GOD AND CAESAR IN EAST GERMANY

by Richard W. Solberg ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 22, 1961

Few are aware of the terrible war of attrition the Communists are waging against the Church in East Germany. This is no conflict of tensions such most Christians face in Church and State. Here the machinery of government is turned towards harassment and with the goal of ultimate extinction of the religious group. There are minor issues such as paper shortages and lack of building supplies; far more serious are the challenges of secular ""cult"" practices, conditions created under which believers cannot be teachers, or leaders of labor groups, or holders of any kind of government post. Still more threatening are the petty laws and edicts designed to extinguish the right to teach or even practice one's faith. In a well-documented volume, Dr. Solbert traces the 15-year deterioration of a relationship which began after World War II, with cautious neutrality on the side of both Church and State in East Germany, and the final emergence of that pseudo-nation as a full Communist satellite, with the present sharp, open and undisguised hostility which claims the soul of every citizen. This is the threat Communism poses to men of faith everywhere. Readers should take on the responsibility of recognizing this situation and not shut their eyes to its existence.

Pub Date: May 22, 1961

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1961

Categories: NONFICTION