Dr. Eric Gritsch: Martin Luther, antisemtism and the last freedom

[Christopher D Anderson]

Perhaps this is not the place for such a posting, but as a pastor whose life and way of thinking and being were profoundly affected by a person, and who I believe has much to say to the Christian community, to teachers, and to everyday folk who take their faith seriously and those who don't. Dr. Eric Gritsch was that voice which addressed religion, ignorance and hate.

There has been and continues to be discussion around Martin Luther and his brand of Christian antisemitism and how it influenced, and I am sad to say, still influenced the biblical and theological "non-thinking" of Lutheran clergy and laity. Dr. Eric Gritsch, before his death this past December, had a profound influence on many of us who attended the Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg, but also through his books and articles and the conferences and commemorations in which he was a presenter. in the last few years he wrote a number of books. Two are important, I believe for those of us teaching the subject of antisemitism - be it as public or parochial school teachers at whatever level, or who sit in the pews of our churches (not only Lutheran), or who participate in bible studies or share in coffee hours before and after worship, or gather in church parking lots. (The last two are primary arenas for poor theology and and even poorer biblical thinking.)

"Toxic Spirituality" deals with five rabid illnesses in the Christian church and community. There is one specific chapter on antisemitism, but the other three toxins all lend themselves to antisemitism, or create a fertile field for it.

"Martin Luther's Antisemitism: Against His Better Judgment" deals specifically with Luther in context and does not pull punches nor does it make or offer excuses for his tirades which leave lingering effects in the church and provide vehement hate quotations for every religious and secular hate group.

Dr. Gritsch's dialogue with the Jewish community marking the 500th Anniversary of Luther's birth and the 475th Anniversary of the Reformation, paved the way for the letter of repentance sent by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to the Jewish community and is posted at the USHMM.

His autobiography, "The Boy from the Burgenland: From Hitler Youth to Seminary Professor" had its roots in a seminar I took with him in his home in Gettysburg called "An Oral Interpretation of History" and also contains his "literary legacy".

His father, an Austrian Lutheran pastor, worked with the underground and helped Roma escape from the Nazis. He was arrested and never seen again by the family. They came to find out that his father like so many other dissident priests and pastors, were sent to the Russian front where they died. His stint in the Hitler youth and being given a gun and told to defend Vienna against the Russian led to his decision at the age 12 to leave the front lines. His friends who remained never came back. His friendship with his mentor Victor Frankl clearly shows itself in his teaching to us about the freedom we have to choose who we are to be at any given moment by what we do.

I think the books mentioned above would be a help should the topic of Luther and antisemtism arise. Like all things in Holocaust Studies, Luther is as complex as the human enterprise we call "history".