Presbyterians, Prophetic Tradition, Slavery ... and Nazi Germany

As difficult as it is, the history of Nazi Germany reminds us of how easily German Christians were suborned by Hitler, either to openly support him, or retreat into pious quietism. Many a German Christian believed that Hitler was god-sent to cleanse the nation of immoral and unclean elements, and that the church might once again regain a status of influence and glory lost after the defeat of WW1.

Within my own Presbyterian History, these elements are present - as we have seen in the South, when slavers made sure that the "spirituality of the church" kept pulpits silent on the evils of slavery, and rather spent their time lamenting booze, card playing, theater attendance and cussing.

Thankfully, as with Barth and Bonhoeffer in Germany, the tradition of prophetic critique and protest also exists. They clearly saw the difference between loyalty to Christ and an idolatrous nationalism of Germany First.

While much of the Southern Church remained quiet in the antebellum period, and after the war, with the emergence of Jim Crow, Northern pulpits attacked the evils of slavery, and many a Christian leader decried the evils of voter suppression and school segregation.

During the Civil Rights era, when some preachers in the South touched the topic of segregation, they immediately lost their pulpits. While others were encouraged to "bide their time, give it more study and prayer."

So, what shall we choose?

Support for the powers-that-be, to "make American great again"?

Quiet piety?

An ill-begotten patience?

Or clear-headed critique of the rising tide of evil besieging our land? 

While many a German leader saw Hitler as a clear and present threat, others believed that the rising economy, the laws against Jews, and dreams of lebensraum, were all for the best.

Big Questions for Our Times

Reading a Kay Boyle essay from The New Yorker, 1950, pondering how in the world a nation like Germany could succumb to such a vast evil as Nazism.

And reading Tom Wright's new book on Paul, which begins with a fascinating, if not frightening, chapter on Saul's "zeal" - it's long history and how some believed that violence is justified, indeed, God-approved against any and all who oppose God's plan, with a special vehemence against fellow Jews who were considered compromisers with the tenor of the times.

Zeal ... of the four gospel accounts of Jesus cleansing the Temple, John references zeal ...

So here's where Wright's book gets good, if you will ... the young Saul's zeal was for the Temple, whereas Jesus overturned its tables.

The young Saul a nationalist ... Jesus a reformer ... Saul despised anyone who deviated from the rule of law, whereas Jesus himself was a law-breaker, seeking not to be exclusive, but welcoming.

Zeal ... there's not much life without it ... without passion and vision and purpose ... but some forms of zeal turn narrow, nationalistic, and murderous ... other forms of zeal protest war and racism and anything that excludes anyone because of race, creed, or color.

Given the moment of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s crossing of Pettus Bridge, the murderous zeal of those who stood at the foot of the bridge, mounted and armed, saying "This far and no further," and King and those with him full of zeal for freedom and equality.

How in the world did young Saul reject his studies under Gamaliel and then turn to a more violent view of faith?

Kay Boyle asks how in the world did a young German youth reject his heritage and education to sign on with the Nazis and become a killer?

Or, for that matter, those who stood at the foot of Pettus Bridge, many of them church members, singing gladly of Jesus, come to look upon people of color as objects to be hated?

And collectively, how did so many Germans reject culture and Christ and then turn to a vicious anti-Semitism, and to a vicious cleansing of German society?

All of it driven by zeal ... which may, perhaps be some kind of emotional element we all possess ... but without formation, until the right moment comes along, and, then, like Saul, or young Germans, we turn to the Dark Side, if you will ... or like Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Karl Barth, or a Martin Luther King, Jr., we turn to the Light.

As the story unfolds, the young Saul (likely just a few years younger than Jesus) was given another chance, and in the midst of his darkness, a Light ... and in that moment, Saul's zeal was transformed into something life-giving and profoundly generous.

In times such as ours, dangerous times, I think, questions abound about young shooters, men with guns, and people, even evangelicals, who are just mean-spirited and hateful ...

And those who rise above the clamor and choose love and justice and welcome instead ... who go to bat for the voiceless, who raise a cry for mercy, who seek a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Big questions for our times ...

The America I've Known ...

The America I've known for most of my life,
And for which I've watched good and decent people strive:
Overcoming the Great Depression, Dust Bowls and disasters ...
Working through the horrors of McCarthyism,
Expanding civil rights and ending, mostly, segregation.

And a host of good things.
Sound diplomacy, mostly.
GOP Presidents, less than good, but mostly tolerable.
And too much given away to the rich.

But attention still paid to Working America.

Now, being trashed.
Tossed out on the rubbish heap behind a billionaire's home.
The American Worker savaged.
Mutuality destroyed by American individuality.

A poisonous me-first cluster-bomb.
Exploding across the land.
Racism rampant born again.
Misogyny revamped.

Here I am, 72, soon to be 73.
And my America is being thrashed and trashed.
By the greedy and the cruel
By religion run amok.

Evangelicals who are nothing more than Baalists.
Osteen lovers of wealth and dreamers of dominance.
Robbing the treasury of my nation.
Giving it away to the Philanthrobbers.

All is lost, it really is.
In a cesspool of GOP Chamber of Commerce.
Reliance upon the Almighty Dollar.
The Capitalist Way, the Truth and the Life.

I'll not look the other way.
Though a forthright view of things is hideous.
I'll not put on an alternative-fact smile.
Though tears are more than likely.

Now is the time to tell the truth.
The King has no clothes.
The promise of greatness is a chimera.
Birthed to win votes.

Tell the truth.
I think that's what my heroes did.
Jeremiah in the muddy well.
Isaiah in the temple.

Paul to the Romans when he spoke of grace.
And James to those who gutted the faith of life.
And John to those who cheapened love.
And Jesus to the bankers.

And Wycliffe and Huss.
And Luther and Calvin.
And Bonhoeffer and Barth and Bultmann.
And Martin Luther King, Jr.

All's well that ends well, is for sure.
I believe in the good ending.
But not always a good path in the meantime.
But the path upon which God walks with us.

I'll trod that path in the years that remain.
It'll surely be for others to clean up the present mess.
Cleanse the air and the water again.
And set the people free.