What is the nature of the nationalist fervor which has fallen upon our nation?
How do its tenets pollute the ethos of the ekklesia, and the pure proclamation of the gospel?
How does the nationalist fervor influence the body of Christ to walk out of step with the Spirit and ways of our Lord, Jesus Christ?
What are the real, and pragmatic faith issues that are at risk, because of this fervor?
What evangelical declarations need to be reenforced within the Church in this hour?

These were questions that stirred within Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and other pastors and theologians, who were watching a menacing political spirit overtake the people of God in 1930’s Germany.

In 1936, when Bonhoeffer did most of the writing of his book, “The Cost of Discipleship“, the Nazi rallies in Nuremberg were at their height of popularity. These rallies would run for a week, and include marches of various segments of the nation (ie. Labor workers, women and mothers, youth, religious etc.) who would participate in elaborate, festive parades that would snake through surrounding villages – all culminating in the large amphitheater in Nuremberg.

The Rally included speeches on the topics of The Power of the German Workforce, the Bolshevism in Theory and Practice, Homeland Security, The Youth Movement, The Task of the Judiciary, The Task of the German Press/Newspapers, The Financial Health of the German Government

On the seventh day of the rally, “the Fuerher” would address sometimes upward of 700,000 attendees.

“I see before me endless columns of the flags of our new Reich. I make this prophecy to you: This Reich will grow in the coming centuries, becoming strong and powerful! These flags will be borne by ever new generations of our people. Germany is healthy once more! Our people is reborn! I greet you as the hope of the present and the guarantee of our future. Fight! and Be upright and determined, fear no one and do your duty! If you do so, the Lord God will never leave our people. Heil Germany!” Adolph Hitler • September 14, 1936

The following Sunday, hundreds of thousands of these same people would go to church. (In 1936, 95% of the German population identified as Christian – 65% Protestant, and 30% Catholic.)

The pro-Nazi “German Christian” movement became a force in the church in 1933, primarily preaching that Bolshevism was using race as a way to pollute and divide the German people. The majority of Protestant churches, Lutheran, Methodist and Baptist fell in league with the Nazi Party by 1936, forming the “Protestant Reich Church”, and glorified Adolf Hitler as a “German prophet”.

Early on, some Catholic bishops prohibited Catholics in their dioceses from joining the Nazi Party. This ban was dropped after Hitler’s March 23, 1933, speech to the Reichstag in which he described Christianity as “the foundation for German values”.

The Reich Ministry of Church Affairs was established in July of 1936, creating for the first time in Germany an independent, centralized government ministry with responsibility for the Reich’s religious life.

The German Churches and the Nazi State https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-german-churches-and-the-nazi-state

Two years earlier, (1934) Bonhoeffer, along with a handful of other leading Protestant theologians, seeing the growing contraChrist spirit overtaking much of the German Church, formed “The Confessing Church”, centered around “The Barman Confession” (originally titled, “Theological Declaration Concerning the Present Situation of the German Evangelical Church”)
http://postbarthian.com/2018/05/21/karl-barth-and-the-barmen-declaration-1934/

“The Barman Declaration” (chiefly written by the Swiss theologian, Karl Barth) contained six propositions, each rooted squarely in Scripture, stating its implications for the present day, and rejecting the false doctrine of Nationalism. The declaration asserted the church’s fidelity to Jesus Christ alone, Who stands as Lord in every sphere of life – and Who’s ways are to govern the manner of His Body’s witness within each of these spheres as well.

THE BARMAN DECLARATION
In view of the errors of the “German Christians” and of the present Reich Church Administration, which are ravaging the Church and at the same time also shattering the unity of the German Evangelical Church, we confess the following evangelical truths:

1. “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved.” John 10:1,9

Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death.

We reject the false doctrine that the Church could and should recognize as a source of its proclamation, beyond and besides this one Word of God, yet other events, powers, historic figures and truths as God’s revelation.

2. “Jesus Christ has been made wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption for us by God.” 1 Corinthians 1:30

As Jesus Christ is God’s comforting pronouncement of the forgiveness of all our sins, so, with equal seriousness, he is also God’s vigorous announcement of his claim upon our whole life. Through him there comes to us joyful liberation from the godless ties of this world for free, grateful service to his creatures.

We reject the false doctrine that there could be areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ but to other lords, areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.

3. “Let us, however, speak the truth in love, and in every respect grow into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body is joined together.” Ephesians 4:15-16

The Christian Church is the community of brethren in which, in Word and Sacrament, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ acts in the present as Lord. With both its faith and its obedience, with both its message and its order, it has to testify in the midst of the sinful world, as the Church of pardoned sinners, that it belongs to him alone and lives and may live by his comfort and under his direction alone, in expectation of his appearing.

We reject the false doctrine that the Church could have permission to hand over the form of its message and of its order to whatever it itself might wish or to the vicissitudes of the prevailing ideological and political convictions of the day.

4. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to have authority over you must be your servant.” Matthew 20:25-26

The various offices in the Church do not provide a basis for some to exercise authority over others but for the ministry [lit., “service”] with which the whole community has been entrusted and charged to be carried out.

We reject the false doctrine that, apart from this ministry, the Church could, and could have permission to, give itself or allow itself to be given special leaders [Führer] vested with ruling authority.

5. “Fear God. Honor the Emperor.” 1 Peter 2:17

Scripture tells us that by divine appointment the State, in this still unredeemed world in which also the Church is situated, has the task of maintaining justice and peace, so far as human discernment and human ability make this possible, by means of the threat and use of force. The Church acknowledges with gratitude and reverence toward God the benefit of this, his appointment. It draws attention to God’s Dominion [Reich], God’s commandment and justice, and with these the responsibility of those who rule and those who are ruled. It trusts and obeys the power of the Word, by which God upholds all things.

We reject the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the State should and could become the sole and total order of human life and so fulfill the vocation of the Church as well.

We reject the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the Church should and could take on the nature, tasks and dignity which belong to the State and thus become itself an organ of the State.

6. “See, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt. 28:20 “God’s Word is not fettered.” 2 Timothy 2:9

The Church’s commission, which is the foundation of its freedom, consists in this: in Christ’s stead, and so in the service of his own Word and work, to deliver all people, through preaching and sacrament, the message of the free grace of God.

We reject the false doctrine that with human vainglory the Church could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of self-chosen desires, purposes and plans.

The Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church declares that it sees in the acknowledgment of these truths and in the rejection of these errors the indispensable theological basis of the German Evangelical Church as a confederation of Confessing Churches. It calls upon all who can stand in solidarity with its Declaration to be mindful of these theological findings in all their decisions concerning Church and State. It appeals to all concerned to return to unity in faith, hope and love.

Verbum Dei manet in aeternum.
(The Word of God endures forever.)

Is it time for the American Church to establish her own Barman Declaration? Is it past time?

What is the nature of the nationalist fervor which has fallen upon our nation?
How do its tenets pollute the ethos of the ekklesia, and the pure proclamation of the gospel?
How does the nationalist fervor influence the body of Christ to walk out of step with the Spirit and ways of our Lord, Jesus Christ?
What are the real, and pragmatic faith issues that are at risk, because of this fervor?
What evangelical declarations need to be reenforced within the Church in this hour?

____________________
JSB • March 22, 2025

Party Rally of Honor by Dr. Walther Schmitt http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/pt36int.htm

The 1936 Nazi Rally Order of Ceremony
https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/pt36.htm