Nazism, Liberalism, and Christianity: Protestant Social Thought in Germany and Great Britain, 1925-1937

This work, by Professor Barnes of Concordia University, River Forest, is a comparision of German and British theological thought in the late twenties and early thirties. Barnes sides well with the 'social gospel' movement of Britain, in that man cooperates with God in making the world a better place. He resents the German theology, that the regardless of man's actions, the world will end with an inevitable destruction by God, with the failure of all of man's efforts. Ok, so far, not quite a big deal for most Americans perhaps. But in this work, Barnes actually is criticial not only of German theology of the time, but also attacks the Biblical theology of his own university and its parental church body (the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod). Frankly, I found that a bit of a 'bitter pill' to swallow, as I felt that Barnes has more going on with this book than just writting about a historical subject. While an interesting comparision, I suspect there was a lot more at play in the responce of the church to the rise of Nazism than a basic difference in eschatological systems.