Varieties of Protestantism in Nazi Germany. Five Theopolitical Positions

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Pages:516
ISBN:0-88946-790-0
978-0-88946-790-3
Price:$299.95 + shipping
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Examines the history of Christianity in the area of the relationship between theology and politics, particularly as applied to the encounter of German Protestantism and National Socialism, a topic usually treated as the German church struggle. Goes beyond the narrow and limited concerns of the church struggle by both historically deepening and methodologically broadening the perspective through a combined historical and systematic approach. Feige's five-pronged typology of Protestant responses to National Socialism opens up a comparative vantage point from which to address the strengths and weaknesses of the individual responses more fully. The five types are represented by the confessional position of Karl Barth, the neo-conservative Paul Althaus, the National Socialist Emanuel Hirsch, the liberal Martin Rade, and the religious socialist Paul Tillich. The typology is a heuristic device in the sense that equal attention is given to all five types.

Reviews

". . . makes for solid reading." - The Catholic Historical Review

". . . a laudable effort. The bulk of the literature on the Kirchenkampf concentrates on the institutional history of the struggle. This work brings back into focus the intellectual and theological dimensions. . . . Feige's discussion. . . is enlightening. . ." - Journal of Church and State

". . . [ce] mérite une lecture attentive, tant par le champ historique couvert que par la méthodologie mise en oeuvre. En effet, l'a s'efforce de renouveler l'étude du protestantisme allemand aux prises avec le nazisme par une histoire des idées qui ne manque pas d'originalité....On est en droit de penser qu'un tel positionnement plus volontiers typologique et comparatif puisse faire davantage justice à la réalité historique que l'approche trop exclusivement ecclésiale. . . . Signalons enfin que ce type d'étude est très utile par le simple fait de rendre accessible en anglais une grande partie des résultats de la recherche en langue allemande sur le sujet." - Études Théologiques et Religieuses

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