Combatting Totalitarianism

“In his tenth decade, the priest-historian John Moses here sums up his life’s work. From his rigorous Anglo-Catholic formation in a then-remote Queensland to the center of German intellectual life, with an abiding commitment to the gospel and its radical implications, Fr. Moses is uniquely placed to reinterpret and to challenge the shape-shifting specter of totalitarianism, which is timely, since the barbarians are no longer at the gates but within them.”


—Scott Cowdell, research professor in theology, Charles Sturt University





“Writing from the heart of the Christian tradition, John Moses subjects the twentieth century’s most destructive totalitarianisms, Soviet Marxist-Leninism and German Nazism, to a withering critique. His extensive knowledge of modern German history and philosophy and his profound rootedness in Christian faith makes him uniquely qualified to evaluate the disastrous consequences of all totalitarianisms. Deeply influenced by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Moses shows how a commitment to Christian faith provides a foundation to critique all absolutisms.”


—Paul Collins, author of The Birth of the West





“A historian’s profession of faith: John Moses is uniquely placed to present these deep reflections on the meaning of twentieth-century German history. A trained theologian, he has been a distinguished researcher in the field of modern German history for over six decades. Moses is unafraid to put ultimate questions of belief, and of the fate of Christianity and its adversaries, at the center of his reading of German history.”


—Andrew Bonnell, associate professor of history, University of Queensland