Abstract
This discussion of The Aryan Jesus (2008) welcomes its combating all antisemitism but questions whether it sufficiently distinguishes that from an also deplorable theological anti-Judaism. Heschel’s account of the Eisenach Institute (1939—42), which aimed to de-Judaize German Christianity, provides a one-sided impression of 1930s German church history. The book’s broader thesis that Christianity is racist depends on a failure to distinguish clearly between the churches and the völkisch movement that stands behind Nazi antisemitism. Criticisms made of individual biblical scholars confirm the responsibility to counter an anti-Judaism that was bound to fuel modern secular antisemitism. Both are different from the Christian antisemitism prevalent in the Middle Ages.
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