Martin Luther and the Jews: How Protestant Churches in Germany Deal with the Reformer’s Dark Side

Abstract

Despite the fact that Luther was referenced in order to justify anti-Semitic hatred of Jews during the time of National Socialism it took the German evangelical churches almost forty years to get round to intensively working through Luther’s anti-Jewish Statements and their effects through history. During the first decades after World War II, intra-church discussion focused on working through its own guilt (1945–1950) and finding a new direction for theology concerning Israel (1960–1980). However, the 500th anniversary of Luther’s birth in 1983 fueled a discussion about the Reformer’s attitude towards the Jews. It centered, first, on the question of how to assess the anti-Semitic co-option of Luther in the Nazi period; second, on how Luther’s friendly statements towards Jews in his early years relate to the invective of his late writings. The latest EKD statement turns away from a genetic view of Luther towards an appraisal of his theological assessment of Judaism in connection with his Reformation theology.