Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
On Faith, Resistance, and Self-Sacrifice

On Faith, Resistance, and Self-Sacrifice

Last updated on: January 24, 2017 at 5:58 am by Chris Gehrz

On Faith, Resistance, and Self-Sacrifice 2017-01-23T22:18:02-04:00 Chris Gehrz

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Critiquing Donald Trump’s inaugural address for Religion Dispatches, Spencer Dew pointed out that the new president entirely omitted the features of American civil religion that Robert Bellah once described as being essential to understanding national identity in a democracy. Consequently, Trump’s nationalism is one “unanswerable to any higher authority, whether law or God, the sacrifice of previous generations.”

I emphasize what Bellah called the rhetoric of “death, sacrifice, and rebirth” because it’s a theme we ran into again and again on our just-concluded World War I travel course. As we took students to dozens of memorials and cemeteries, it was impossible not to wonder what compelled all those millions of young people to sacrifice their lives. Or to consider how their nations posthumously made meaning of all those deaths.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Chris Gehrz

At least in Commonwealth cemeteries, where families were allowed to choose their sons’ epitaphs, some doubt creeps in. “Have I died in vain?”, one Australian sergeant asks visitors to his graveside in Villers-Brettoneux, France. “Lest we forget,” admonish others, in the futile hope that 1914-1918 would indeed become the “War to end all wars.” And while many families continued to pledge their loved ones’ memories “To King and Country,” students at Oxford famously voted never again to die for that cause.

But as we traveled from France to Germany for the last leg of our trip, we read some very different words from a wounded German officer who had made the same train journey (albeit much more slowly) at war’s end:

…strange as it may sound, I learned from this very four years’ schooling in force and in all the fantastic extravagance of material warfare that life has no depth of meaning except when it is pledged for an ideal, and that there are ideals in comparison with which the life of an individual and even of a people has no weight. And though the aim for which I fought as an individual, as an atom in the whole body of the army, was not yet to be achieved, though material force cast us, apparently, to the earth, yet we learned once and for all to stand for a cause and if necessary to fall as befitted men.

The newest edition of Jünger’s famous novel features a foreword by Karl Marlantes, author of What It Is Like to Go to War

Ernst Jünger later removed these words from the conclusion of Storm of Steel, rightly concerned that readers would be unable to distinguish his brand of nationalism from that of another WWI veteran who led Germany into a second, still more disastrous world war. (One that took the life of Jünger’s son, and 5 million more German troops.) But despite his disdain for National Socialists, they shared Jünger’s war-hardened conviction that “Germany lives and Germany shall never go under!”

As my post on Saturday hopefully made clear, I have little use for this brand of nationalism. But I suspect that Jünger is speaking to a fundamental human impulse that survived the crucible of total war: a desire to live not solely “[in] the cold light of reason” but “in the invisible rays of a feeling that filled the heart….”

To “stand for a cause and if necessary to fall as befitted men.”

I just think he gets the cause wrong.

While Jünger quoted Scripture (“…except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”), he characterized Christianity as a spent force, a cautionary example for adherents of the cult of national greatness:

To-day we cannot understand the martyrs who threw themselves into the arena in a transport that lifted them even before their deaths beyond humanity, beyond every phase of pain and fear. Their faith no longer exercises a compelling force. When once it is no longer possible to understand how a man gives his life for his country–and the time will come–then all is over with that faith also, and the idea of the Fatherland is dead; and then, perhaps, we shall be envied as we envy the saints their inward and irresistible strength.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Chris Gehrz

So it’s fortuitous that when we take students on a walking tour of Munich, they discover that the Bavarian War Memorial (whose inscription — “They shall rise again” — seems more a political vow than a theological assurance) is only a few steps away from the simple, stark cube dedicated to the memory of the anti-Nazi resistance group known as the White Rose, many of whose members were compelled by faith to oppose the nationalism of the Third Reich.

“Nothing is so unworthy of a civilised nation,” started the group’s first leaflet, distributed in June 1942, “as allowing itself to be governed without opposition by an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base instinct.” So university students including Hans and Sophie Scholl, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, and Christoph Prost pledged themselves to nonviolent resistance.

While not all members were Christians, their fourth leaflet made an unabashedly religious argument for opposing the Nazi regime and sabotaging the German war effort:

Every word that comes from Hitler’s mouth is a lie. When he says peace, he means war, and when he blasphemously uses the name of the Almighty, he means the power of evil, the fallen angel, Satan…. Everywhere and at all times of greatest trial men have appeared, prophets and saints who cherished their freedom, who preached the One God and who His help brought the people to a reversal of their downward course. Man is free, to be sure, but without the true God he is defenceless against the principle of evil. He is a like rudderless ship, at the mercy of the storm, an infant without his mother, a cloud dissolving into thin air.

I ask you, you as a Christian wrestling for the preservation of your greatest treasure, whether you hesitate, whether you incline toward intrigue, calculation, or procrastination in the hope that someone else will raise his arm in your defence? Has God not given you the strength, the will to fight? We must attack evil where it is strongest, and it is strongest in the power of Hitler.

In Marc Rothemund’s 2005 film about the arrest and execution of the White Rose leaders, Sophie Scholl’s faith is given a central role. Praying herself to sleep with the words of Augustine, she appeals to eternal law in her interrogation by Gestapo officer Robert Mohr, who snarls back, “There is no God!”

“You did the right thing,” the Scholls’ father tells Sophie in a poignant meeting just before her execution. (In reality, he even burst into their trial and shouted at Nazi judge Roland Freisler, “There is a higher court before which we all must stand!”) “Remember Jesus,” pleads his wife. “Yes, Mama,” replies Sophie, “but you, too.”

As they go to their deaths, Rothemund presents the White Rose resisters as contemporary martyrs: 20th century saints who possessed the “inward and irresistible strength” that Jünger envied and Nazism could not defeat. In short, the members of the White Rose “[stood] for a cause” and “[fell] as befitted men” and women.

When I show Sophie Scholl: The Last Days to my students, I tell them that they are about to watch a horror movie. Not because it’s graphically violent, but because it shows how Sophie, her brother, and their friends are stranded in a terribly twisted universe where good is evil and truth is a lie. To Mohr and especially Freisler, whose allegiance to the Nazi movement is total, the Scholls are not heroes but degenerates or lunatics.

I continue to believe that our democratic system will prove to be more durable than the Weimar Republic. But having elected a leader who launched his presidency by calling for “total allegiance” and berating the media for reporting facts, I’m starting to feel like we Americans have entered a horror movie of our own.

If so — if we find ourselves be governed by “an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base instinct” — then I can only pray that God will give me and you the strength not to hesitate, not to calculate or procrastinate, but to defend what is right without fear.

Previous Post

January 23, 2017

The Graduate Course, and Other Mythical Beasts

Next Post

January 25, 2017 Because Christian Women Should Fight Against Misogyny too....

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims Piracy pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public Executions Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In what town did Jesus grow up?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jericho Jerusalem Nazareth Bethlehem