Skip to main content

Spirit and Culture in German Christian Theology

The Spiritual Awakening of a Nation

Spirit and Culture in German Christian Theology cover

Spirit and Culture in German Christian Theology

The Spiritual Awakening of a Nation

Quantity
Pre-order. Available 12 Nov 2026
$136.80 RRP $171.00 Website price saving $34.20 (20%)

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

Description

This book reveals the function of Spirit within the theological self-understanding of German Christian theologians within the Third Reich period.

Historians and theologians have discussed how the life and works of Jesus Christ was apprehended and distorted by Nazi-sympathizing theologians within the German Evangelical Church throughout the National Socialist period. Ryan Buesnel adds to these critical conversations, demonstrating how the influences of German idealism, theological liberalism, and Völkisch philosophy provided the groundwork for a new concept of Spirit that transformed how many German Protestants understood the pneumatological content of Christian doctrine. Across nine chapters, Buesnel reveals that this warping of Christian doctrine for pro-Nazi ends resulted in a largely de-sacralized understanding of Spirit which symbolized a new era in German Christianity. By turning to the original German Völkisch and National Socialist Weltanschauung texts, Buesnel grounds his analysis in trinitarian theology, offering fresh insights not only of German Christianity and pneumatology, but Nazi-sympathizing rhetoric's use of Christian doctrine.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
  • WCAG level AA
  • WCAG v2.2 compliant
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

Support for non-visual reading

  • No accessibility features offered by the reading system, device or reading software are disabled or otherwise unusable with the product
  • Has alternative text descriptions for images

Visual adjustments

Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and size, spaces, as well as color of background and text)

Navigation

  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
  • All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order
  • Content is enhanced with ARIA roles to optimize organization and facilitate navigation
  • Purposes of all links are made clear

Rich content

Language tagging provided

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1: The Radicalization of Context: The Distortion of a Method
2: Prophets of Spiritual Rebirth in German History
3: Spirit and Volk: Toward a Cultural Theology
4: Spirit and Theology in the German Christian Imagination
5: The Eisenach Institute: Theology, Spirit, and Cultural Accommodation
6: Jesus Christ: The Triumphant Spirit of the Volkstestament
7: From Tarsus to Thuringia: Recasting Paul for the German Soul
Conclusion: A Historical Anomaly?
Bibliography

Product details

Published 12 Nov 2026
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 256
ISBN 9798216354550
Imprint T&T Clark
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Ryan Buesnel

Ryan Buesnel is an independent scholar and receive…

Author

Ryan Buesnel

Ryan Buesnel is an independent scholar and receive…

Related Titles

Get 30% off in the May sale - for one week only

Environment: Staging