In this lecture, Professor Heschel will present some archival material she uncovered that discloses the existence of an antisemitic propaganda institute, financed by the Protestant church, from 1939 to 1945. She will describe its activities, membership, and publications, and will trace the postwar careers of some of its more renowned professors of theology, who maintained careers of importance after the war and helped shape the course of theology, particularly New Testament scholarship, in West and East Germany. The purpose of the lecture is not only to delineate a little-known aspect of the history of the church during the Third Reich, but also to raise questions about the affinities between theology and racial theory. Why were theologians so drawn to racial antisemitism? Susannah Heschel holds the Eli Black Professorship in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College. Her scholarship focuses on Jewish-Christian relations in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries, the history of biblical scholarship, and the history of antisemitism. Her numerous publications include Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus (University of Chicago Press), which won a National Jewish Book Award and Germany’s Geiger Prize, and a forthcoming book, The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany (Princeton University Press).
