The Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life

A Book Review of Susannah Heschel's, 2008, 'The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany', 1st Edition, Princeton University Press: Princeton

The Aryan Jesus is a strange book with a quite provocative title that we may presume is meant to evoke a sense of irony in Heschel's readers. Since it is widely taught, and believed, today that the historical Jesus was jewish regardless of what we may say. Although this is a rather materialistic assumption and quite opposed to what one might consider consistent Christian doctrine (i.e. how can Jesus even be part human if he is God, but rather must be God in human form, which is a subtle yet very important distinction that has to be made): it never-the-less provides the basis for an interesting and in some respects laudable study of one of the main institutes researching into what jewish academic Alan Steinweiss termed 'Nazi Jewish Studies' (i.e. a critical version of the rather uncritical jewish studies of modern times).

The academic institute around which Heschel's book is based was named 'The Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence in German Religious Life', which both generally explains the focus of the institute's activities and its intellectual mission. To be more precise we can say that the institute's activities we targeted towards removing jewish ideas and concepts from Protestant Christianity in the Germanic homelands and its mission was to provide the intellectual and popular basis for a revival of Christianity in line with its Aryan roots.

Heschel, being a jewess, repeatedly scoffs at this intellectual postion (and its supporting evidence) and suggests that it is based on a 'series of unjustified inferences' without giving her assertion a basis in fact first. This is interesting, because Heschel simply takes it for granted that Jesus was a jew but merely assumes the equation of religion equates race (and then applies it to intellectual thought the Third Reich which specifically rejected this equation) and that Jesus was not, in fact, the Messiah (since the Messiah would not actually be of a race, but might take the physical form of a race).

In this Heschel is misstating, perhaps deliberately, the arguments of the one of the main theologians behind the institute, Walter Grundmann, who she notes had argued that Jesus was irracial in his earlier work and then went on to argue later that Jesus was, in fact, an Aryan as well as a precursor to National Socialism. This Heschel states is a contradiction in terms and is an 'evolution of thought' towards making Christianity in general, and Protestantism specifically, more acceptable to the Third Reich. This idea of an 'evolution of thought' lies at the very foundation of Heschel's argument in so far as she argues, and unsuccessfully attempts to evidence, the thesis that Grundmann and the many other theologians associated with the institute actively and progressively corrupted their own theology, the unstated adjective in Heschel's mind being 'jewish', contra their own scholarship in order to make their ideas congruent, or at least acceptable, to National Socialism. This idea is a, presumably deliberate, attempt to delegitimise the Institute's theologians and their scholarship by suggesting that, in effect, they became intellectually bankrupt and tried to save their own skins by bending their scholarship to suit the ideology of National Socialism.

This is not to say an 'evolution of thought' thesis is entirely incorrect for clearly individual and group's ideas evolve, but Heschel is misinterpreting the normal evolution of ideas to mean the deliberate corruption of ideas in order to fit a preconceived notion of the world. Although to be sure all organisms with the capability to think are guilty of this to a greater or less extent (due to biological subjectivity i.e. the affect of their own biology on their intellectual thought and psychology) if Heschel's logic were to hold she would have to actually demonstrate this corruption with evidence (which she does not). Rather Heschel produces a somewhat detailed chronicle of the intellectual currents and ideas behind the formation of the institute and then implies that shows the deliberate corruption of scholarship that she wishes to indicate (as to simply invalidate the scholarship she is discussing entirely). This would evidence a normal evolution of ideas but not a corruption of ideas in so far as the institute's mission was the logical result of a long and happy trend in German theological scholarship rather than simply a reaction to the formation and consolidation of the Third Reich.

Grundmann's logic should have been clear to Heschel, as it is not only logically implied but stated in his works on the question of Jesus' material origins, in so far as she characterises Grundmann as changing his position, but in fact all Grundmann did was elaborate on his position in regards to Christ when he argued that he was by nature irracial, but the form he took was that of an Aryan. This was also in line with what had been argued by German scholars in the 19th century, as Heschel notes, as it is based on the, correct, assertion that Galilee was not racially jewish and had Judaism imposed upon them by the jews when they invaded the territory. Heschel seems to be so desperate to discredit Grundmann and Institute, in order to facilitate the claim that Jesus was a jew and therefore all Christians should be pro-jewish, that she misstates his theses constantly. One can only suggest on the basis of these distortions that they are deliberate since it is obvious Heschel has read numerous works produced by the Institute, and Grundmann in particular, but hasn't represented them accurately but has in fact added in some of the intellectual context.

Readers might find it strange that we have concentrated on Grundmann, but we have done so in order to point out Heschel's agenda in her book in so far as she continually dismissing the institute's research, misstates its arguments and spends the last chapter of her book trying to substantiate the claim that there is a sinister 'Nazi conspiracy' in Protestant Christianity centred on the postwar activities of Grundmann and the institute's scholars who by enlarge survived the war. She also tries to suggest that Grundmann and the institute's scholars were in some way partially 'responsible' for the 'persecution of the jews' and the so-called 'holocaust', which is rather absurd given that an intellectual position can't be held to be 'causing racial hatred' without directly suggesting as such in much the same way as Alan Dershowitz can't be accused, as much as one might wish to, of advocating and supporting genocide.

'The Aryan Jesus' spends a lot of time concentrating on the particulars of the institute and these to my knowledge are largey accurate in terms of narrative and correctly notes that Reichsleiter Bormann was a large rabidly anti-Christian thorn in the side of the institute and the German Christians in general. Heschel also correctly notes that Bormann forced the Institute to take more extreme positions in order to be achieve the recognition it sought from the NSDAP, but this was never to be unfortunately. Heschel's notion that much of the NSDAP membership were devout Christians who saw in the NSDAP the force for spiritual regeneration through a newly invigorated Christianity will surprise many, but if one stops to think about it: it does make intellectual sense. If the NSDAP was to achieve power it needed to draw on the conservative demographic as well as the revolutionary demographic and the foundation of the conservative demographic of Weimar was its Christianity, in particular Protestant Christianity. We should however note that the NSDAP was more successful in recruiting the Protestant faithful as opposed to the Catholic faithful, because of the existence of the Catholic Centre Party (Zentrum) and that the NSDAP was suspicious of the Jesuits who were seen as the powerful agents of a foreign power (the Pope).

Heschel's narrative in 'The Aryan Jesus' is generally good and it is certainly a book that we can recommend reading as it offers an interesting insight into Protestant Christianity during the Third Reich and furnishes many intellectual ideas, often in passing, that are of value to National Socialism today. However it is worth remembering that Heschel often distorts the intellectual positions of the institute and hence her comments on this score should be taken with a pinch of salt and a critical mind rather than by simple acceptance. All in all 'The Aryan Jesus' is a worthwhile addition to any National Socialist's library and essential reading to a National Socialist theologian or philosopher of religion.