Roots of Theological Anti-Semitism (Paperback): German Biblical Interpretation and the Jews, from Herder and Semler to Kittel and Bultmann - Paperback

by Anders Gerdmar (Author)

Exploring the link between German biblical interpretation and anti-Semitism, this book is a fresh, comprehensive study of leading German exegetes, concluding that although Nazism brought anti-Semitic exegesis to a head, age-old thought structures provided powerful legitimation for oppression.

Back Jacket

As Adolf Hitler strategised his way to power, he knew that it was necessary to gain the support of theology and the Church. This study begins two hundred years earlier, however, looking at roots of theological anti-Semitism and how Jews and Judaism were constructed, positively and negatively, in the biblical interpretation of German Protestant theology. Following the two main streams of German theology, the salvation-historical and the Enlightenment-oriented traditions, it examines leading exegetes from the 1750s to the 1950s and explores how theology legitimises or delegitimises oppression of Jews, in part through still-prevailing paradigms. This is the first comprehensive analysis of its kind, and the result of the analysis of the interplay between biblical exegesis and attitudes to Jews and Judaism is a fascinating and often frightening portrait of theology as a servant of power.

Author Biography

Anders Gerdmar, Th. D. (2001) ) and Associate Professor in New Testament Exegesis, Uppsala University is researcher and author. His published works includes Rethinking the Judaism-Hellenism Dichotomy (Almqvist & Wiksell, 2001) and the methodological textbook Paths to the New Testament.