Positive Christianity

Positive Christianity was a Nazi-era movement that sought to align Christianity with National Socialism by rejecting Christianity’s Jewish origins and reshaping its teachings around racial ideology.

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Nazi Germany: The German state under National Socialist rule from 1933 to 1945. The regime promoted Positive Christianity as part of its effort to reshape German religious life.
Aryan Jesus: A racially reimagined Jesus portrayed as non-Jewish and aligned with Aryan identity. This reinterpretation embodied the movement’s attempt to detach Jesus from Judaism.
Ludwig Müller: A German Protestant pastor and Nazi supporter appointed Reich Bishop in 1933. As Reich Bishop, he represented the regime’s attempt to bring Protestant churches under Nazi leadership.
Confessing Church: A Protestant movement in Nazi Germany that opposed state control of church doctrine and leadership. It rejected the German Christians’ effort to subordinate church teaching to Nazi ideology.
German Christians: A Protestant movement that sought to align German churches with National Socialism. This church movement became the chief organized vehicle for Positive Christianity.
De-Judaization of Christianity: Efforts to remove Jewish texts, origins, and associations from Christian belief and practice. The movement made this project central to its racial reinterpretation of Christianity.
Walter Grundmann: A German Protestant theologian who led Nazi-era scholarship aimed at removing Jewish influence from Christianity. He directed the institute that pursued the movement’s theological program.
Barmen Declaration: A 1934 Protestant declaration rejecting Nazi attempts to dictate Christian doctrine. Its claims about Christ’s authority directly opposed the movement’s political subordination of Christianity.
National Socialism: The far-right political ideology and movement led by Adolf Hitler in Germany. Its racial nationalism supplied the political framework Positive Christianity tried to make Christian.
Old Testament: The collection of Jewish scriptures that forms the first part of the Christian Bible. Positive Christianity rejected or diminished these scriptures because of their Jewish origins.