Twisted Cross delivers a good topical overview of the German Christian movement. Instead of providing a chronological or narrative history of the movement, Doris Bergen looks at three basic aspects of German Christianity: its anti-Semitism, its perspective on gender, and its approach to Christian traditions and doctrine. Bergen provides few original insights that can't be gleaned from other works, but she does do a very good job of incorporating primary sources from the movement to give the reader a good sense of how German Christians actually thought. Twisted Cross is also a very accessible introduction to the GC movement. Prior to reading this work, I had limited knowledge of Nazi ideology and almost no knowledge of this particular movement, but I never felt lost while reading. My only complaints with this book are that I wish Bergen had included more empirical evidence to indicate the size and strength of the movement at various times in its history, and I don't think she adequately supports a couple of claims she implies throughout the book (namely, that the GC movement discriminated against women and implicitly supported the Holocaust).

Fascinating book. Better than Steigmann-Gall's in my opinion. I disagree with some of the conclusions that are drawn (mainly how serious to take "German Christianity" in the scope of Church history) but this is definitely an eye opener and fascinating peek into a very, very strange time in the history of the Church.

A quality, comprehensive look at the German Christian Movement during the Third Reich and why studying it is important, lest we repeat tragic history.

Need to read again..read as part of tutoring for a girl in 2012...