Eduard Lamparter

Eduard Lamparter (1869–1945), a liberal pastor in Württemberg, also influenced the work of the Society for Defense against Anti-Semitism in the period of the Weimar Republic crucially through his publications.

He controverted anti-Semitism with ethical and theological arguments. Lamparter critically examined the attitude of the Protestant church and theologians toward Judaism in a brochure “Evangelische Kirche und Judentum” (Protestant Church and Judaism) published in 1928, which reached a circulation of 70,000 copies.

His extensive treatise “Das Judentum in seiner kultur- und religionsgeschichtlichen Erscheinung” (The Manifestations of Judaism in Cultural and Religious History) also appeared that same year. With both treatises, he hoped to recruit educated Protestant Christians for the fight against anti-Semitism.

In his writings, Lamparter criticized notions of religious homogeneity, the degradation of Judaism in Old and New Testament research of the day and the notion of Christianity’s religiocultural superiority to Judaism. He decried the lack of interest in current Judaism and the lack of willingness for Christian-Jewish dialog.