Geliebtes Volk Israel, fremde Juden : die Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk und die "Judenfrage", 1933-1945

Examines the attitude of the Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) towards the persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust. Analyzes the discourse on the Jewish question in the NHK during the 1930s, and its approach regarding mission to the Jews. Although some of the 1,500 ministers protested openly against events in Germany in the 1930s (e.g. by disseminating anti-Nazi publications), their protests against Nazi persecution of the Jews was tinted with anti-Judaism. Many symphatized with the Nazi regime. The General Synod in 1940 scarcely reacted to the situation. Most NHK theologians suppressed any perception of the systematic annihilation of Jews which was carried out in the Netherlands quickly, effectively, and almost without resistance. Focuses, also, on the difference between modern racist antisemitism and traditional Christian anti-Jewish convictions current among Dutch clergymen, and the distinction between an empiric concept of Jews or Jewry and that of "the people of Israel", the consequence of a "Christocentric" view which was not put to the test of reality. Deals also with the problem of missionary activities of the NHK, and stresses its incapacity to appreciate Jewish existence as such. Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universität-Gesamthochschule Wuppertal, 1996. 450 pages ; 21 cm