Katechismus und Siddur: Aufbrüche mit Martin Luther und den Lehrern Israels (review)

Book Reviews 137 Katechismus und Siddur: Autbriiche mit Martin Luther und den Lehrern Israels, by Peter von der Osten-Sacken. 2nd revised and expanded edition. Berlin: Institut Kirche und Judentum, 1994. 504 pp. n.p.l. Peter von der Osten-Sacken wrote this book to promote the understanding of Judaism among Christians, particularly pastors and church workers, in Germany. He sets out to do this by juxtaposing basic texts and ceremonies of Judaism to Christian texts and ceremonies with which his audience is familiar. The Christian text he chooses for this purpose is Martin Luther's Small Catechism, supplemented by Luther's Large Catechism. For generations the Small Catechism has been the means by which Lutheran Christians learn the basic elements ofthe Christian faith. Luther saw knowledge of its five elements-the ten commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, baptism, and the Lord's supper, as the minimum for each Christian. To each of these elements Peter von der Osten-Sacken juxtaposes a key Jewish text or ceremony. To Luther's understanding ofthe decalog he compares and contrasts that of the rabbis. To Luther's understanding of the Apostles' Creed he correlates the Jewish understanding ofthe Sherna. Likewise he discusses Jewish interpretation ofthe Amidah in connection with Luther's interpretation of the Lord's Prayer. Shorter sections examine parallels between baptism and circumcision and between the Lord's Supper and Kiddush and Passover. Because the first text examined, the decalog, is held in common by Christians and Jews, the author weaves his discussion ofLuther and rabbinical interpretation together. In the other sections he first sets forth Luther's understanding of a text or ceremony, then in a separate subsection explains the Jewish text or ceremony selected as a parallel. In a [mal section the author gives some possible future directions for his Christian readers in their consideration of Judaism and their relationship to Jews. He urges his readers to reject the idea that Judaism is a religion based on human deeds and recognize that both Christianity and Judaism are grounded in what God does. In Christianity humans are justified (set right with God) by God's grace through faith. In Judaism the key is not justification but election: God chooses his people. In both religions, human deeds are a response to God's primary action. Osten-Sacken criticizes the apostle Paul for starting a Christian tradition which sees Judaism as a religion ofhuman works. The author calls for a renewal of Christianity's relationship with Judaism. For Christians such a renewal would not only seek to understand Judaism but would let Jews and Judaism help Christians understand their own existence better. Understanding between Jews and Christians has its basis in the call ofthe same God and its goal in the building up of his kingdom. A documentary appendix contains 15 documents concerning the Christian-Jewish relationship, most of them church documents specifically dealing with the German 138 SHOFAR Winter 1998 Vol. 16, No.2 situation. All documents are dated after World War II; a brief introduction places the documents in context. Interesting and thorough, this work provides a powerful introduction to Judaism for the Christian reader. The fIrst edition appeared in 1984; this second edition is signifIcantly longer (504 versus 372 pages). No English translation has appeared. Mary Jane Haemig Department ofReligion PacifIc Lutheran University The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife, by Eric Rentschler. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996. 456 pp. $60.00. Entertaining the Third Reich: Illusions of Wholeness in Nazi Cinema, by Linda Schulte-Sasse. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996. 347 pp. $54.95 (c); $18.95 (p). While German fIlm history has always been heavily influenced by political and social developments-to a greater degree than other national cinemas-the politics of German cinema have never been more hotly contested by fIlm historians than when discussing the fIlms of the Third Reich. In this ongoing debate regarding the cinema as a site for political discourse, two seemingly unreconcilable positions have been mapped out. On one side have stood fIlm historians who have sought to explicate the fIlms of Nazi Germany as insidious, totalitarian propaganda, bent on ideologically mastering and controlling...