The first of a two-part article. Christianity and Nazism have been contrasted as opposing movements. Yet theologians and clergy in Germany supportive of the Nazi Party went to great lengths to make both agreeable to each other. In some instances, Christian priests and theologians became the best of collaborators with the Third Reich. Their rhetoric supported the regime and made it acceptable to the German public in a religious context, alluding to traditional Christian values, which the Nazis claimed they were returning to. The ideas for authoritarianism, antisemitism, and belligerence were allegedly found in Biblical scholarship and the tradition of the Catholic and Protestant Churches. This helped the Nazi regime run more smoothly in Germany, as the public felt comfortable with a political movement that did not appear to be radical to the ideas of their faith. However, many of these priests and theologians did not realize the monster they had helped grow until it was too late, and Europe was destroyed in the misery of a cruel and unjust war. A reflection on the ways in which theologians supported the rise and consolidation of power offers important clues for how Christian Nationalism serves to support the growing tide of American authoritarianism now at the beginning of the twenty-first century.