newly found Nazi Bible

This is a salutary lesson in the dark side of inculturation and 'relevance'.

Hitler admired the ceremony and majesty of the church – he admitted as much in Mein Kampf – but hated its teachings which had no place in his vision of Germanic supermen ruling lesser races devoid of 'outdated' concepts such as mercy and love. But he knew the power of the church in Germany and even he could not banish it overnight. He was even forced to abandon the systematic murder of the handicapped and insane before the war when outspoken bishops began to speak against it. Instead his plan was to gradually 'Nazify' the church beginning with a theological centre he set up in 1939 to rewrite the Holy Bible.

It should help to alert us to the fact that inculturation and cultural 'transcendence are not opposites where to choose one is to exclude the other. They are two forces acting on any group one to assimilate and the other to counter the social and cultural trends around them. The only real issue for churches, at the end of the day is discernment of what assimilation or resistance means theologically in any instance and what the appropriate response should be. We should note how churches that are seen to be culturally resistant are often assimilationist at other points than the one causing the fuss at some point of contention. And vice versa; culturally 'relevant' churches are in fact resistant at some points. It's just a matter of what the presenting issues are and which are considered mission critical for the time and context.

Of course, in the Nazi instance it was more an entryist thing from outside, but had Hitler's regime not ended, who knows what may have happened to non-confessing German churches? I hope in the power of the Spirit but I fear for the sickness of human nature ...

There's an interesting case study in inculturation, relevance and church in a recent article in the Telegraph. It's about

Mr Gregory, a congregational minister who retired last year after 20 years, ... He said that he had recently realised that much of his ministry had missed the point. "I look back on the past 20 years and think, what the Dickens was I doing? I now advise people who are bored with church not to go,"

Actually, not a totally unusual experience for people who leave church ministry and find themselves without the usual plausibility structures which had sustained the form of ministry and church they were in. They are free to sense the dissonance between their ecclesial environment and the wider cultural context. I speak from experience.

Anyway, he has responded creatively.

The traditional Sunday morning service will be replaced by "coffee and laughter" - videos of classic comedy films during which people will be able to come and go or read the Sunday papers over tea and toast. Mr Gregory, a colourful figure who prefers bright ties and a trilby to clerical garb, will then be available to people for "one to one personal consultations" and "healing prayers". He will also launch a course devoted to people's self-image and confidence, with sessions entitled "Have you a right to be happy?" and "The art of conversation."

To which one response, not unfairly on that evidence, was;

The Rev Mark Ireland, the Church of England Missioner for the Diocese of Litchfield, wondered whether Mr Gregory's church was proclaiming the "good news of Jesus Christ" in what he was doing.

And that is always a fair question but we should also note that

in a concession to more traditional religion, [Mr Gregory] will hold Christian worship on some Sunday afternoons, which will consist of a mixture of hymns, prayers, readings and discussions.

and I think that his theological angle needs considering too.

religion-free Christianity was first promoted by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ... "He saw the way people were disillusioned with church, but attracted to Jesus Christ," said Mr Gregory. "I'm convinced that Jesus Christ had profound and important things to say to people, but they have got lost in squabbles and worries about church buildings. The politics has taken over and the message has been obscured."

And note the neat return to the theme at the start; Nazi Germany and Christian responses. Bonhoeffer resisted the nazification of Christianity but saw the need to de-religionise it in the sense of the cultural and ideological trappings that infantilised people in the context of modernity. There are no easy answers. The only way forward is to go through the process of prayerful discernment knowing that to go to either position uncritically is to risk losing the good news.

Hate Groups :: Jewish references erased in newly found Nazi Bible:
Filed in: Christian, Nazi, Bible, Jewish, incultuation