of the church because of their baptism. While supporting the government's law, Elert and Althaus did offer a caution: "It offends the nature of the ministry, of ordination, and of the pastoral call, if the church should as a general practice dismiss from its service all clergy of Jewish or half-Jewish descent, who have proved themselves in their ministry, solely on account of their descent. It's not... that their remaining in the pastoral office, but rather their dismissal, requires a special reason from case to case." While Elert expressed his reservations about the Nazi regime privately, he continued, as a state employee, to pretend to support the regime publicly during his deanship. "Although he actively worked against the infiltration of Nazism and the Deutsche Christen" in the Erlangen theology faculty, "he remained silent in the face of other anti-Semitic actions on the part of the Nazis. While he may have been privately critical of Hitler, his understanding and application of Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2, and his understanding of the orders of creation, prevented him from openly criticizing" the regime. Eventually, in 1943, the Nazis removed him from being dean of the theology faculty, when they realized that he had been acting contrary to Nazi policies. For example, as dean, he had kept the theology faculty free of Nazi-Party members and "German Christians" (Deutsche Christen), and, "at great personal risk" vis-a-vis the Gestapo, he had helped to shield at least forty students who should have been expelled from the university because of their Jewish descent or political views. Following two investigations by the American military in 1945 and 1946, Elert and his colleagues in the theology faculty were officially cleared to resume their teaching and scholarly work. In a report that Elert prepared sometime before August 1946, he explained his position on National Socialism. Near the end of this report, he stated, "I have had to pay with the blood of my sons for the blood-guilt that Hitler and his people brought over our entire people. I do not need to say what I think about the war criminals. I am convinced that, together with Nazi ideology, also the whole spirit of militarism must be eliminated from our people." After the war, Elert joined a liberal-democratic political party. Principal writings For a complete list of Elert's writings, see the bibliography at the end of a collection of essays that