The Case of the Aryan Jesus Dogma: Enlarging Entitlement Through Propaganda

In a national effort to promote anti-Semitism, the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence (ISEJI) was established in Nazi Germany. Its leader, Walter Grundmann, was instrumental in the promotion of the Aryan Jesus dogma in scholarly circles. Through a quid pro quo arrangement with a state-based university, the dogma was given scholarly respectability. The dogma asserted that Jesus was not Jew. This dogma gained enough support to be adopted into the German Lutheran Church’s catechism of the time. Not only was the motivation for the promotion of the dogma suspect, but the reasoning used to arrive at the conclusion was faulty. The dogma contributed to the body of Nazi propaganda that vilified Jews as enemies of the Aryan society.