Preaching in Hitler's Shadow

Preaching in Hitler's Shadow
Author: Dean G. Stroud
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2013-10-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 0802869025

What did German preachers opposed to Hitler say in their Sunday sermons? When the truth of Christ could cost a pastor his life, what words encouraged and challenged him and his congregation? This book answers those questions. Preaching in Hitler's Shadow begins with a fascinating look at Christian life inside the Third Reich, giving readers a real sense of the danger that pastors faced every time they went into the pulpit. Dean Stroud pays special attention to the role that language played in the battle over the German soul, pointing out the use of Christian language in opposition to Nazi rhetoric. The second part of the book presents thirteen well-translated sermons by various select preachers, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, and others not as well known but no less courageous. A running commentary offers cultural and historical insights, and each sermon is preceded by a short biography of the preacher.

Preaching to Nazi Germany

Preaching to Nazi Germany
Author: William Skiles
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2023
Genre: History
ISBN: 1978700644

In Preaching to Nazi Germany, William Skiles argues that clergy expressed various messages that aimed to limit Nazi interference in church affairs and at times even to undermine the Nazi state and its leaders and policies.

Apocalypse When?

Apocalypse When?
Author: Leah D. Schade
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2020-09-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725262479

Apocalyptic texts are often seen as either frightening or irrelevant, a tool for fearmongering and manipulation or for the lucrative doomsday industry. But Apocalypse When?: Interpreting and Preaching Apocalyptic Texts equips readers to understand these texts as sources of encouragement and strength for the church. As the world faces threats of war, poverty, climate and environmental crises, and political upheaval, churches can draw on the wisdom and courage of our biblical ancestors who faced their own calamities and persecutions. Their struggles against powerful economic, militaristic, cultural, and social forces drew them closer to God. We have much to learn from their faith, ethical integrity, and dedication to the promises of God that engender hope in the midst of turmoil and terror. With solid historical exegesis, thought-provoking ideas for preaching, and examples of sermons that creatively and compellingly proclaim God’s word, this book provides much-needed guidance for the church in tumultuous times.

Kairos, Crisis, and Global Apartheid

Kairos, Crisis, and Global Apartheid
Author: Allan Aubrey Boesak
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2016-01-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1137495316

In 1985, the Kairos Document emerged out of the anti-apartheid struggle as a devastating critique of apartheid and a challenge to the church in that society. This book is a call to discern new moments of crisis, discernment and kairos, and respond with prophetic resistance to global injustice.

Preaching and Social Issues

Preaching and Social Issues
Author: Leah D. Schade
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2024-10-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1538187620

Preaching and Social Issues: Tools and Tactics for Empowering Your Prophetic Voice equips preachers to craft sermons that help congregations talk about topics of public concern based on strong ethical, biblical, and theological foundations as well as prudent sermonic strategies. Informed by years of research with clergy and congregations, Leah D. Schade provides practical and pastoral guidance for preachers to find their prophetic voice for their context with integrity and wisdom. Preaching and Social Issues offers an assessment tool for gauging risk and capacity for preaching about social issues and suggests three approaches—Gentle, Invitational, and Robust. This book includes case studies and sermons that illustrate different approaches for preaching about contemporary topics.

Remembering the Reformation

Remembering the Reformation
Author: Thomas Albert Howard
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2016-08-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0191069116

The 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 focuses the mind on the history and significance of Protestant forms of Christianity. It also prompts the question of how the Reformation has been commemorated on past anniversary occasions. In an effort to examine various meanings attributed to Protestantism, this book recounts and analyzes major commemorative occasions, including the famous posting of the 95 Theses in 1517 or the birth and death dates of Martin Luther, respectively 1483 and 1546. Beginning with the first centennial jubilee in 1617, Remembering the Reformation: An Inquiry into the Meanings of Protestantism makes its way to the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth, internationally marked in 1983. While the book focuses on German-speaking lands, Thomas Albert Howard also looks at Reformation commemorations in other countries, notably in the United States. The central argument is that past commemorations have been heavily shaped by their historical moment, exhibiting confessional, liberal, nationalist, militaristic, Marxist, and ecumenical motifs, among others.

Then They Came for Me

Then They Came for Me
Author: Matthew D Hockenos
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2018-09-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0465097871

"First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out-Because I was not a Communist . . . " Few today recognize the name Martin Niemör, though many know his famous confession. In Then They Came for Me, Matthew Hockenos traces Niemör's evolution from a Nazi supporter to a determined opponent of Hitler, revealing him to be a more complicated figure than previously understood. Born into a traditionalist Prussian family, Niemör welcomed Hitler's rise to power as an opportunity for national rebirth. Yet when the regime attempted to seize control of the Protestant Church, he helped lead the opposition and was soon arrested. After spending the war in concentration camps, Niemör emerged a controversial figure: to his supporters he was a modern Luther, while his critics, including President Harry Truman, saw him as an unrepentant nationalist. A nuanced portrait of courage in the face of evil, Then They Came for Me puts the question to us today: What would I have done?

Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust

Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust
Author: Beth A. Griech-Polelle
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2023-01-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 135015864X

Appreciating the power of language, and how discriminatory words can have deadly consequences, is pivotal to our understanding of the Holocaust. Engaging with a wealth of primary sources and significant Holocaust scholarship, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust traces the historical tradition of anti-Semitism to explore this in detail. From religious anti-Semitism in ancient Rome to racially-led anti-Semites focused on building superior nation-states in 19th-century Europe to Hitler's vitriolic attacks, Griech-Polelle analyzes how tropes and stereotypes incited suspicion, dislike and hatred of the Jews – and, ultimately, how this was used to drive anti-Semitic feeling toward genocide. Crucially, this 2nd edition sheds further light on the everyday experience of ordinary Germans and Jews under the Nazi regime, with new chapters examining the role of the Christian Churches in Hitler's persecution of the Jews and those who participated in rescue work and resistance more broadly. With new illustrations, a detailed glossary and up-to-date further reading suggestions and questions, this 2nd edition provides a concise and lucid survey of European Jewry, the Holocaust, and the language of anti-Semitism.

Luther, Bonhoeffer, and Public Ethics

Luther, Bonhoeffer, and Public Ethics
Author: Michael P. DeJonge
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2018-09-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1978703465

Prompted by the 2017 commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, this book examines the legacy of Martin Luther in the life, work, and reception of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the most widely read modern Lutheran theologian. Framing the commemoration of the Reformation in conversation with Bonhoeffer’s legacy places much more than Bonhoeffer’s connection to Luther at stake. Given the fraught relationship of the Lutheran Bonhoeffer with the German Protestant Church under National Socialism, the question inevitably arises: “What happened to Luther’s church in Germany?” This in turn prompts the question: “How did the Protestant tradition play out in public life in other nations?” And these historical issues in turn encourage reflection on a question that exercised both Luther and Bonhoeffer: “What will be the shape of the church in the future?” In these pages, an international group of scholars and practitioners from both church and state pursues these questions.