The faction of the “German Christian Faith Movement” (GDC, or the “German Christians”) in the church under the leadership of Joachim Hossenfelder, a pastor in Berlin, did its utmost as of 1932 to nazify the Protestant church in Prussia”, and, as of 1933, the entire Reich in the wake of the “national awakening” in keeping with the political “revolution.” They advocated racial and anti-Semitic ideas geared toward the Führerprinzip and aspired with their aims to take the lead in the Protestant church quickly. At their first “national assembly” in Berlin in early April of 1933, they called for the introduction of the “Aryan paragraph” within the Protestant church as well and for the formation of a Reich Church. In keeping with the Führerprinzip, they wanted to see a “Reich Bishop” at their head as the representative of all Protestants. This was actually translated into reality, at least nominally, at their first national synod in Wittenberg in September of 1933.

We were finally able to meet this past Wednesday and submit our essays and finish Chapter 24.  Just one more chapter to go!

Also, this site has reached over 10,200 hits as of today.  Amazing.  Thank you all for visiting and contributing to this site.

Reading Church history as we’ve been doing for the past year and a half has been quite sobering, to say the least, for all of us as we go through MacCulloch’s book.  In this chapter, we thought about the reasons why so many Christians might ally themselves with blatantly evil forces such as the Nazi Party during World War II.  At times, during extreme circumstances you have to go into a form of ‘survival mode’ and defer to the powers at be in order to stay alive or not get yourself killed.  Yes, this is a very watered-down reasoning on why the German (both Protestant and Catholic) Churches supported the Nazis (there are other more complex factors involved for sure), but it was, dare I say, understandable.  If faced with a life and death situation, there will be some who will become martyrs for the faith in defiance towards the powers at be, and others who will compromise and capitulate to the domineering powers.  Though many will make quick, knee-jerk reactions and snap judgements that they were cowards and perhaps not real Christians, in reality it’s not an easy decision to make.  When you factor in personal economic and family considerations, you count how much you can lose and base your decisions on that.  We cannot be quite sure how we’d respond during extreme circumstances where our faiths are tested to its furthest extent.

Also, a couple of us in the group (Michael and I) have been part of Pentecostal and charismatic churches in the past, and it was interesting to learn and read about the history of the development of its theology over the years, and why it has such a high appeal to so many people that it is the fastest growing Church movement in history.

Here are our essays.