The Introduction opens by establishing a central point of the book: that German military chaplains were physically present at sites of mass killing of Jews and other victims of the Holocaust and World War II. The 1941 massacre of Jewish children at Bila Tserkva in occupied Ukraine is described and analyzed using German and Jewish sources. The theme of power and legitimation, which runs throughout the entire book, is presented. Building from the killing at Bila Tserkva and the role of chaplains there, the chapter shows how the Wehrmacht chaplains had considerable power. They served to legitimize Hitler’s regime and its genocidal war and played a key role in creating a reassuring narrative of events for German soldiers, their families, and the chaplains themselves. Other themes introduced include systems and dynamics (the importance of the chaplaincy as an institution), the forces of war and the confusion it generates, and habit: chaplains’ actions and decisions even before the war set patterns that became entrenched. The sources and methodology are explained, with emphasis on integrating Jewish sources.

Chapter 4 recounts the most intense phase of the violence of the 1937 Genocide and it focuses on the lived experiences of the victims and the survivors. The chapter is largely based on refugee testimonies collected in 1937 as well as a range of oral histories collected since. By closely examining the survivors’ testimonies, the chapter prioritizes their own understanding of the event. It provides a detailed reconstruction of the magnitude, brutality, and premeditated nature of the state-directed violence that took place in 1937. The chapter focuses on several key features of the 1937 Haitian Massacre in considering its relationship to other genocides in the twentieth century. Elements of secrecy, local complicity, extermination, and land appropriation were key features of this genocide. The chapter argues that victims of the 1937 Genocide interpreted the massacre as a major land grab. They also explained local civilian participation in the massacre in terms of pillage. In addition to focusing on their interpretation of the genocide as a form of land grab, the chapter argues that local complicity was more important than previously acknowledged. It also carefully considers patterns of killings that survivors described that occurred months and years after October 1937.

Prior to the dialogue on Easter morning that forms the major part of this work, the Epistula Apostolorum includes a sequence of seven stories of Jesus’ miracles. Since this text also includes references to his birth and his ascension, its scope is comparable to that of the Gospel of Luke, in contrast to other so-called ‘dialogue gospels’, which focus exclusively on post-Easter appearances of the risen Lord. Skilfully integrated into its context within the Epistula, the miracle sequence opens with a story from Jesus’ childhood also attested in non-canonical sources, here illustrating a Christology which differentiates the pre-existent from the incarnate Christ. This is followed by a version of the water-into-wine story that seems to preserve pre-Johannine features, challenging the assumption that Jesus traditions in non-canonical sources always postdate and depend upon their canonical versions. Other miracles recounted in this group of stories shows awareness of synoptic traditions, although substantial redactional elements are also present.