Corrie ten Boom, Kristallnacht and Overcoming Evil with Good: Professor Dion Forster on Faith, Courage and Loving Our Ne

In this Radio Cape Pulpit 7–9 a.m. insert, Professor Dion Forster speaks from Berlin, where he is celebrating the completion of a colleague Klemens Wussmans's habilitation thesis with a public lecture and examination. Reflecting on Berlin as a city of history, he turns to the commemoration that week of Kristallnacht — the "night of broken glass," when the rise of National Socialism began to overtly and mass-persecute Jews, eventually leading to the Holocaust — and to the painful history in the Netherlands of how Dutch people, and particularly Dutch Christians, were part of the betrayal of Jews. He describes being part of a study day with bishops, moderators and leaders of the major Dutch churches to think about the Holocaust (the Shoah) and how to avoid doing similar things again, noting that what is happening in Palestine today is one of those instances where the church should take a clear stand: "wounded people can wound." He lifts up Corrie ten Boom as an example of ordinary Christian faithfulness — her courage to hide and protect Jews flowed from deep faith, with Romans 12:21 ("Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good") central to her life. He notes that we forget such great people — Corrie ten Boom, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela — did not start out great; they started out faithful and courageous, and her faith in Jesus gave her courage to do what is right rather than what was self-preserving, love for her neighbour against the stream of society, hope in suffering, and grace to forgive. He closes with four encouragements: stay close to Jesus and ask whether He would say amen to what we say; always try to do what is good; don't be overcome by evil, which often grows like a boiling pot unnoticed; and allow God's grace to fill us with love for neighbours, for God and for ourselves.