Overview

Full Product Details

9781845204839

Table of Contents

Reviews

This important book provided the first genuinely Europe-wide account of the actions of the European Christian churches during the Second World War. It is essential reading for understanding the war, but also the role that the churches have played in twentieth-century European history. Martin Conway, University of Oxford, UK

This important book provided the first genuinely Europe-wide account of the actions of the European Christian churches during the Second World War. It is essential reading for understanding the war, but also the role that the churches have played in twentieth-century European history. Martin Conway, University of Oxford, UK Jan Bank and Lieve Gievers have provided a valuable summary of the secondary literature about the role of religion and churches during World War II. Anti-Semitism already pervaded both Catholic and Protestant theology, but the virtual identification of religion and nationalism led to violent anti-Semitism and even the Final Solution. In Germany, there arose a form of idolatry of the state and its leader, Hitler. In Eastern Europe, Josef Stalin appealed to Russian nationalism by removing restrictions on the Russian Orthodox Church. His ultimate plan was to subsume all branches of the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe under Moscow and create a second Vatican. But to be Russian and Orthodox meant also to be anti-Semitic. The authors also note postwar continuity with wartime activity, such as ecumenism in the Netherlands stemming from the cooperation between the Dutch bishops and their Protestant counterparts and growing attention to the United States. Gerald P. Fogarty, University of Virginia, USA

Author Information

Jan Bank is Emeritus Professor of Dutch History at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. Lieve Gevers is Emeritus Professor of the History of the Church and Theology at the Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available