For Zion's Sake

This essay explores the role of supersessionism and Christian anti-Judaism in the Nazi Party’s rise to power.

Historians have long wrestled with the question of how the Holocaust could have occurred in majority Christian Europe. Given Germany was a predominately Christian nation, it is hard to imagine the Nazis having risen to power without Christian support. This support was possible due to centuries of Christian anti-Judaism, rooted in supersessionism, having conditioned many Christians to accept Nazi antisemitism. Although supersessionism did not directly cause the Holocaust, it facilitated the Nazi Party’s success and antisemitic agenda in several ways. It did so by normalising Jew hatred in European culture, thus making Germans susceptible to Nazi antisemitism. It also provided readily available anti-Jewish motifs and practices which the Nazis appropriated, notably illustrated in their use of Martin Luther. This may also help explain much of the Church’s inadequate response to Nazi antisemitism. Ultimately, as will be contended, the Nazi Party benefited from supersessionism and Christendom’s pre-existing anti-Judaism.

Supersessionism and its fruits

Supersessionism, or ‘replacement theology’, has come under increasing scrutiny following the tragedy of the Holocaust. Ronald Diprose contends that it is now generally accepted that theological contempt towards the Jewish people, rooted in supersessionism, is part of what made the Holocaust possible.[1] In defining supersessionism, R Kendall Soulen has explained that the standard canonical narrative adopted in the Church from at least the third century is inherently supersessionist.[2] This is because it renders Israel as inconsequential to God’s engagement with creation, presenting salvation in Israelite form as obsolete and replaced by the Church.[3] This type of ‘economic supersessionism’ frames Israel’s role as solely to prepare for salvation in a spiritual and universal form, as embodied in the Church.[4] This is often accompanied by “punitive supersessionism”, which holds that God is rejecting and punishing Israel on account of Israel having rejected Christ.[5]  Although punitive supersessionism seems like the most dangerous form of supersessionism, ‘softer’ forms can be just as insidious. Afterall, the idea of Israel’s obsolescence opened the door to anti-Jewish practice throughout the centuries. The natural implication is that it is offensive for Jewish practices to persist, given they have been subsumed in Christ.

Supersessionism’s development can be traced to the first century, when the Church was becoming increasingly Gentile in composition.[6] The diminution of Jewish leadership in the Church, in favour of the Gentiles, was precipitated by the Jewish War against Rome (AD 66-74).[7] While a Jewish expression of Christianity continued, it was largely marginalised by the second century, with the conflict between the Jews and Romans fuelling anti-Jewish sentiment.[8] Jewish and Christian polemics added to this climate of hostility, with the Church and Synagogue increasingly defining themselves in opposition to each other.[9] Gentiles subsequently promoted a prejudiced message against Judaism and discriminated against Christians who engaged in Jewish practices.[10] Homilies against the Jews also came to characterise prominent Church writings.[11] This is known as the adversus Judaeos tradition, which ultimately helped to cement supersessionism in the Church.[12] In many ways, supersessionism helped to prophetically justify the destruction of the Temple, and was a valuable apologetic against Judaism in this polemicised environment.

Additionally, supersessionism particularly flourished in the allegorical school of biblical interpretation, notably championed by Origen and later Augustine, which spiritualised the literal promises to Israel. This was a consequence of the Hellenistic worldview having displaced the Jewish worldview of the early disciples. Israel’s promises were thus allegorised as having been spiritually fulfilled in the Church, rendering carnal Israel irrelevant and setting the stage for Christendom’s anti-Judaism.[13] The idea that the Jewish people were rejected by God ultimately evolved into the Jews becoming stereotyped as “Christ killers”.[14]

Diprose highlights the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 as a consequential moment in the Church’s anti-Judaism, stemming from supersessionism. In the context of splitting Easter from the date of Passover, Constantine’s statement, “We ought not, therefore, to have anything in common with the Jews”, encapsulates that anything Jewish was now understood to be “contemptible and totally incompatible with Christianity”. This anti-Judaic prejudice and legislation paved the way for Jewish persecutions in Christian Europe.[15] For example, in Medieval Europe, Jews were often demonised and portrayed as “sub-human satanic servants”[16] This grew even more caustic with the addition of “blood libels”. Reflecting the Christian nature of these irritational charges, they included false accusations of ritual murder and host desecration. Charges of bribery, sorcery, usury and oppression of the poor were later added to this mix. [17] Together with the idea that the Jews were rejected by God, persecution could now be morally justified by these charges. This shows how supersessionism cemented Jew hatred in the psyche of Christian Europe, which the Nazis would ultimately capitalise on.

Christian anti-Judaism as the foundation for Nazi Germany

A dichotomy is often presented between Nazi antisemitism and Christian anti-Judaism to absolve Christians of any responsibility for the Holocaust.[18] However, the Nazis could not have come to power had it not been for centuries of Christian anti-Judaism, rooted in supersessionism, having primed German Christians into hostility at worst or ambivalence at best regarding the plight of the Jews. Walter Kaiser Jr notes that it is hard to explain how Nazism could have flourished and spread so extensively in Europe had the way for its appearance not been so deeply ingrained into Christians by supersessionism.[19] Prager and Teluskin add, “Sixteen hundred years of such hatred of Jews culminated in the Holocaust. Christianity did not create the Holocaust—indeed, Nazism was anti-Christian—but it made it possible.[20] This helps to explain how a majority Christian nation could accept such a situation. Indeed, as Doris Bergen states, Christianity played “a critical role in making Nazi commands comprehensible and tolerable to the rank and file who carried out Nazi orders as well as those who passively condoned their implementation.[21] Centuries of Christian anti-Judaism ultimately conditioned Europeans to dismiss or accept antisemitism. This explains why Hitler’s early indications regarding his intentions towards the Jews were not viewed as red flags. Centuries of viewing the Jews as punished and rejected by God, and even in league with the devil himself, provided the opening for their dehumanisation in a racial sense.

The dichotomy between anti-Judaism and antisemitism also becomes difficult to maintain when considering popular Christian support for the Nazis. Elias Fullenbach states that even if the Nazi perpetrators could be dismissed as pagans or “bad Christians” the problem remains that the Holocaust occurred ‘‘within a nation which traditionally called itself Christian”. [22] Modern antisemitism was able to prevail as it did only ‘‘because it included the anti-Jewish attitude of Christians in its calculations for achieving its end, and knew how to take advantage of it”. [23] Indeed, the pro-Nazi German Christian movement won two-thirds of the votes in Germany’s Protestant church elections in July 1933.[24] Without such Christian support, the Nazis could not have come to power. Again, this support was possible due to the pre-existing culture of Christian anti-Judaism, rooted in supersessionism.

Anti-Jewish Christian motifs and practices in Nazi Germany

Besides benefitting from Christian anti-Judaism in terms of gaining popular support, the Nazis also found a model for their antisemitic policies in medieval Christendom.[25] Although the Nazis’ antisemitism was more racial than religious, the Nazis capitalised on pre-existing anti-Jewish Christian motifs. For example, the Nazis appropriated traditional Christian images of Jews as being spiritually blind, materialistic Christ killers [26]. As Lindermann and Levy note, “The legacies of older narrower kinds of antisemitism provided points of contact to Nazism’s redemptive brand that both borrowed from and fed on them. Christian anti-Judaism was one such pre-existing form. The notion that Jews were children of the devil who had betrayed and crucified Jesus prepared the way for the accusation that Jews were perfidious traitors to the fatherland”.[27]

Additionally, some of the Nazis’ most notorious policies had precedent in Christian councils and practice, which sought to marginalise Judaism, in line with their supersessionism. In the The Destruction of the European Jews, Raul Hilberg produced a chart highlighting the similarity between various Church decrees and Nazi decrees, which Joel Richardson has adapted to include Luther’s writings.[28] One striking example is the infamous badge, which had long been established practice in Christian Europe. [29] The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 required that Jews in Christian countries distinguish themselves by wearing a special kind of clothing.[30] Others parallels include compelling Jews to live in ghettos, forbidding intermarriage between Jews and Christians and destruction of synagogues.[31] Thus, Christian culture was not unfamiliar with the nature and scope of Nazi policies, given their very precedents were set by Christendom. These policies could only be justified through a supersessionist lens, which legitimised and even provided moral sanction for decrees that would limit Jewish practice, given Judaism’s alleged obsolescence under supersessionism.

Luther: a case study of Nazi appropriation of Christian anti-Judaism

The Nazis’ use of Luther provides a striking example of how the Nazis appropriated Christian anti-Judaism to further their agenda. Luther’s anti-Judaism was instrumentalised in Nazi propaganda to provide moral cover for Nazi antisemitism and to link Hitler’s struggle with that of Luther.[32] This would have had profound psychological impact on German Protestants who viewed Luther as both a national hero and reformer. As Stephen Eldridge states, “National worship of Luther, when linked with subtle propaganda, helped to blur the line between Germany’s famous reformer and the opportunistic Hitler”.[33] Hitler also cited Luther in Mein Kampf, and the publisher of Der Stuermer quoted Luther in his defence at Nuremberg.[34] Additionally, Luther’s notorious treatise On the Jews and their Lies provided a precedent and moral cover for Nazi policies. For example, Luther called for Jewish synagogues to be set on fire and homes to be destroyed, which recalls Kristallnacht.[35] He also called for Jews to “earn their bread in the sweat of their brow”, recalling Nazis concentration camps, and to be “driven like mad dogs out of their land”. It is no wonder that the Nazis eagerly used Luther for their propaganda purposes.

While Luther’s remarks are often dismissed as having been reserved to his later life, it is important to note that Luther always held to superesessionism and presented a dichotomy between the “works-based” legalism of Judaism and grace of Christianity. It was this framework which allowed Luther’s anti-Judaism to ultimately develop into something more sinister. Ultimately, Luther’s attitudes came about due to his “punitive supersessionism”, as reflected in his statement: “Listen, Jew, are you aware that Jerusalem and your sovereignty, together with your temple and priesthood, have been destroyed for over 1,460 years?” … For such ruthless wrath of God is sufficient evidence that they assuredly have erred and gone astray. Therefore, this work of wrath is proof that the Jews, surely rejected by God, are no longer his people, and neither is he any longer their God”.[36] Luther’s supersessionism ultimately begat his hateful rhetoric, which the Nazis capitalised on to gain popular support and moral legitimacy for their actions.

Supersessionism and the Church’s response

While there were stories of heroic Christian resistance to the Nazis, the fact remains that the Nazis were nevertheless able to succeed in a majority Christian nation. Had the Church at large stood up publicly against Nazi antisemitism, it could have helped strip the Nazis of moral legitimacy in the eyes of the population. This was not from lack of will to resist the Nazis per se. Bergen notes that Christians had been willing to speak out on other issues of concern, such as the Nazis’ euthanasia program.[37] However, those who resisted the Nazis kept a distance from the Jewish question. Even after Kristallnacht, the Confessing Church generally only responded to anti-Jewish actions when they affected Church members.[38] The Church did not officially protest the Nuremberg Laws, and the famous Barmen Declaration avoided directly addressing the Jewish Question. Thus, opposition to the Nazis did not imply support for Jews.[39] The general tactic of churches was “caution on protest and compromise where possible”, defending the Church against state interference but generally not opposing Nazi antisemitism.[40]

What explains this inability to condemn Nazi actions towards the Jews, even amongst those resistant to the Nazis? Stephen Haynes has noted that reliance on Augustine’s doctrine of Jews as a “witness people”, a form of punitive supersessionism, pervaded the literature of Christian resistance.[41] This idea served to guarantee the preservation of Jews in Christendom, with its contention that their plight was a “witness” to Christianity’s supremacy over Judaism. This may explain the “hands-off” approach of the Church towards the Jews. As Haynes puts it, the ideas of Jews as “Christians-in-waiting” also fed into conceptions of the Jews as cursed and destined to disappear.[42] This was similar to the ‘Wondering Jew’ image, which was prevalent in secular and Nazi mythology. [43] Supersessionism thus led Christians to assume what Haynes terms a “detached complacency” towards Nazi antisemitism. Illustrating this, one German pastor wrote that Nazi racial laws had “illuminated… a section of the Jew’s theory path through the world”, and a Confessing Church leader declared that “this people must go its own way until God himself solves the Jewish question”.[44] This shows how supersessionism ultimately rendered the Church ineffectual against Nazi antisemitism, even amongst those willing to resist the Nazis.

Hence, even though there was much heroic resistance from the Church against the Nazis, this was largely limited to the extent that Nazism encroached on Church practice. Ultimately, supersessionism caused the Church to lack conviction regarding the plight of the Jews. It is hard to imagine that a non-supersessionist Church would have assumed such passivity. If the Church at large was non-supersessionist and held to the irrevocability of God’s covenant with Israel, including the notion that God blesses those who bless Israel, it is doubtful the Nazis could have gained any Christian support. Additionally, the Church would not have been so ambivalent regarding antisemitism.

Positive Christianity

Supersessionism also aided Christians who were openly supportive of the Nazis, notably the German Christian movement. It laid the foundation for “Positive Christianity”, as propagated by the Nazis and ultimately the German Christians. In early 1933 Hitler sought to foster Christian goodwill as he consolidated power.[45] This included an attempt to make Nazism appear Christian, through ‘Positive Christianity’.[46] This had its roots in Point 24 of the 1920 Nazi platform, which stated: “We demand freedom for all religious confessions in the state, insofar as they do not endanger its existence or conflict with the customs and moral sentiments of the German race. The party as such represents the standpoint of a positive Christianity… It fights the spirit of Jewish materialism within us and without us, and it is convinced that a lasting recovery of our Volk can only take place from within, on the basis of the principle: public need comes before private greed”. [47] The implication was that Christianity had to conform to Nazism, shedding the individual’s unique worth and fighting ‘Jewish materialism”. [48]

The German Christians movement sought to redraw Christian doctrines in line with this. This included eliminating the Old Testament and presenting an Aryan Jesus who fought the Jews.[49] Dean Shroud notes that although Hitler eventually did not need them, the German Christians “certainly wanted Hitler”. They were also not a marginal group, but numbered some 600,000 soon after Hitler came to power.[50] Like the Nazis, they also used Luther’s anti-Judaism to justify their agenda, stating in their Guiding Principles, that their new Church would a “truly national faith in Christ, in the Germanic spirit of Luther and heroic piety”. [51] It is difficult to envision such a de-Judaised Christianity gaining any currency in a culture of non-supersessionism which affirms the Jewish roots of the faith. The obsolescence of Judaism inherent in supersessionism paved the way for such an aberration of the faith. A non-supersessionist Church would have found a Christianity devoid of its Jewishness unthinkable. However, supersessionist Christianity primed many to comply to such a distorted Christianity, and the Nazis ultimately capitalised on this.

Conclusion: An idea with tragic consequences

In conclusion, supersessionism, and correspondingly Christian anti-Judaism, facilitated the Nazis’ success. It provided a compliant population and pre-existing motifs which benefited the Nazis. Such attitudes were rooted in the supersessionist conception that the Jews were replaced by the Church and rejected by God. This was exemplified in the writings of Luther, which the Nazis used to their benefit. While some Christians gallantly resisted the Nazis, supersessionism ultimately rendered the Church ineffectual in standing against Nazi horrors towards the Jewish people. Supersessionism also aided those who sought to Aryanise Christianity. However, it must be qualified that supersessionism cannot be directly blamed for the horrors of the Holocaust. Afterall, Jew hatred pre-existed Christianity, and indeed the Old Testament depicts a pattern of pagan nations seeking to oppress the Jews. Hitler is simply part of a long line of those who have sought to destroy the Jewish people throughout history, from Pharoah to Haman. This is ultimately rooted in the spiritual conflict between the promised seed and the serpent (Gen 3:15). Hence, even in the absence of Christian anti-Judaism, the hostility towards the Jews would persist and manifest itself in a variety of ways, as it does today, given its spiritual roots.

However, had the German Church recognised the spiritual undertones of this battle and stood up in accordance with God’s will, it likely could have halted the Nazis’ momentum and power, particularly given the cultural and moral influence of the Church at the time. Hence, we cannot dismiss the dangers of Christian anti-Judaism or its role in facilitating Nazi antisemitism. Ultimately, this history should serve as a warning to Christians about the dangers of supersessionism. Afterall, a tree is known by its fruit (Lk. 6:43-35), and supersessionism’s fruits have undoubtedly been tragic.

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[1] Ronald E Diprose, Israel and the Church, The Origins and Effects of Replacement Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011), 178.

[2] R Kendall Soulen, The God of Israel and Christian Theology (Minneapolis, MN: Ausburg Fortress Publishers, 1996), 25; Soulen writes that by discounting the role of Israel in God’s history with human creation, the model depicts Israel as corresponding to Christ in a merely prefigurative and carnal way, whereas the Church corresponds to Jesus in a definitive and spiritual way. According to Soulen, ‘structural supersessionism’ refers to the fact that the model’s “narrative logic” renders the Hebrew Scriptures indecisive for understanding God’s work in engaging creation in enduring and universal ways.

[3] Ibid 29.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid 30.

[6] Helene Dallaire, “Anti-Semitic Supersessionism: The Sharp Words that Deepened the Divide” in The Future Restoration of Israel: A Response to Supersessionism, e.d Stanley E. Porter and Alan E. Kurschner, (Ontario, Canada: PickWick Publishers, 2023), Kindle Edition, 609

[7] Mark S. Kinzer, Postmissionary Messianic Judaism: Redefining Christian Engagement with the Jewish People (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2005), 183.

[8] Ibid 183.

[9] Albert S. Lindemann and Richard S. Levy, Antisemitism: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 56.

[10] Helene Dallaire, “Anti-Semitic Supersessionism: The Sharp Words that Deepened the Divide” in The Future Restoration of Israel: A Response to Supersessionism, Kindle Edition, 609.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Michael L. Brown, Our Hands are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the Church and the Jewish People (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image 1992), 167-168.

[13] Ibid 167-168.

[14] Helene Dallaire, “Anti-Semitic Supersessionism: The Sharp Words that Deepened the Divide” in The Future Restoration of Israel: A Response to Supersessionism, Kindle Edition, 609.

[15]  Diprose, Israel and the Church, The Origins and Effects of Replacement Theology, 180.

[16] Stephen W, Eldridge, “Ideological Incompatibility: The forced fusion of Nazism and Protestant Theology and its Impact on Anti-Semitism in the Third Reich.” International Social Science Review 81, no. 3/4 (2006), 154.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Henry Munson, “Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust” Religions 9, no. 1: 26 (16 January 2018), 6.

[19] Walter Kaiser, Jewish Christianity: Why Believing Jews and Gentiles Parted Ways in the Early Church (Navasota, TX: Lampion House Publishing, 2020), Kindle Edition, loc. 697.

[20] Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin, Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism (New York: Touchstone, 2003), 97.

[21] Doris L. Bergen, “Catholics, Protestants, and Christian Antisemitism in Nazi Germany”, Central European History 27, no. 3 (1994),3 329.

[22] Elias H. Fullenbach,“Shock, Renewal, Crisis: Catholic Reflections on the Shoah”. in Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust, e.d by Kevin P. Spicer, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2007), 221.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Henry Munson, “Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust” Religions 9, no. 1: 26 (16 January 2018), 6.

[25] Kaiser, Jewish Christianity: Why Believing Jews and Gentiles Parted Ways in the Early Church), Kindle Edition, loc. 697.

[26] Munson, “Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust”,12-13.

[27] Lindemann and Levy, Antisemitism: A History, 199.

[28] Joel Richardson, When A Jew Rules the World: What the Bible Really Says about Israel in the Plan of God, (Leawood, KN: Winepress Media, 2015), 150-154.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Ibid.

[32] Facing History and Ourselves – ‘Nazi Propaganda Depicting Matin Luther’ (August 2016), https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/nazi-propaganda-depicting-martin-luther.

[33] Stephen W, Eldridge, “Ideological Incompatibility: The forced fusion of Nazism and Protestant Theology and its Impact on Anti-Semitism in the Third Reich.” International Social Science Review 81, no. 3/4 (2006),162.

[34] Kaiser, Jewish Christianity: Why Believing Jews and Gentiles Parted Ways in the Early Church. Kindle Edition, loc 1690.

[35] Jewish Virtual Library, Anti-Semitism: Martin Luther – “The Jews and their Lies” (1543), https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/martin-luther-quot-the-jews-and-their-lies-quot#google_vignette.

[36] Michael J. Vlach, ‘Various Forms of Replacement Theology’, The Masters Theological Seminary 20 No. 1 (Spring 2009), 61.

[37] Bergen, “Catholics, Protestants, and Christian Antisemitism in Nazi Germany”, 346.

[38] Stephen R Haynes, “Who Needs Enemies? Jews and Judaism in Anti-Nazi Religious Discourse” Church History, Vol. 71, No. 2 (2 June 2002), 340.

[39] Ibid 344.

[40] United Stated Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia – ‘The German Churches and the Nazi State”, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-german-churches-and-the-nazi-state.

[41] Haynes, ‘Who Needs Enemies? Jews and Judaism in Anti-Nazi Religious Discourse’, 347.

[42] Ibid 362.

[43] Ibid 362.

[44] Ibid 348.

[45] Dean G. Stroud, Preaching in Hitler’s Shadow: Sermons of Resistance in the Third Reich (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013), 18.

[46] Ibid 19.

[47] Ibid.

[48] Ibid.

[49] Ibid 34-35

[50] Ibid 34.

[51] Ibid.