German booksellers did roaring business last week when there appeared on the market an antiSemitic, Nazified version of The Gospel According to St. John, adapted from Martin Luther's standard German translation of the Bible. This was big news for Nordic churchgoers, because the man responsible for the metamorphosis of St. John into an up-to-date Nazi was none other than Dr. Heinz Weidemann, Bishop of Bremen, who is no black sheep of the German Evangelical Church but one of its prime spiritual forces.
Much less stir was created few months ago by the Nazified version of Christ's Sermon on the Mount because its author, Reichsbischof Ludwig Müller, is in bad odor with the State Church. Humility and forgiveness find no place in Bishop Muller's Sermon on the Mount. Heavily stressed are '"blood" and "comradeship." Example. Matthew, 5:9:
King James Version
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
Hitler's Version
"Happy are they who keep the peace with their fellow-nationals; they do God's will."
Most subtly effective in damning the Jews is Bishop Weidemann's new Gospel. Says the Bishop in his preface: "The German of the Third Reich must know what Christ, Whom the Jews nailed to the cross, means." More than once the phrase "The Jews jeered and said'' appears in the new Nazified version instead of "Then said the Jews," as in the Lutheran version. "Jewland" takes the place of the original "Judea" and this "Jewland" is carefully distinguished from the province of Galilee, where Christ preached. The implication is that this was not in "Jewland." Throughout the new Gospel it is implied that Christ and His disciples were not Jews. Jewish names such as "Elijah" and "Isaiah" are omitted, replaced by "prophets." "Rabbi," as applied to Christ, becomes "Master." Christ, according to Bishop Weidemann, shared the "German Christians' " contempt for the Old Testament because it is Jewish in flavor. Example, St. John, Chapter VI, 31-32:
King James Version "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven: but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven."
Nazi Version
"The Bible also reports that bread fell from heaven for our ancestors in the desert.
"Jesus replied: I tell you the truth; these old stories to which you continually refer do not help you. My Father alone gives you true divine bread."