Susannah Heschel’s Aryan Grundmann

Abstract

This discussion of The Aryan Jesus (2008) welcomes its combating all antisemitism but questions whether it sufficiently distinguishes that from an also deplorable theological anti-Judaism. Heschel’s account of the Eisenach Institute (1939—42), which aimed to de-Judaize German Christianity, provides a one-sided impression of 1930s German church history. The book’s broader thesis that Christianity is racist depends on a failure to distinguish clearly between the churches and the völkisch movement that stands behind Nazi antisemitism. Criticisms made of individual biblical scholars confirm the responsibility to counter an anti-Judaism that was bound to fuel modern secular antisemitism. Both are different from the Christian antisemitism prevalent in the Middle Ages.

Ethnicity Comes of Age: An Overview of Twentieth-Century Terms for Ioudaios

“…Koonz argues that within Nazi-era Germany, ‘Volk’ and ‘völkisch’ should be translated by ‘ethnicity’ and ‘ethnic’ because they carried positive connotations and were used in contrast with the more derogatory-sounding ‘Rasse’ and ‘rassisch’ (Koonz 2003: 9-10). The negative connotations of ‘Rasse’ and ‘rassisch’ may explain why Kuhn and Gutbrod avoided ‘Rasse’, and why ‘rassisch’ only occurs twice (Gutbrod 1938: 371 n. 84, 383), but the positive—or neutral (Morgan 2010: 483 n. 88)—connotations of ‘völkisch’ do not mean that ‘ethnic’ is its best translation here. If translating ‘Volk’ by ‘race’ obscures the semantic relationship between ‘völkisch’ and ‘rassisch’, translating ‘Volk’ by ‘ethnicity’ overlooks the fact that the adjective ‘ethnisch’ (a German equivalent for ‘ethnic’) was also current in 1930s German scholarship (see Weber 1922: 216-26; Von Rad 1938), as was the German adjective ‘national’—and, in modern German at least, the semantic range of ‘Nationalität’ closely parallels the English word ‘ethnicity’ (Goodblatt 2006: 6).…”

Fashions, Fallacies and Future Prospects in New Testament Studies

“…For her further discussion of the matter, see Heschel 2008: 225-32. See also the lengthy engagement with Heschel’s book by Robert Morgan (2010). However, Morgan’s critique is directed more at Heschel’s representation of the German Christian movement and certain individuals within it, as well as alleging a failure to distinguish adequately between ‘anti-Judaism’ and ‘anti-Semitism’.…”