And the next five

I have finished the book on Hitler and art that I had for my birthday. It is a fascinating book weaving together the story of how Hitler dealt with the mentally ill, including those with excellent artistic skills and his lesser known campaign against modern art. Very interesting. The book on Humility by Gavin Ortlund is in the same series as the one I mentioned by Sinclair Ferguson, Worthy. It is not an easy subject but he deals with it well and helpfully. I piced up David Robertson's book Seek at the Catalyst Conference. It is really for teenagers but I found it so fascinating I ordered the previous title, which I had missed, Ask. Both great little books. The other one I read recently is the Affinity book Challenging Leaders. I am desperate to be positive aboutthis book but am finding it very hard. It is written by a committee and sadly sounds like it as draws together various nuggets of biblical and sociological wisdom. I hope it is a helo to those who need oit most. 

Day Off Week 26 2023

I went for a walk on the Heath early in the day. I often do that but need to do it more often. I saw a sign outside the Chipotle in West Hampstead that I assumed meant chicken for a pastor so I went and had some. I also bought some Stilton for my cheese blog (see here). Plenty of reading, of course. A book on Paul Klee arrived and I read that. Not a Klee fan, I guess. A copy of the face on the front of the book (his best work I would say) used to hang in the chapel kitchen when I first got here. It was next to a portrait of the first pastor and so the then deacons used to joke that the first portrait was of the first pastor while the Klee was the one before me. Tres droll. I also read Gavin Ortlind's excellent book on humility and almost finished the book on Hitler and art by Charlie English I have been reading. Watched some TV in the evening.

Day Off Week 25 2023

This week's day off was unusual in that it started very early. It must have been around 5 am when we heard noises outside. It turned out to be a police raid. Someone has been growng cannabis a few doors up. After the commotion I wasalready to go and so I went down for devotions and to read. I did go back to bed for a while, however, I confess. I spent much of the day reading this book one of my sons gave me on Hitler and art by Charlie English. Very interesting and written with a firm grasp of the subject. I also spoke to my financial adviser and did some painting as can be seen. At some point I was out for a coffee and to buy cheese - Red Leicester, which I then added to a small and quite basic blog. See here.

10 Key Features of Conspiracy Theories

On p 117 of his book The Hitler Conspiracies Richard J Evans says

Attempts to prove that the Nazis started the [Reichstag] fire display many key features of event conspiracy theories: 

1. The assumption that because an incident or occurrence was of enormous political importance it must have been planned in advance.
2. The claim that witnesses to the event have mysteriously disappeared or been murdered so that they are no longer able to tell the truth about it.
3. The belief that the people who benefit from an event must have caused it.
4. The feeling that to make the claim that a tragic or criminal event was more or less a matter of chance somehow excuses or exculpates the perpetrators (or, again, those who benefit from it).
5. The refusal to accept that a major historical event may have been triggered by a lone, obscure individual and not an organized group.
6. The involvement of occult forces of some kind.
7. The forgery of documentary evidence in the conviction that it is allowable because the forger knows what really happened and is justified in creating the proof for his view in a situation where other, decisive proofs are for whatever reason not available.
8. Also p 133 The missing correspondence, if it emerged, would most likely reveal the truth. But unfortunately no such correspondence has turned up. Speculation of this kind can be found in many other conspiracy theorists' writings.
9. And p 134 As an alternative to claiming the truth is buried in missing documents, conspiracy theorists also frequently cite genuine sources then accord them a weight far beyond what they will actually bear. They join the dots between authentic pieces of historical evidence to create a picture that isn't in the least plausible.
10. And p 150 The involvement of the ex-King Edward VIII is another characteristic example of the tendency of some conspiracy theorists to try to arouse interest in their work by involving famous people.

Christmas Books 2020

 

One of the joys of Christmas is getting presents and one of the joys of presents is getting books. These eight have come to me over the last few weeks from my sons and other relatives. Inevitably, one or two I already had, which can't be helped. One or two I bought myself for my wife t give me (!). Over the holiday I have read The Hitler Conspiracies and The Chieftains and have just started on Matthew Parris's biographical work Fracture.

My oldest son often buys me books on Hitler. This one by one of the premier historians in the field is very timely in that it explores five conspiracy theories connected with Hitler (including why Hess flew to Britain and whether Hitler survived the Berlin bunker) and so inevitably discusses the whole phenomenon of such theories, increasingly a part of modern life. It also served as a reminder to me that one of the many reasons why I could never have been an academic (despite its attractions) is that you have to spend time dealing with cranks and their crazy ideas. Here Evans is very gracious as he works away what are sometimes the dumbest theories. It makes the book a little long but there is no other way of dealing with a fool apart from ignoring them. Anyway the Hitler book was great and very stimulating.. The Chieftains book is 25 years old. It only goes up to 1995. it was good to have the background, however, and to discover I am not so unusual in liking Ireland's premier musical outfit. It is an official biography so a bit pedestrian and riddled with proofing errors as all these books tend to be.

I am enjoying Moby Dick in this beautiful Chiltern edition and hope to get to the others I've not read soon. Aren't people kind.

10 Things in German History that happened on November 9

1. 1522. Birth of German theologian and Refomrer Martin Chemnits (I would have put Martin Luther here but he was born on November 10, 1473).

2. 1518. Pope condemns Luther's writings.

3. 1848. After being arrested in the Vienna revolts, left liberal leader Robert Blum was executed. Many see the execution as symbolic of the ultimate crushing of the German March Revolution in April, May 1849.

4. 1918: Emperor Wilhelm II was dethroned in the November Revolution by Chancellor Max von Baden, who published the news of an abdication before the Emperor had abdicated. Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the German republic from a window of the Reichstag. Two hours later, Karl Liebknecht proclaimed a "Free Socialist Republic" from a balcony of the Berliner Stadtschloss.

5. 1921. Publication of Der 9. November (The 9th of November) a novel by Bernhard Kellermann telling the story of the German insurrection of 1918.

6. 1922: German born Albert Einstein named winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect".

7. 1923: The failed Beer Hall Putsch, 8 to 9, marking the early emergence and provisional downfall of the Nazis.  During Nazi rule 9 November was a national holiday in Germany in memory of Nazis who died in the Beer Hall Putsch.

8. 1923: Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, chose 9 November for his return to Germany from exile in the Netherlands. It infuriated his father, the former emperor, who felt the anniversary of his abdication ill-chosen.

9. 1938: Kristallnacht. Known today in Germany as the Reichspogromnacht, on 9 to 10, synagogues and Jewish property were burned and destroyed on a large scale, and more than 400 Jews were killed or driven to suicide. The event demonstrated that the antisemitic stance of the Nazi regime was not as 'moderate' as it had appeared in earlier years.

10. 1989: The fall of the Berlin Wall ended German separation and started a series of events that ultimately led to German reunification and the Fall of Communism in eastern Europe.

The Darwin Effect by Jerry Bergman

Another book I have read not so long ago, this time on kindle is, The Darwin Effect by Jerry Bergman. There are a lot of positive things to say about this book. It is enlightening, well researched and a stark reminder of the insidious effects of Darwin and evolutionary theory. Sadly, the book could do with a good editor who would cut out the clutter and repetition.

A wide field is covered including the eugenics movement, racism, H G Wells, the Tasmanian genocide, the Ku Klux Klan, the exploitation of non-westerners, the case of Ota Benga (the pygmy in the zoo), the exploitation of deformed humans, sexism, ruthless capitalism, the Communist holocaust, the Totalitarian holocaust, etc.

In each case modern evolutionists would no doubt condemn what went on in the past but Bergman's thesis is that evolutionary theory has served to promote and perpetuate bad ideas and the reason is that evolutionary theory itself is a problem.

Well worth a read.

Holocaust by Laurence Rees

This is another one from the same source as Silk Roads but shorter (only two thirds of the last one) and easier to read I found. I am familiar with the Nazi story through the three volume work on the Third Reich by Richard J Evans. This work by Laurence Rees narrows down to the death of Jews (and others) under Hitler and carefully sets out the way the whole horrific thing unfolded bit by bit. It is written with great care and thoroughness and a judicious balance of detachment and occasional identification. The only slips are a brief but misjudged slur on the New Testament and a failure to emphasise the effects of Darwinism on the holocaust. The constant references to eye witness accounts gives it a vividness that might be lost otherwise. No matter how much you read such material it is hard to understand how on earth it happened. Only a robust doctrine of man's depravity fits with the facts.

10 Nazi Suicides

Wikipedia lists some 110 suicides of Nazis. It says that there wee suicides among 8 out of 41 NSDAP regional leaders who held office between 1926 and 1945, 7 out of 47 higher SS and police leaders, 53 out of 554 Army generals, 14 out of 98 Luftwaffe generals, 11 out of 53 admirals in the Kriegsmarine and an unknown number of junior officials. Here is a list of 10 better known suicides.
1. Adolf Hitler Firearm Berlin April 30, 1945 56 years, 10 days
2.  Eva Braun Cyanide poisoning Berlin April 30, 1945 33 years, 83 days
3. Joseph Goebbels Firearm Berlin May 1, 1945 47 years, 184 days
4. Magda Goebbels Firearm Berlin May 1, 1945 43 years, 181 days
5. Martin Bormann Cyanide poisoning Berlin May 2, 1945 44 years, 319 days
6. Erwin Rommel Cyanide poisoning Herrlingen October 14, 1944 52 years, 334 days
7. Heinrich Himmler Cyanide poisoning Lüneburg May 23, 1945 44 years, 228 days
8. Hermann Göring Cyanide poisoning Nuremberg October 15, 1946 53 years, 276 days
9. Leonardo Conti Hanging Nuremberg October 6, 1945 45 years, 43 days
10. Ernst Bergmann Naumburg April 16, 1945 63 years, 252 days
All of the above were Nazi party members.

Christmas Books 2016

People often buy me books at Christmas. It's not easy to be sure what I haven't got or what I'd really like but my wife and sons did well this year (four sons and their spouses went for books, the youngest bought me a zebra tie).

So my wife bought me Sinclair Ferguson's beautifully presented Banner book Child in the manger; My oldest son and his wife perhaps scored best with Blitzed a newly translated pharmacological investigation of Hitler and the Third Reich; the next pair did well too with the massive Silk Roads a new history of the world; number three and his fiancee went for The A-Z of Pointless spot on again and a different sort of book; my fourth son went for the daunting 712 More things to draw - I say daunting as I haven't completed my copy of 642 Things to draw yet.

I must admit that I did supplement this with one or two Christmas books of my own, including P D James' The mistletoe murder and Llewelyn Powys's Christmas Lore and Legend a little book of seasonal essays.

I've read most of Blitzed and I've completed the four short stories in The Mistletoe murder and dipped into The A-Z of Pointless and drawn three or four things in the drawing book. Great fun.

10 People who died at the age of 56

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Adolf Hitler
3. Rik Mayall
4. Steve Jobs
5. Joseph Mohr
6. Josephus
7. King George VI
8. Roger Miller (musician)
9. Phil Chevron (The Pogues)
10. Billy Powell (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
(Sobering as ever)

Christ or Hitler?

I was attracted to this book by its title. It contains a collection of anecdotes and biographical material by Wilhelm Busch (1897-1966) complied and translated by Christian Puritz. We usually only hear about Bonhoeffer and may be Niemoller so it is good to get another voice. Busch, a pietist in the state church, is quit frank about the failure of the German churches but also displays the quiet courage that he and several others did show in a period of intense opposition. Busch lived a long life and so only a relatively small portion (at the end) deals directly with the stand against the Nazis. The whole book is full of interest, however, and serves as an encouragements and a challenge to Christians today in various circumstances, especially pastors. I particularly liked the anecdote of Martin Niemoller's father. He was not allowed to preach but he was allowed to read Scripture. He was able to read Psalm 73 in such a way that every Nazi in the place knowing exactly where they stood. See page 203.

"Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. ... "

Diary of a man in despair

I currently seem to be drawn to books about the world wars. Diary of a man in despair came out in English translation in 1974. I became aware if it reading Richard Evans trilogy on the whole Nazi movement. It's taking me a little while to get round to reading it. Friedrich Malleczewen was a very cultured writer who the Nazis eventually caught up with and killed even though he was a minor character in every sense and no agitator. He kept a secret diary through the year wars and before which is a fascinating and well written read. Not sensationalist in any way it gives a good idea of the horror of those years. Malleczewen's Catholic faith peeks through at certain times. It is difficult to see how anyone can look at those years with any degree of composure without a theistic worldview. Always the remarkable thing for many of us is that it happened here in Europe and not so very long ago. How sobering. 

Lord's Day January 5 2014

We began with communion at around 10.15. I then preached morning and evening looking at the flight into Egypt and the slaughter of the Bethlehem children from Matthew 2 in the morning and at Esther 3 in the evening. Both services were decently attended with a few visitors in. Having not preached twice on a Sunday much recently I noticed some things I have in the past. First, if you preach two sermons in one day, almost by definition one will be better than the other. In that case it is probably best to do the better one in the evening, which I don't think I did. There is also the matter of overlap. Because I dealt partly with Herod in the morning and Haman in the evening, there was a certain similarity in the material. I was probably a little tired in the evening too as were others. That's okay but one needs to take care. I read a very long chapter - our consecutive reading from Ezekiel. With one or two comments it took 15 minutes and that was too long. Still learning.

A N Wilson on Hitller

Passing a bookshop recently I spotted A N Wilson's new short biography of Hitler in the window. I saw it again in our local library doing some photocopying for our Holiday Bible Club and decided to be the first to take it out. (I hadn't used my library card for 666 days the librarian told me so if we lose the library I'm one of the ones to blame).

Anyway, the book is an excellent little tome - brief, informative and not too opinionated. The final and twelfth chapter (181-190) is worth a read. (The very fact the Guardian reviewer didn't like it is a good sign). Wilson's thesis is that Hitler was both ordinary and extraordinary. I like his observations such as  "Hitler believed in a crude Darwinism as do nearly all scientists today", the fact that this year's Olympics will be modelled on the Berlin 1936 games ("The Olympic torch was a Nazi invention) and the parallel between Hitler wanting every family to have a car and Tony Blair wanting every child to have a laptop. He says of Hitler "he believed himself to be enlightened and forward-looking, non-smoking, vegetarian, opposed to hunting, in favour of abortion and euthanasia."

My three thousandth post

The greatest revolutions in this world have never been directed by a pen [feder- feather]! No, the only thing the pen has been able to do is to provide theoretical foundations. But the power which has always set rolling the greatest religious and political avalanches in history from time immemorial has been the magic power [die Zauberkraft] of the spoken word. Adolph Hitler (Mein Kampf)

I believe this is the three thousandth post at this blogpost since I began blogging at the end of 2006.

Beating the brains

Fun link

I found this on Rhodri's new blog.The blog is here.