Transcript Document 7696650

Age of Ideologies I
WWII:
Pius XII, Dietrich Bonhöffer, Corrie Ten Boom
Post WWI Christianity
• 1914 World War I started
• 1918 World War I ended, leaving a much
changed Europe
• Post WWI Europe suffered a massive
dechristianization
• The Roman Catholics responded with
increased ties to the state, and various
social programs, to some good effect
• The protestant churches were a bit more
shaken, and due to weaker ties with the
state less able to respond
Post WWI Christianity
• Especially in Central Europe, Germany
was the worst destroyed by WWI and had
previously been the center for the majority
of European missions work
• Britain was also discouraged and
subjected to great losses in WWI
• In both churches the rise in intellectualism
marked a moving away of scholars from
Christianity
WWII Roman Catholicism
• 1933 Hitler and the Nazi party took
majority control in the government
• The RCC had long been seeking a
concordat (legitimizing agreement) with
Germany in order to maintain influence
• Shortly after Hitler’s rise to power a
concordat was signed laying out various
benefits and concessions on both parts
• The most important were, freedom of
religion, clerics not involved in political
parties, and no state interference in RCC
organizations
WWII Roman Catholicism
• The Reichskonkordat was negotiated by
Cardinal Eugenio Maria Giuseppe
Giovanni Pacelli who was shortly to
become pope Pius XII
• The concordat gave legitimacy to the Nazi
party allowing an even greater control of
the government to fall to them
• Some use the above as an excuse to
blame Hitler and WWII on the RCC
• The problems in the concordat were
understood, but seen as unavoidable
WWII Roman Catholicism
• Cardinal Pacelli became Pope Pius XII on
his 63rd birthday, March 2, 1939
• In spite of his former working with them,
the Nazi's complained about him
• When the war began Pius XII tried to
maintain the traditional neutrality
• He did speak out somewhat against the
Nazi’s, but never directly called for action
against them
WWII Roman Catholicism
• The RCC’s record during WWII is rather hit
and miss, sometimes doing great deeds,
other time neglecting great needs
• The pope never would take an open stand
against the Nazis but did try to obtain
passports and aid some Jewish emigration
• After WWII the Pius XII and the RCC’s role
in the war was greatly criticized
• Pius was accused of being Hitler’s puppet,
criticized for his lack of involvement, and
his acceptance of the Ustase’s war crimes
WWII Roman Catholicism
• Pius XII had other influences on the RCC
• He exercised papal infallibility in declaring
the doctrine of the assumption of Mary
• Called the Great Consistory and ended the
400 year long majority of Italian Cardinals
• Published an Encyclical titled Humani
Generis, explaining the RCC v. Evolution
• Died in 1958 under the administrations of a
quack, who also botched his embalming
• 1999 the RCC appointed the ICJHC to
investigate the conduct in WWII, they were
inconclusive
WWII Protestantism
• Protestantism being inherently more
divided than Catholicism, they suffered
greater losses during the inter-war period
• When the Nazis took power they also tried
to take control of the church, they formed
the National Reich Church by
conglomerating the protestants together
• The Nazis attempted to make a puppet
church that was merely another platform
for popular indoctrination
WWII Protestantism
• Through a process called “positive
Christianity” they tried to emphasize the
Aryan Jesus and deemphasize his
Jewishness
• While most churches went along with it,
generally loving nation above God, the
“Confessing Church” went underground
Dietrich Bonhöffer
• Born 1906 in Breslau Germany, the 6th of 8
children in an upper middle class family
• Wanted to be a minister from an early age
• Got his doctorate in theology from the
University of Berlin, then studied at Union
Theological in New York
• While in New York he came to enjoy the
“African-American Spiritual”
• Returned to Germany in 1931, pastored for
a time, and was resistant to the Nazis
Dietrich Bonhöffer
• 1931 Along with Martin Niemöller and Karl
Barth he set up the “Bekennende Kirche”
or “Confessing Church”
• Taught in various underground seminaries
training German pastors
• Emphasized that Nazi ideology must be
resisted and the Jews must be helped
• 1939 he joined a group of conspirators
who were trying to assassinate Hitler
• 1943 money used to help Jews escape was
traced to him and he was imprisoned
Dietrich Bonhöffer
• In 1944 the failed July 20 Plot revealed
Bonhöffer’s connections to the conspiracy
• He was moved through various
prison/concentration camps
• 1945 in Flossenbürg he was executed by
hanging
• His major literary contribution to today is
the book The Cost of Discipleship
Corrie Ten Boom
• Born April 15, 1892 in Amsterdam
• Grew up in a strong Christian home,
greatly influenced by her father
• Became the fist licensed woman
watchmaker in the Netherlands
• During WWII her family actively hid many
Jews helping them to escape
• Her entire family was arrested, her father
died, and her and her sister were sent to
Ravensbrück concentration camp
Corrie Ten Boom
• Her sister died very shortly before Corrie
was released
• Corrie began an international ministry
speaking and teaching about Christ
• A movie “The Hiding Place” was based on
her autobiography
• She died on her 91st birthday in 1983
• You can listen to her at
http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/myd
ownloads/viewcat.php?cid=14
Hitler’s Christianity
• Some try and claim that Hitler was a
Christian, many Christians claim Hitler
was an atheist
• He was probably primarily atheistic and
“Christian” in formality also because it
gave him influence, obviously, he was not
actually a Christian
• In any case Hitler was a rather notorious
liar