Black pioneers in a white denomination

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Yves Blomme

A la charnière des XIXe et XXe siècles, trois évêques français, réputés libéraux, allaient adopter une position minoritaire lors de la crise moderniste, ainsi qu’à l’occasion de la Séparation de l’Église et de l’État. L’un d’eux, Mgr Émile Le Camus (à La Rochelle), engagé de longue date dans le mouvement biblique catholique débutant, n’avait eu de cesse de tenter de parvenir à l’épiscopat dans le but d’entreprendre la rénovation du catholicisme par la réforme des études dans les séminaires. Parvenu à ses fins, il aura surtout à faire face à la crise ouverte entre l’Église et la République, dans laquelle il se démarquera encore en appelant de ses vŒux la Séparation.

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Kevin P. Spicer

"Shaken by military defeat and economic depression after War World I, Germans sought to restore their nation's dignity and power. In this context the National Socialist Party, with its promise of a revivified Germany, drew supporters. Among the most zealous were a number of Catholic clergymen known as "brown priests" who volunteered as Nazi propagandists. In Hitler's Priests, Kevin P. Spicer introduces the principal clergymen who participated in the Nazi movement, examines their motives, details their advocacy of National Socialism, and explores the consequences of their political activism." "Some brown priests, particularly war veterans, advocated National Socialism because it appealed to their patriotic ardor. Others had less laudatory motives: disaffection with clerical life, conflicts with Church superiors, or ambition for personal power and fame. Whatever their individual motives, they employed their skills as orators, writers, and teachers to proclaim the message of Nazism. Especially during the early 1930s, when the Church forbade membership in the party, these clergymen strove to prove that Catholicism was compatible with National Socialism, thereby justifying their support of Nazi ideology. Father Dr. Philipp Haeuser, a scholar and pastor, went so far as to promote antisemitism while deifying Adolf Hitler. The Fuhrer's antisemitism, Spicer argues, did not deter clergymen such as Haeuser because, although the Church officially rejected the Nazis' extreme racism, Catholic teachings tolerated hostility toward Jews by blaming them for Christ's crucifixion." "In addition to this intriguing history about clergymen trying to reconcile faith and politics, Spicer provides a master list verified by extensive research in Church and government archives - of Catholic clergy who publicly supported National Socialism."--BOOK JACKET.

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Mélina Mangal

A biography of the Puritan woman who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for disagreeing with the prevailing religious practices.

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Kenneth E. Bailey

Beginning with Jesus' birth, Ken Bailey leads readers on a kaleidoscopic study of Jesus throughout the four Gospels. Bailey examines the life and ministry of Jesus with attention to the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, Jesus' relationship to women and especially Jesus' parables. Through it all, Bailey employs his trademark expertise as a master of Middle Eastern culture to lead us into a deeper understanding of the person and significance of Jesus within his own cultural context. With a sure but gentle hand, Bailey lifts away the obscuring layers of modern Western interpretation to reveal Jesus in the light of his actual historical and cultural setting. -- from back cover.