Susannah Heschel

Historiography of Antisemitism versus Anti-Judaism: A Response to Robert Morgan

Responding to Robert Morgan’s plaidoyer for Christianity by claiming a distinction between theological anti-Judaism and modern, racial antisemitism, this article demonstrates that the texts of pro-Nazi German Protestant theologians integrate race and religion with a fluidity that obviates a sharp distinction between the two terms. Antisemitic propaganda produced by Christian theologians during World War II leaves the strictly theological realm in its use of Nazi language and concepts, even when framed in a Christian context, and demands a different kind of conceptualization by historians. Why a group of theologians—professors, instructors, students, pastors and bishops—sought the dejudaization of Christianity during the Third Reich requires attentiveness by historians to the affinities these theologians thought they recognized between Christianity and the claims of modern racial theorists. General historians of Nazi social history will benefit from greater awareness of the racialization of significant sectors of the Christian community in Germany, and students of postwar German theology will benefit from considering the legacy of the pre-1945 Nazification of certain university theological faculties as well as Nazi-era racial tendencies in certain strands of theological scholarship.

The Slippery Yet Tenacious Nature of Racism: New Developments in Critical Race Theory and Their Implications for the Study of Religion and Ethics

Why is racism so tenacious? Drawing from recent methodological innovations in the study of racism, this essay explores the appeal of racism and the erotics of race within the imagination. The slippery nature of racism, and its ability to alter its manifestations with ease and hide behind various disavowals, facilitates the racialization of both religious thought and social institutions.