The message of God

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The Message of God , also called the People's Testament , is an eclectic edition of the New Testament in the spirit of National Socialism that was published in 1940 and was intended to replace the Luther Bible for German Christians . Because of its Jewish origin, the Old Testament played no role for the German Christians anyway.

It is a new arrangement of biblical texts by subject, supplemented by some extra-biblical Jesus logia . Within the selected texts, sentences were rewritten and omissions made in accordance with National Socialist ideology, which was mentioned in the foreword but not made clear in the text. Linguistically, The Message of God was based on the Luther Bible (1912) and claimed in the preface to continue Luther's work; The regrouping of the materials made it difficult for the layperson to understand the extent of the text changes.

Emergence

Between 1901 and 1941, around 40 “ethnic translations” of the Bible appeared. Attempts have been made several times to revise the Luther Bible in a “folkish” sense. There were also free rewrites of biblical material. In the field of these translations and transmissions, God's message claimed to be at the height of New Testament science. The accompanying introduction characterizes the work as follows: "A new translation of selected essential parts of the New Testament." An "inner connection with Luther's work, ... his translation of the Bible" is claimed.

The main editor was the New Testament scholar Walter Grundmann ; other employees were Erich Fromm (superintendent of Altenburg), Heinz Hunger (managing director of the institute), Wilhelm Büchner (from 1943 superintendent of Eisenach) and Heinrich Weinmann (pastor in Koblenz-Pfaffendorf). You belonged to the Thuringian Church Movement German Christians and worked at the Institute for Research into the Jewish Influence on German Church Life . The message of God was one of the first fruits of the work of this institute. "Her work was accompanied by the poet Lulu von Strauss and Torney ."

Ideological justification

The biblical phrase "treasure in earthen vessels" is used repeatedly by Grundmann and his colleagues to illustrate the relationship between the message of Christ and the text of the Bible. Fromm, one of Grundmann's employees, explained: Many National Socialists flatly rejected Christianity because they believed that “Christianity was the break-in point and camouflage for the Jewish spirit.” But that was a prejudice. To lift the timeless "treasure" of the message of Christ from the incomprehensible and unusable historical texts, to offer it to the "German people" and to "pour it into" the "new knowledge" (ie National Socialism) is the most important task that the authors of the People's testament.

Fromm admitted that Jesus of Nazareth lived among the Jewish people and in the Jewish religious community and that his preaching presupposed forms of Jewish piety. But there is a complete "essential" opposition between Jesus' preaching and the Jewish religion. Because Jesus was not a Jew, one could not understand him as an inner-Jewish reformer, "but only as a fighter who attacks the whole Jewish being at the root." Fromm speculated that Jesus must have been influenced by the "Aryan world of thought of Parsism " be.

distribution

Wherever the German Christians had influence in the regional churches, the pastors were sent to training courses in which they were made familiar with the concept of the book. The scientific work of the Entjudungsinstitut was used. The pastors should then carry the message of God into the congregations as multipliers, especially in youth work.

According to Grundmann's own account, the text The Message of God has already sold 200,000 copies within six months of its publication; however, this number is not historically proven. The war-related paper shortage prevented further reprints.

In 1945 The Message of God was added to the list of forbidden books. A use in church services can still be proven in the 1950s.

content

The work is divided into four main parts:

  1. Jesus the Savior . The Jesus traditions of the first three Gospels (Chapter: His origin. His departure. His message. His followers. His struggle. His victory).
  2. Jesus the Son of God. The Gospel of John (Chapter: The revelation of the world mystery. The departure of the Son of God. The revelation of the new worship. The decision in Galilee. The fight in Judea. The donation of life as an occasion for death. The farewell in the disciples' circle. The exaltation on the cross. Victory of life. Proverbs and accounts inserted in the Gospel of John).
  3. Jesus the Lord. The Christ message of the apostles (Chapter: The mediator of the new life. God's messengers. The turning of the world. The new life. The church of God.).
  4. The becoming of the Christ Church. Reports and testimonies from the early years of the church. (Chapter: Easter . The Origin of the Church in Jerusalem. Fate and Deeds of the Hellenists. The Conversion of Paul. The Confrontation of Paul with the Jerusalem Church. The Missionary Activity of Paul.).

The first part, which was also available as a separate text, represents a tendentious new arrangement of Jesus traditions of the synoptic Gospels . In the second part ( John's Gospel ) the editorial changes were less pronounced. Dirk Schuster describes the third part as a “hodgepodge” of individual pieces from the New Testament, including from the Pauline letters. The fact that Paul was a Jew was not concealed. How to deal with this (so-called "Paulus problem") remained unresolved in the institute until 1945. The fourth part was supposed to present the story of the young church after Easter.

Headings like “His fight” - “His cross” - “His victory” were taken from the propaganda language with the purpose of constructing an essential unity between Jesus and the German people in the fight against Judaism.

tendency

The authors intended to "go back behind the oldest traditions of the Gospels in order to be able to present a" Jew-free "Jesus."

According to Elisabeth Lorenz, some consistent motifs can be identified in the changes to the Bible text:

  • Jesus is not the Messiah (King of the Jews, King of Israel), he is the "Promised One" (Son of God and Son of Man) and the "King of Life".
  • Jesus is the sufferer with whom the reader is to suffer.
  • Jesus is a fighter against Judaism, the readers are his fellow fighters.
  • All positive references to the Jewish religion are erased. This also applies to the cult in the Jerusalem temple . That is why the Christological titles “ Lamb of God ” and “High Priest” are no longer useful. The “life giver” stands for the “Lamb of God” as a positive substitute term.
  • The death of Jesus is not interpreted as a sacrifice, but as a "gift of life". The counter-model to sacrifice in the temple is the “worship of action”. The “new service” demands a willingness to make sacrifices - “consecration”, “commitment”, “donation” of one's own life, specifically: on the battlefields of the Second World War.

Examples of text changes

Luther Bible (1912) "The Message of God"
Christmas story

(Luke 2, 4–5)

Then Joseph also set out from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, into the Jewish land for the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, so that he might be appreciated with Mary, his trusted wife who was pregnant. Joseph from Galilee from the city of Nazareth also wandered to Bethlehem with Mary, his dear wife, who bore a child under her heart.
Jesus in Capernaum

(Mk 1, 21-22)

And they went to Capernaum; and immediately on the sabbath he went to school and taught. And they were astonished at his teaching; for he taught tremendously and not like the scribes. They went into Capernaum. On the holiday, Jesus taught the assembled church. People were horrified at his preaching. For he spoke to them like one who has authority and not like a Jewish scribe.
From the Sermon on the Mount

(Mt 6, 16-18)

When you fast do not look angry like the hypocrites; for they disguise their faces so that they may appear before the people with their fasting. Truly I say to you: they have their reward gone.

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not shine in front of people with your fasting, but in front of your Father, who is hidden; and your Father, who looks into the secret, will repay you publicly.

When a victim is imposed on you, do not make a suffering face like the hypocrites, for they disguise their faces so that they may be praised by the people. In the name of God I tell you: they have achieved their purpose.

If you have to make a sacrifice, do not show it to people to show off your sacrifice, but secretly complain to your father of your grief, and your father, who looks into the secret, will help you up!

Jesus in conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well

(Jn 4, 21-25)

Jesus said to her: Woman, believe me, the time will come when you will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You do not know what you worship; but we know what we worship, for salvation comes from the Jews. But the time is coming, and is now, that true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father wants those who worship him like this. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming, whose name is Christ. When he comes, he will tell us everything.

Jesus said to her: It is I who speak to you.

Jesus said to her: “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will not worship God either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. And now is the hour when all who truly worship God will call on him as a father, born of his spirit, with open eyes to his truth; for the father is looking for those who call him so. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. "

The woman said to him: "I know the Promised One is coming, and when he comes he will reveal everything to us."

Then Jesus said to her: "It is I who speak to you."

reception

The extent to which central texts had also been rewritten met with alienation and criticism as early as 1940. The Saxon pastor Karl Fischer , a member of the Confessing Church , wrote: “They are all old acquaintances, they are the stories that one knows from childhood, but one does not really know them again, they are dressed in strange clothes, and one instinctively feels that something has been done to them with this mask. "

The Protestant theological faculty of the University of Marburg commissioned Hans von Soden on January 7, 1940 with an expert opinion on the so-called people's testament . But von Soden's criticism could no longer appear in any theological specialist journal; Von Soden finally had it printed under the harmless title The synoptic question and the historical Jesus . In it he accused Grundmann and his employees of extensive, anti-Jewish motivated text falsification.

Text edition and further literature

  • Institute for Research into the Jewish Influence on German Church Life (Ed.): The Message of God. Verlag Deutsche Christen, Weimar 1940 ( digitized version ).
  • Erich Fromm : The German people's testament. A preface to the "Message of God" published by the Institute for Research into Jewish Influence on German Church Life. Verlag Deutsche Christen, Weimar 1940 ( digitized version ).
  • Karl Fischer: The People's Testament of the German Christians (= About Gospel and Church. Volume 18). Dresden 1940.
  • Elisabeth Lorenz: A picture of Jesus on the horizon of National Socialism. Studies on the New Testament of the "Institute for Research and Elimination of the Jewish Influence on German Church Life" (= Scientific Investigations on the New Testament . 2nd series, volume 440). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-16-154569-6 .
  • Dirk Schuster: The Aryanization of the New Testament. The message of God of the church movement German Christians. In: World and Environment of the Bible 4/2018, pp. 30–31.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The message of God . Weimar 1940, p. vi : “The selection and design of the individual sections show that the rich knowledge and insights that German theological and religious studies research has gained in the development and content of the New Testament have been used. (Preface) "
  2. ↑ a b Dirk Schuster: The Aryanization of the New Testament . S. 30-31 .
  3. ↑ Elisabeth Lorenz: A picture of Jesus in the horizon of National Socialism . S. 52 .
  4. ↑ a b The message of God . Weimar 1940, p. v .
  5. ↑ a b The message of God . Weimar 1940, p. viii .
  6. ↑ a b Michael Fahlbusch et al .: Handbook of the Volkish Sciences: Actors, Networks, Research Programs . 2nd Edition. tape 1 . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2017, p. 1489 .
  7. ↑ Erich Fromm: The people's testament of the Germans. A preface to the "Message of God" published by the Institute for Research into Jewish Influence on German Church Life . Weimar 1940, p. 12 .
  8. ↑ Erich Fromm: The people's testament of the Germans. A preface to the "Message of God" published by the Institute for Research into Jewish Influence on German Church Life . S. 49 .
  9. ↑ a b Erich Fromm: The people's testament of the Germans. A preface to the "Message of God" published by the Institute for Research into Jewish Influence on German Church Life . Weimar 1940, p. 25 .
  10. ↑ a b c d e Dirk Schuster: The Aryanization of the New Testament . S. 31 .
  11. ↑ a b Elisabeth Lorenz: A picture of Jesus in the horizon of National Socialism . S. 6 .
  12. ↑ Dirk Schuster: The doctrine of "Aryan" Christianity: The scientific self-image in the Eisenach "Entjudungsinstitut" . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2017, p. 86 .
  13. ↑ Hans von Soden: The synoptic question and the historical Jesus . Printed as handwriting. Essen 1941 (51 pages).
  14. ↑ Erich Dinkler et al. (Ed.): Theology and Church in the Work of Hans von Soden . Göttingen 1986, p. 29-31 .