Faith and fatherland : parish politics in Hitler's Germany / Kyle Jantzen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jantzen, Kyle, 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church history--Germany--20th century.

Church history.

Christianity and politics--Germany--History--20th century.

Christianity and politics.

National socialism and religion.

History.

Germany.

Physical Description:

vii, 247 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : Fortress Press, [2008]

Summary:

This important book, based on archival sources from all levels of the Protestant church, examines parish life during the Nazi era in three distinct Lutheran regions of Germany: Brandenburg, Saxony, and Wurttemberg. Rather than focusing on high-church politics, famous characters, or national events, however, it asks what the German Church Struggle looked like in the eyes of parish pastors and their parishioners.

While Jantzen's original work confirms the general understanding that most German Protestants (hampered by their cultural and theological traditions) failed to resist or even critique the Nazi regime, it also reveals a surprising diversity of opinion and variety of action, from the deep commitment to Nazism of many church leaders to the successful efforts of some Lutheran pastors and parishioners to resist the nazification of their churches.

Contents:

Introduction

Faith and fatherland through the eyes of clergy

National socialism as a catalyst for German Protestant renewal?

Pastoral appointments and the local church struggle

Clerical responses to euthanasia and anti-semitism

The church struggle in Nauen, Brandenburg

The church struggle in Pirna, Saxony

The church struggle in Ravensburg, Württemberg.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-213) and index.

ISBN:

9780800623586

0800623584

OCLC:

156832311