The End of Illusions Religious Leaders Confront Hitler's Gathering Storm

by Loconte, Joseph; Barth, Karl; Bennett, John; Blakely, Paul L.; Magazine, Fortune; Fosdick, Harry Emerson; Harkness, Georgia; Holmes, John Haynes; Hough, Lynn Harold; American Churchmen, Manifesto by; Morrison, Charles Clayton; Mumford, Lewis; Niebuhr, Rei

• ISBN13: 9780742534988
• ISBN10: 0742534987
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-10-01
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

On the eve of America's entry into World War II, a fierce debate raged among religious leaders over the United States's participation in the war. In The End of Illusions, Joseph Loconte brings together pieces from the most significant religious thinkers of the day about the responsibilites of America and Europe in the face of Nazi agressions. As America faces a new war on terror, the arguments from half a century ago resonate with renewed passion, clarity, and poignancy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement	ix
Introduction
The Politics of Appeasement and the War on Terrorism	1	(34)
Part I: The Peacemakers
1 Albert W. Palmer, Chicago Theological Seminary	35	(16)
A Road Away from War	38	(6)
Putting Christianity in Cold Storage	44	(7)
2 Charles Clayton Morrison, The Christian Century	51	(18)
On Saving Civilization	53	(5)
What Can America Do for Peace?	58	(5)
A War for Imperialism	63	(6)
3 John Haynes Holmes, Unitarian Community Church	69	(14)
The Same Old War	71	(7)
The Causes of War-Hitler	78	(5)
4 Paul L. Blakely, America	83	(6)
Nazi Atrocities and the American War Fever	85	(2)
All Will Be Lost by War	87	(2)
5 Ernest Fremont Tittle, Methodist World Peace Commission	89	(10)
A Clash of Imperialisms	92	(7)
6 Georgia Harkness, Garrett Biblical Institute	99	(14)
What Can Christians Do?	102	(6)
What, Then, Should Churches Do?	108	(5)
7 Harry Emerson Fosdick, Riverside Baptist Church	113	(12)
Keeping Christ Above the Strife	115	(10)
Part II: The Prophets
8 Reinhold Niebuhr, Christianity and Crisis	125	(28)
An End to Illusions	128	(4)
Why the Church Is Not Pacifist	132	(15)
Christian Faith and the World Crisis	147	(6)
9 Karl Barth, German Confessing Church	153	(24)
First Letter to the French Protestants	155	(7)
Second Letter to the French Protestants	162	(7)
A Letter to Great Britain	169	(8)
10 Stephen S. Wise, World Jewish Congress	177	(12)
Five Mournful Years for Jewry	179	(4)
Enemy of Human Freedom	183	(2)
The Crime of Crimes	185	(4)
11 John C. Bennett, Pacific School of Religion at Berkeley	189	(10)
The Darkest Political Tyranny	191	(8)
12 Henry Pitney Van Dusen, Union Theological Seminary	199	(14)
Irresponsible Idealism	201	(4)
The Christian as Citizen	205	(8)
13 Lynn Harold Hough, Drew Theological Seminary	213	(8)
Defending Justice Despite Our Own Injustice	215	(6)
14 Lewis Mumford, Writer and Philosopher	221	(20)
The Barbarian Alternative	224	(4)
The Aftermath of Utopianism	228	(13)
Part III: The Gathering Storm
15 A Summons to the Church and a Manifesto from the Faithful	241	(10)
War and Peace	242	(6)
America's Responsibility in the Present Crisis	248	(3)
Bibliography	251	(2)
Index	253	(2)
About the Editor	255