Product Description

The essays of the late Uriel Tal uncover the dynamics of the secularization of religion, and the sacralization of politics in the Nazi era, to render explicable the deep ideational structure of the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3508995 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Review
'There has scarcely been another scholar who was as keenly aware of what German National Socialism owed to a combination of bowdlerised Christianity and bastardised science, a view [Tal] argued for with great cogency and formidable scholarship. [...] The cultural depth, clarity of exposition and scholarly richness of Tal's essays will establish formidable standards for future volumes in the series.' - Michael Burleigh, Washington and Lee University, USA and Series Editor of the Cass Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions Series

'Uriel Tal's most striking personality trait was his passionate seriousness. It is an increasingly rare characteristic and one not easy to define. Although he was an impeccable and brilliant scholar, Uri's path did not lead him towards matters of mere scholarly interests; his quest - and it should be defined as such - was intertwined throughout with issues of basic moral significance, particularly with the moral dimension of religious faith.' - Saul Friedlander

From the Back Cover
'Towards the end of World War II, at the very height of the Holocaust, Heinrich Himmler repeated one of the basic doctrines of his faith and proclaimed that "this Reich will now be a sacred myth".' Uriel Tal, from Structures of German 'Political Theology' in the Nazi Era

In a perceptive analysis of the diverse source material, the essays of the late Uriel Tal in this volume uncover the dynamics of the secularization of religion, and the sacralization of politics in the Nazi era. Through a process of inversion of meaning, concepts such as race, blood, soil, state, nation and Führer were brought into the realm of faith, mission, salvation, sacredness and myth, thereby acquiring absolute significance. Within this Nazi worldview, the Jew epitomised the arch enemy, both as a symbol and as the concrete embodiment of all that Nazism sought to negate: Western civilisation, monotheism, critical rationalism and humanism.

This book is an insightful endeavour by a distinguished historian to render explicable the deep ideational structure of the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. The book will be essential reading for all serious students of the era, and of Nazi ideology and thought.

About the Author
Uriel Tal (d. 1984) was Professor of Modern Jewish History at Tel Aviv University and Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies. He lectured widely in the United States and Europe and was visiting professor in several American universities. His work focused on modern Jewish history and European history, primarily the history of ideas and religious thought. His publications include: Christians and Jews in Germany: Religion, Politics and Ideology in the Second Reich, 1870-1914 (1975); Myth and Reason in Contemporary Jewry (1987, Hebrew); Political Theology and the Third Reich (1991, Hebrew).