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Pur i t a ns , and convinced of his owndepravity. Andrews, w ho
would notcavil to see a Catholic priest hung or aPuritan divine
exiled under unspeak-able conditions, spen t five hours everymor n
ing in prayer so emotional thathe often wept when he considered
hissins. Andrew s and others among th etranslators, notably
Laurence Chader-ton, the first master of Emm anuel Col-lege, were
great preachers and he ldcongregations spellbound for hours.G od '
s w or d was so i m p o r t a n t thata t t e n d a n c e at the S
u n d a y s e r m o nwas compulsory, and many familiesattended two
and three sermons, con-suming th e entire day baptized in
thelanguage of Scripture.
The tenor of our own day is to viewthe scholar translator
through a roman-tic prism, working as a solitary grap-pling with
the intricacies of the anc ienttext . Nicolson introduces us to
menfrom a different world, som e worldly,some saintly, but all
practitioners of amuscular Christianity that has all
butdisappeared. They inhabit these pagesin all their delightful
eccentricities. Thep e r s o n a l i t i e s of the t r a ns l a to
r s a remem orable, and their collective coop-e ra t ion on a work
tha t cont inues toinspire after 40 0 years is a sure testa-ment to
their abilities. I highly recom-me nd this most readable work.
Were the NazisChristians?Dimitri CavalliT he Holy Reich: Nazi
Conceptionsof C hristianity, 1919-1945Richard Steigmann-Gall,
Cambridge Uni-versity Pres s ,310 pages, $30I n th e last several
decades, man ybooks and articles have been pu b-l i s h e d a b o u
t th e r e l a t i o n s h i pb e t w e e n t h e i n d i v i d u a
l C h r i s t i a nD I M I T R I C A V A L L I writes biographies
for the H. W.W ilson Comp any, a reference publisher in theBronx,
New York. He is planning books on bothPope Pius XII and Joe
McCarthy, the late man-ager of the New Y ork Yankees.
c hur c he s in G e r m a n y and the N a z ir e g ime . In his
b o o k , an a da p t a t i onof his doctoral dissertation at theU
n i v e r s i t y of Toronto, R i c h a r dSteigmann-Gall, who
currently servesas an assistant professor of history atKent State
University in Ohio, seeks tob r e a k ne w s c h o l a r l y g r o
u n d an de x p l o r e th e re l ig ious be l ie fs of theNazi
leaders themselves.Much of the previous scholarshipportrayed Nazism
as a pagan an d anti-Christian movement that brutally per-secuted
both th e Catholic an d variousProtestant churches. Political andpr
a c t i c a l c ons ide r a t i ons , how e ve r ,made the
immediate extermination ofChr is t iani ty imposs ib le . A s part
ofthe i r s t r a tegy t o win s u p p o r t f r o mGerman Protes
tants and even Cath-olics, the Nazis publicly affirmed theirc o m m
i t m e n t to C h r i s t i a n v a l u e sunder the guise of
"positive Christian-ity." Once they were firmly in powerand
presumably after their victory inWor ld War II, the Nazis would
have
Despite th e persecutionof the churches and thegrowing contempt
for
Christianity by top Nazileaders, Steigmann-Gall
concludes thatChristianity would stillhave had some place in
the Third Reich.sough t to exte rmina te Chr is t iani ty
.Drawing on a wide range of pr imaryand secondary sources , S te
igmann-Gal l offers a d i f f e r e n t pe r spe c t i ve ,writing,
"I suggest that, for many of itsleaders, Nazism was not the result
of
The Master of Artsin Catholic Studiesk Explore th e t ruth,
beauty, an d vitali tyof th e Catholic intellectual tradition
as it has influenced cultures an ddisciplines over time. Core
coursesin this interdisciplinary programinclude theology,
philosophy an dhistory. Select elective courses suchas literature,
art, social thought,an d the sciences to m eet youreducational and
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For more information oran application, contact:
The Center fo r Catholic StudiesUniversity of St. Thomas
(651)[email protected]
www.sttthomas.edu/cathstudies/mastersBl U N I V E R S I T Y o /
S T . T H O M A S
WWW.C R 1SI SM A G A Z I N E .C O M + C R I S I S FEBRUARY 2004
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the 'Death of God' in secularized soci-e t y , but rather a
radicalized and singu-larly horrific attempt to preserve Godagainst
seculariz ed society."F a r f rom be ing pagan o r anti-Chris t ian
, the Nazi Party's polit icalplatform, which was adopted in
1920,supported freedom of religion for allChristian denominations,
but as long"as they do not endanger [the Ger-man state's] existence
or conflict withthe customs and moral sentiments ofthe German ic r
ace . " Al though theNazis refused to embrace an y particu-lar
denomination, the party affirmedi ts comm i tmen t to "positive
Chris-t ianity," a religious philosophy thatwas del ibera te ly
shor t on concre tedetails. "Positive Christianity was notan
attempt to make a complete reli-gious system with dogma or ritual
ofit s own," Steigmann-Gall writes. "I twas never fo rmal ized into
a faith towhich anyone could convert. Rather,this was primarily a
social and politi-
cal worldview meant to emphas izethose qual i t ies in Chr i s t
i an i ty thatcould en d sectarianism."Sur ve y ing the early Nazi
move-ment dur ing the 1920s, Steigmann-
Gall finds that Dietrich Eckart, one ofthe par ty ' s ideo
logues whom AdolfHitler cred ited as his mentor, wrote,"In Chr i s
t , the e m b o d i m e n t of allmanliness, we find al l that
[Germanyneeds]." In a speech de l ive r ed in1 9 2 2 , Hit ler ha i
led Chr is t as "ourgrea test Ar yan leader ." F our yearsla ter ,
Hi t le r declared tha t th e N a z iParty w o u l d c o m p l e t
e "the w o r kwhich Chr is t had b e g u n but couldnot f in ish .
" S te igma nn -Ga l l , how-ever, ignores the fact that Hitler
chosea swas t ika , a v a r i a t i o n of a p a g a nsymbol that
dates back thousands ofyears, instead of a Christian cross asth e
Nazi Party's symbol.
When the N a z i s took p o w e r in1933, they e s t a b l i s h
e d a n off ic ia l"Reich Church," which attempted to
bring the different Protestant churcunder state control. Hitler
appoinLudwig Miiller , a mil i tary chapland anti-Sem ite, as the
Reich bishOpposition by Protestant pastorsminis ters such as M a r
t i n Niemosuccess fu l ly f ru s t r a t ed the Naa t t e m p t s
to u n i f y the P r o t e s tchurches. The plan was
subsequenabandoned in 1937. As for Miillerremained a marginal
figure who comitted suicide at the end of the war
Ste igmann -Ga l l wr i t e s thatNazis' hostility to the
churches intsified by the end of the 1930s. Tpe r secu t ion of the
churches, whreached i t s c l imax du r ing WoW ar II, included the
closing of religischools , the co nfisca t ion of chuproperty, the
suppression of chuperiodicals, and the imprisonma n d m u r d e r
of the clergy . F o r author , these ac ts do not es tab ltha t th
e Nazis were "anti-Christibut rather anti-clerical. Indeed, Hi
"Must reading for young ana old whoare seeking inspiration/
Hon. William H.G. FitzGerald"I recommendAn American Dreamtoall
who are seeking to lead a lifeof generous service."
His Emnence JamesCardinal Rickey
Hardcover only, $24.95B o
800.746.8
54 C R I S I S 4- F E B R U A R Y 2004 -f W W W . C R I S I S M
A G A Z I N E . C O M
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d i s t i n g u i s h e d b e t w e e n C h r i s t i a n -ity
as a religion and the Church as aninstitution.T h e a u t h o r r e
p o r t s that N a z io f f i c i a l s s u c h a s E r i c h K o c
h , th eG a ule i t e r of East Prussia and la tert h e R e i c h c
o m m i s s i o n e r f o r theU k r a i n e ; Hanns K e r r l , t
h e R e i c hchurch minister; and Bernhard Rust ,th e R e i c h e d
u c a t i o n m i n i s t e r , a l lidentif ied themselves as
Christians.By c o n t r a s t , t h e w e l l - k n o w n N a z il
eade r s such as Alf red R o s e n b e r g ,He in r i ch H immle r
, Re inha rd Hey -d r i c h , a n d M a r t i n B o r m a n n w e r
efanatical ant i -Chr is t ians . "Nat ionalSocialism and Christian
conceptionsare incompat ib le ," Bormann wroteto the Nazi
Gauleiters in 1941. "TheChristian churches build on
peoples'uncertainty and at tempt to mainta inthis fear in the
widest possible sec-tion of the population, since only inthis way
can the Christian churches
keep thei r power . By contra st , N a-tional Socialism rests on
sc ien t i f icfoundations."D e s p i t e h is ea r l i e r s t a t
emen t s ,H i t l e r seemed to turn c o m p l e t e l ya g a i n s
t C h r i s t i a n i t y d u r i n g t h ewar. "The Fiihrer is
deeply religious,though complete ly an t i -Chr is t ian ,"Joseph
Goebbels, the minister of pro-paganda, wrote in his diary on D
ecem-ber 28,1939. "He views Christianity asa sym ptom of decay.
Rightly so. It is ab r anch of the Jewish race." In 1941Hitler told
his top aides that "Chris-tianity is the prototype of
Bolshevism:the m o b i l i s a t i o n by the Jew of themasse s of
slaves wi th the o b jec t ofundermining society."D e s p i t e the
p e r s e c u t i o n of thechurches and the growing contempt fo rC
h r i s t i a n i t y by top Naz i l eade r s ,Steigmann-Gall
concludes that Chris-tianity would still have had some placein the
T hi rd Re ich . B u t w h a t k ind
of Christianity would it have been?Would most Catholics an d
Protestantsin countr ies occupied b y G e r m a n yhave been c omfo
rtable with or evenrecognizedthis b rand of Christianity,whose
basic doctr ines were ignoredor radica l ly a l tered by the Naz i
s toconform to their racist and totalitarianideology?Despite a few
reservations, studentsof the period w ill benefit from readingTh e
Holy Re i c h , which is rich in detailan d provides many
interesting insightsinto the religious views of the NazisLike
Steigmann-Gall, we should all betroubled by the fact that many
rank-and-file Nazis considered themselves"good" Christians. But we
also shouldkeep in mind that many "Chr is t ian"Nazis were able to
alleviate their con-sciences b y al lowing thei r re l ig iousfaith
to be subordinated to a destruc-tive political ideology that ran
contraryto the teachings of Jesus Christ. 4-
ALTAR BOYTh e child wa s wondering, where do fathers come from?F
or as he watched his own, stridin g beside him,He seem ed so large,
so other, that a b irthdayW as an impossibility. Th e eonsMoved at
his height; the strength of suns su rroundedThe head that bowed
toward him as he was hurriedAlong the wide walk; mystical assuran
ceOf all thin gs right, and deep, was in the earne stResonance of
his voice. This chilly m orni ngRenewed conviction in the
wondererThat w hen they would desc end the echoing staircase;W hile
F ather vested in the paneled cham berBeneath the chancel; when th
ey would rise upAgain into the nave, and at an altarTogether move
in patterns he had mastered;W hen he w ould serve, in humbleness,
this powerIntimate with holy mystery;He w ould be in the presence
of a beingBeyond mere flesh an d blood, no t born to time.
Thomas Carper
W W W . C t U S I s M A G A Z I N E . C O M + C R I S I S F E B
R U A R Y 2004 55
