Letter from the Editors: December 2014

Contemporary Church History Quarterly

Volume 20, Number 4 (December 2014)

Letter from the Editors: December 2014

By Kyle Jantzen, Ambrose University

Dear  Friends,

I am pleased to introduce this new issue of Contemporary Church History Quarterly for December 2014. Once again, the editors have prepared a delightful mixture of reviews and notes, and other writings on German and European religious history during the twentieth century. Indeed, once again this issue we venture beyond the confines of Europe, drawing in the relationships between European churches and governments with events in both central Africa and the United States.

The rebuilt Frauenkirche in Dresden

Leading off this issue is a short article by German historian Manfred Gailus, who assesses the place of the German churches during the First World War, using the war sermons of Berlin Court and Cathedral preacher Bruno Doehring to illustrate the religious patriotism of German Protestants a century ago. John Conway, who translated the piece, adds his comment as well. Next, Victoria Barnett, General Editor of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works English Edition, adds a clarification and addendum to her review of Charles Marsh’s new Bonhoeffer book, Strange Glory, in which she questions Marsh’s use and interpretation of several key texts pertaining to the relationship between Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Eberhard Bethge.

Also in this issue, John Conway reviews two books on relations between the Vatican and the United States, as well as another on a prominent family of Christian German aristocrats. Guest contributors Björn Krondorfer and Christopher S. Morrissey contribute with reviews of works on Catholic politics in colonial Rwanda and on German Catholic philosopher and anti-Nazi Dietrich von Hildebrand. Finally,  Mark Ruff, Doris Bergen, and Lauren Faulkner all add reports on recent conferences and lectures.

We hope you find this to be an enlightening collection of scholarly writings. Our best wishes to you during this Advent season of 2014.

On behalf of all the editors,

Kyle Jantzen, Ambrose University