Content and Essence of the German God-Belief

Originally written during World War II, this religious treatise by Karl Schulz outlines a form of deism that was promoted by Berlin during the Nazi regime. During this time, Kirchenkampf had led to a number of officials leaving the churches, however atheism was regarded with greater taboo than the rejection of Christianity, or the prevailing anti-Semitism of the period. In contrast with Odinism, the Positive German God-Belief ("gottgläubig") was a religious movement which sought to espouse a certain piety without a clerical authority- being pagan, but invoking a monotheism reflecting the earlier tradition of Dyeus Pater. Few of these texts, with many destroyed after the war during denazification, were studied by English-speaking historians from a comparative religious standpoint in the remainder of the 20th century.