On February 17 at 12:30 PM in Dodd Conference Room 162, Dr. Alon Segev will present “Theologian in Support of National Socialism – The Case of Gerhard Kittel.” 

About the Talk

In 1933, Gerhard Kittel (1888-1948), the great German theologian, one of the greatest biblical scholars of the 20th century, and the founder and co-editor of the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, published a text called The Jewish Question in which he argued that the Jewish religion and salvation history were the origin of the “Jewish problem.” According to Kittel, a theological answer to the Jewish Question did not exclude or confine the Nazi racial answer but rather supported it and provided it firm foundation. The interplay between religion and race converge in Kittel’s thesis to support the case of National Socialism.

Abour the Speaker

Dr. Alon Segev was a Max-Planck “Minerva” Fellow (teaching and research) in the Department of Philosophy, University of Heidelberg, and then a DFG Fellow at the Martin-Buber Institute (University of Cologne). In the past few years, Alon has published extensively on subjects in Holocaust studies, modern German philosophy, and classical and modern philosophy.

---