The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany


Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations   Volume 5 (2010): Heschel/Spicer CP 1 

Heschel & Spicer, The Aryan Jesus Heschel/Spicer CP 1                http://escholarship.bc.edu/scjr/vol5th 

 
 

            

The Aryan Jesus:  
Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany 

 

Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College 

Kevin P. Spicer, Stonehill College  
 

Presented at the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning,  

Boston College, April 12, 2010 

On April 12, 2010, following the April 11
th
 observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day,           

Susannah Heschel addressed the theme of her 2008 book, The Aryan Jesus: Christian        
Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany. Heschel’s book examines the membership and    
activities of the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German religious 
Life. Based on years of archival research, Heschel shows that during the Third Reich this        
Institute became the most important propaganda organ of German Protestantism, exerting a 
widespread influence and producing a nazified Christianity that placed antisemitism at its     
theological center. Members of the Institute formed a community of like-minded Nazi Christians 
who remained active in Germany’s post-war years. 

Kevin Spicer, C.S.C., associate professor of history at Stonehill College, responded to Heschel's 
remarks with a discussion of several German theologians who attempted to adapt Catholic 
teachings to National Socialism during the Nazi regime.  

View the video of Susannah Heschel’s presentation and Kevin Spicer’s response: 
http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/heschel  

 

  

CONFERENCE PROCEEDING 
 
 

http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/heschel