees, from others is merely the level of difficulty in determining their specific reasons. The commandments were a direct response to the idolatrous Sabian cult to which the ancient Israelites had become acculturated. The strategy of the Law was to adopt those very same practices and subvert them from within. The commandments are concessions to human nature, which must be progressively weaned off corrupt habits to the point of their total eradication. Paradigmatic of the Law’s telos are the sacrificial rites which adopt pagan practice only to restrict, confine, and regulate it so that it is ultimately emptied of its idolatrous tenets. Historicization of the Law, though, renders it vulnerable to the danger of antinomianism, which would militate against its continued performance in the face of new historical conditions and context. Chapters 2 and 6 set out to resolve this practical theological dilemma of the Law’s obsolescence by demonstrating that the Guide itself offers a response to an obvious threat which could not have escaped it. In the former chapter a profound analogy is drawn between nature and the Law both epistemologically and ontologically. Various implications are drawn from this parallel which argue forcefully for the immutability of the Law, as change would undermine its divine foundations. To choose but one [End Page 136] analogy, just as nature can only aim at a “general utility” which may cause damage in individual cases, so does the Law operate on the same basis. Both, though, having emerged from one deity, are as perfect as possibility allows. What is particularly intriguing is Stern’s discovery of another account in chapter III: 51–52 which addresses the concerns of philosophically mature worshippers who would find performance of archaic commands a futile exercise. It is precisely their utilitarian irrelevance, Stern argues, which makes them attractive vehicles for diverting one’s focus from worldly matters to divine ones. Drained as they are of their practical effects, they can be used exclusively as training apparatus to focus the mind on God, the sole endeavor in which man truly exploits his humanity. The only criticism I have of this astute solution is whether ultimately the needs of the religious and intellectual elite are truly satisfied by it. The very knowledge of a commandment’s practical obsolescence is bound to cloud performance of it and distract from its “other worldly training.” Chapter 6 of the book suggests another reason for the continued viability of the mitzvot in Maimonides’ awareness that the Sabian legacy of pagan ideology is alive and well in his own twelfth-century milieu. The original mandate of the mitzvot survives its historical origins. Chapter 3 deals with seemingly contradictory positions between the Mishneh Torah and the Guide on the mitzvah of shiluah ha...

Book Review: Also a Mother: Work and Family as Theological Dilemma

Book Review: Also a Mother: Work and Family as Theological Dilemma

Also a Mother: Work and Family as Theological Dilemma: Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore Nashville, Abingdon, 1994. 215 pp. $15.95

Also a Mother: Work and Family as Theological Dilemma: <i>Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore</i> Nashville, Abingdon, 1994. 215 pp. $15.95

Writing the Renaissance: Essays on Sixteenth-Century French Literature in Honor of Floyd Gray ed. by Raymond C. La Charité

L ’E sp r it C r éa te u r ingenuity and sheen of the study can shine forth— The Graphic Unconscious only demon­ strates the flaws to which any groundbreaking, idiosyncratic study will fall prey. No matter what its slight discrepancies, The Graphic Unconscious is a work that no sixteenth-century scholar can afford not to read. The first chapter deals with Clement M arot’s Rondeaux as demonstrating a theological dilemma, particularly in the altering o f typographic convention. He creates in print a silent space in which the coded self emerges through punning and counter-writing. In Chapter Two, “ The Rabelaisian Hieroglyph,” Rabelais’ text mimes architectural structuring pro­ grams of the period through such techniques as counterpoint, spiraling and mirror effects. Chapter Three, to my mind the strongest and most compelling of the chapters, is devoted to Ronsard’s “ sonnet-pictures.” Ronsard reacts against an official ideology of poetry, writing change and transformation into a sublevel of his text as visual paradigms of a new, freer expression. The discussion of Ronsard continues in Chapter Four, “ The Turn of the Letter: From Cassandre to Helene.” Ronsard scatters ideograms of himself, derived from vocali­ zation and orthographic theory, throughout his poems to create a texture, a materiality that works to assume the immortality of his poetic voice. His poetry is visual in the extreme, but not in the conventional sense: its visuals must be read in order to be viewed; they are not immediately apparent, but must be constructed by a sensitive and creative auscultation of the text. Chapter Five, on Montaigne’s “ De l’exercitation,” shows that typographic slips and slides are played on to convey the movement toward selfhood sketched in Montaigne’s Essais. In Chapter Six, Conley continues his reading of Montaigne, examining “ Des coches” to find a politico-economic technique both veiled and communicated by typogra­ phy. Conley’s conclusion reiterates his aim, one he has amply realized: to show “ where printed characters are seen engaging homeopathic and mimetic relations with readers” (164). I am tempted to call this work a schizophrenic-like sparkle o f neologism, a pyrotechnics of punning. But it is much, much more. Conley’s The Graphic Unconscious is simply the most creative, dynamic study in the field in years, energizing new approaches, condoning liberties taken with the text by using the text itself as point-of-departure. He is a reader in the fullest sense: he permits the text to actualize itself, to achieve a culturally-specific voice even in these acontextual times. C a t h a r i n e R a n d a l l Barnard College/Columbia University Raym ond C. La Charité, ed. W r i t i n g t h e R e n a is s a n c e : E s s a y s o n S ix t e e n t h - C e n t u r y F r e n c h L i t e r a t u r e in H o n o r o f F lo y d G r a y . Lexington, KY: French Forum Mono­ graphs, 1992. Pp. 231. Floyd Gray has been, for many years, not just one of this country’s most productive and stimulating seiziémistes, but one of its most influential, in terms of both his published work and his personal contact with students. Even the French, mirabile dictu, acknowledge their debt to him, if we may judge from the warm tribute here by André Tournon. The 15 articles in this volume divide neatly into three sections of five articles each: Rabelais, poets, Montaigne. The Rabelais contributions are stronger on individual view­ point than on original material; Raymond La Charité discusses the “ alimentary design” of Pantagruel; Tom Conley, the cartography of G 33; Terence Cave, the reading of signs, and in particular the death of Guillaume Du Bellay; Marcel Tetel, the physetère of the Quart Livre; and Michel Jeanneret, the general question of monsters. Some theories expounded here seem to me untenable, but all are lively and worth pondering. 102 Su m m e r 1995 Bo o k R...

Edward Bellamy's Religious Radicalism

This essay offers a critical reinterpretation of Edward Bellamy's Utopian novel. Looking Backward, that focuses on the moral destructiveness of industrial capitalism, Bellamy's attempt to restore Christian values and republican traditions led him to confront his own religious upbringing revolting against harsh Calvinism as well as the feminization of Protestantism. These theological dilemmas were compounded by both his belief that the Church was corrupted by the dictates of the capitalists and his need to find a spiritual relation between the individual and the infinite outside the Church. He reached a resolution to his spiritual consternation through his fiction, most forcefully in Looking Backward, which approximated a new "Bible" for industrial America.

Fear, Anxiety and Reverence in Akkadian, Biblical Hebrew and Other North-West Semitic Languages

By bringing bear upon the discussion of two ancient Semitic verbs meaning to fear-Hebrew yr' and Akkadian paldbuthe findings of the modern study of the emotions, it is possible propose a plausible answer the theological dilemma as why the Hebrew Bible should employ as a term for religiosity a term which regularly describes emotions of dread and fright. Moreover, the light shed on Hebrew yr' and Akkadian palahu will, in turn, elucidate the nuances of the verb stc (ttc) in Ugaritic, Phoenician, Ammonite, and Biblical Hebrew (see below). The Hebrew verb yr', which is commonly rendered to fear, may refer either virtuous feelings and behavior,2 which are prescribed,3 or non-virtuous feelings and behavior, which are pro-

Protestant Social Thought and the Nazi State, 1933-1937

Adolf Hitler's accession on 31 January 1933 meant a crisis for the Protestant churches of Germany. By spring of 1933, Hitler's Gleichschaltung attempted to bring even organized Christianity under Nazi control. Thus began the German church struggle, the Kirchenkampf, a painful conflict that would redefine the nature of German Christianity. Historians have described in great detail the political machinations surrounding the creation of the Deutsche Evangelische Kirche (DEK), a new united church that replaced the existing loose federation of virtually independent provincial churches. The foundation of the DEK was a victory for Hitler and the Deutsche Christen, the party of dogmatic Nazi pastors, for it was truly a national church founded to serve the state and express the will of the people. The intrusion of state policy into internal affairs of the church gave rise to a rival group of Protestants, the Confessing Christians, who dissented against Nazi church reforms. Most of the voluminous literature on the church struggle {Kirchenkampf) deals with this fascinating political, institutional conflict.1 The intellectual dimensions of the church struggle, although a primary concern of participants at the time, have been largely ignored by historians.2 German churchmen were, indeed, faced with a profound theological and ethical dilemma after 1933 that centered around a question that has plagued German Protestantism since Martin Luther: Does the church provide normative guidance for the state or must it merely obey and even actively support state policy? In addition, scholars have portrayed participants in the conflict as either protagonists or antagonists, firmly on the side of Hitler's