British Baptists and the Jewish People

After many years in the making, a significant new book on the relationship between Baptists and the Jewish people has been published!

Peoples of God: Baptists and Jews over Four Centuries, edited by John H. Y. Briggs and Paul F. Fiddes (Oxford: Centre for Baptist Studies in Oxford Publications, Volume 18, Regent’s Park College, Oxford, 2019) is now available in the United States through Amazon.com.

Lee B. Spitzer is honored to have contributed chapter 6 to this anthology, on the topic of The British Baptist Union and the Nazi Persecution of the Jews, 1933-1938 (pages 141-192). In the Introduction, the editors state:

Lee Spitzer, in a very full analysis, submits the Baptist Union’s point of view on the plight of European Jews as embodied in policy statements, resolutions and articles in the Baptist Times, especially those penned by Dr. Aubrey, the General Secretary, to careful scrutiny for the crucial five years from 1933-38. The reporting of what was going on in Germany was full and uninhibited so that the Baptist constituency at least could not plead ignorance. J. H. Rushbrooke, whose wife was German, as General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance was more circumspect given the need to support Baptists in these difficult years, especially since the Alliance was committed to holding its 1934 Congress in Berlin.

For the purposes of this website, chapter 7 is also significant. Contributed by Roland Fleischer, The German Baptists and their Conduct towards Jews and Jewish Christians, especially during the Third Reich (pages 193-225) serves as a nice counterpoint to the previous chapter.