Theologians Under Hitler

About this book

What led so many German Protestant theologians to welcome the Nazi regime and its policies of racism and anti-Semitism? In this provocative book Robert P. Ericksen examines the work and attitudes of three distinguished scholarly and influential theologians who greeted the rise of Hitler with enthusiasm and support. In so doing he shows how National Socialism could appeal to well-meaning and intelligent people in Germany and why the German university and church were so silent about the excesses and evil that confronted them. "This book is stimulating and thought-provoking....The issues it raises range well beyond the confines of the case-studies of the three theologians examined and have relevance outside the particular context of Hitlers Germany....That the book compels the reader to rethink some important questions about the susceptibility of intelligent human beings to as distasteful a phenomenon as fascism is an important achievement."Ian Kershaw History Today "Ericksens study...throws light on the kinds of perversion to which Christian beliefs and attitudes are easily susceptible and is therefore timely and useful." Gordon D. Kaufman Los Angeles Times "An understanding and carefully documented study."Ernst C. Helmreich American Historical Review "This dark book poses a number of social economic and cultural questions that one has to answer before condemning Kittel Althaus and Hirsch."William Griffin Publishers Weekly "A highly competent well written book."Tim Bradshaw Churchman