ABSTRACT
I In an obsequious act of submission to Nazi ideology, many German theologians in the Third Reich transformed the central teachings of the New Testament into Nazi principles. Judaism was said to pose a violent and dangerous threat to Germans, and Jesus became an Aryan whose teachings were essentially the same as those of Hitler. That such a massive corruption of Christian teachings was possible, even under Hitler, should bring pause to theologians. That some of the theologians involved in creating the Aryan Jesus continued to teach theology in postwar Germany, often repeating the very same ideas, albeit couched in less inflammatory language, sets an important agenda for contemporary Christians, as well as all scholars of religion concerned about political misuses of religion.
