This short book – the main text comprises just 154 pages, the remainder of the book offering a collection of twenty-eight primary source texts (or extracts therefrom) – considers the Barmen Declaration of 1934 and its reception, mainly in Germany. As Schneider acknowledges, the story of the genesis of the Barmen Declaration has been told many times. The key contribution of this account is its exploration of the reception of Barmen since 1945, and its reproduction of relevant sources. Schneider begins by presenting the situation of the German Protestant Church (or, more accurately, the German Protestant Churches) before the National Socialists came to power, before summarising the attitudes of Hitler and other National Socialists to religion, the emergence of the German Christians and early responses of the German Protestant Churches to National Socialism. Whilst many German Protestants became NSDAP members, others saw in National Socialist tenets a threat to the Christian Gospel. Such concerns found expression in the ‘Altona Confession’, drafted by Hamburg's pastors in response to violent altercations between National Socialists, Communists and the police on 17 July 1932. This was the first of a series of confessions of faith produced in response to the National Socialist rise to power, and the Barmen Declaration represents the culmination of this series. Schneider then turns to the Barmen Synod itself. His primary interest is to show the Lutheran involvement in the drafting of the Declaration. He also highlights the complexities of the situation in 1934, and the problems of a historiography which has tended to draw clear boundaries between the Confessing Church and an affinity with National Socialism. Thus, the 139 delegates to the synod (whose biographies were researched for a commemorative exhibition in 2014) included just one woman, Stefanie Mackensen von Astfeld, a committed member of the NSDAP who seems to have seen no tension between that membership and her engagement in the Confessing Church. This approach was, Schneider observes, ‘not untypical’ for the Barmen delegates, a majority of whom were ‘politically nationalist, if not National Socialist’ (pp. 43–4). After a presentation of the content of the six theses of the Barmen Declaration (also printed as document 6.1), Schneider sketches the history of the Confessing Church after Barmen, pointing to the tensions that arose, particularly between the Lutherans and the Reformed or United members. The final (and longest) chapter considers the reception history of the Barmen Declaration. Contemporary critiques were articulated by German Christians and by the Lutheran theologians Paul Althaus and Werner Elert. Schneider then explores references to Barmen in the constitutions of the German Churches, showing that only the United Church does not cite the Declaration explicitly. He considers the German Lutheran reception of Barmen since 1945; its exploitation by both leftist, progressive groups and right-wing, conservative groups; the implications of Barmen's silence on anti-semitism and National Socialist persecution of the Jews; the reception of Barmen amongst German pietist and evangelical groups; liberal Christian and United Church appeals to Barmen; references to Barmen in the DDR; a ‘critical Islamic voice’ (which he sees as not engaging sufficiently with Barmen's historical context); and Barmen and ecumenism. Here it is a shame that Schneider concentrates on the post-war period; contemporary receptions of Barmen in the ecumenical movement were profoundly revealing as to the theological self-understanding of the drafters of the text. Three final sections discuss Barmen and the arts (the representation of Barmen in a sculpture, in 1984 on a commemorative stamp, and in a hymn); the exhibitions in Wuppertal in 1984 and 2014, marking the fiftieth and eightieth anniversaries respectively; and the teaching of Barmen in schools. It would have been helpful had Schneider offered more detailed references to the secondary literature; it is not always possible to identify the source of his information or to know where to look for further information. None the less, this introductory text offers (to the reader of German) not only a useful overview but also, through its collection of source texts, a helpful resource.