Letter from the Editors: September 2014

Contemporary Church History Quarterly

Volume 20, Number 3 (September 2014)

Letter from the Editors: September 2014

By Kyle Jantzen, Ambrose University

Dear Friends,

It is with a mixture of delight and embarrassment that I wish to announce the new edition of Contemporary Church History Quarterly: delight at the illuminating content of this issue, and embarrassment at its late release, the result of a busy launch of the fall semester at my home institution.

Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, Berlin

In the course of editing the various reviews and notes, I have noticed afresh how deeply the central theme of much of the history regularly discussed in CCHQ–namely, the mixture of and relationship between Christianity, nationalism, Nazism, and antisemitism found in the Third Reich–is connected to earlier and later developments in both religious history and Christian theology. Topics in this issue of CCHQ range from the challenges faced by military chaplains in the First World War to the influence of Christian pacifism (so prominent in the interwar period) and the Harlem Renaissance on Dietrich Bonhoeffer to the efforts of Christians in Saxony-Anhalt, North Elbia, and Bavaria to suppress and later come to terms with their conduct during the Nazi era. In addition, you will find Barth scholars grappling with the historic and contemporary meaning of his positions on Jews and Judaism, Bonhoeffer scholars trying to glean new insights from the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, English Edition, reflections on East German Christian responses to communist rule, and contemporary scholars struggling to find the right language with which to discuss historic Christian hostility to Jews and Judaism.

We hope you find this a stimulating collection of reviews and notes.

On behalf of all the editors,

Kyle Jantzen, Ambrose University