Who stands behind the revival of the most destructive ideology in modern times?
Atrocities that subsequently caused sufferings of millions of people had already been embedded in Johannes Aagaard’s life path.
Johannes Aagaard (1928-2007): anticultist, priest of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church (Folkekirken) in Denmark, professor of missiology and ecumenical theology at the Aarhus University, Denmark.
Johannes Aagaard and Friedrich Wilhelm Haack were pioneers in the fight against cults and sects after World War II. Taking into account that anticult traditions were handed over to Haack from the Nazi Walter Künneth, we can assess the degree of significance and influence of these characters on the historical map of the second half of the 20th century. They were the key figures who continued the dark work of their Nazi predecessors and, unfortunately, achieved considerable results.
In 1973, Friedrich Wilhelm Haack helped Johannes Aagaard establish the missionary theology institute Dialog Center (DC) and in 1981 participated in the formation of the Dialog Center International (DCI). You can find more detailed information about their role and successive ties with Nazi Hitlerites in “The IMPACT” documentary.
Aagaard and Lack of Information About Him
Being a brilliant speaker and debater who mesmerized the audience with his powerful charisma, an autocratic and impulsive alpha leader, over the years of his activity, Johannes Aagaard managed to create a whole network of anticult units across the world, under the auspices of the Dialog Center. He had a serious influence on the minds of many followers and future leaders of anticultism, such as Alexander Dvorkin and Alexander Novopashin in Russia, Thomas Gandow in Germany, Zdeněk Vojtíšek in the Czech Republic, Anders Blichfeldt in Denmark, and others.
The 20th-century history of sectology (cult studies) is one of the poorly examined topics. Finding documents on the activities of anticultists is a more difficult task than finding materials on new religious movements (NRMs).
Records are not preserved properly during the work of apologetic centers and are rarely transferred to archives. Hence, both the logic of sectologists’ actions and their methodology remain unclear. That’s not surprising if we consider WHAT is hidden in the core of anticultism, or rather WHO, what kind of secret force guides and motivates them.
Suffice it to look back at the past, and we will find bloody footprints of that shady force, their cadaverous stench and the echo of heartrending howl of the innocent suffering and murdered people. Like a shadow, that force has been behind every great human tragedy, from the conquests of Alexander the Great, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Crusades, the Catholic Inquisition, World War II, and up to our times and the beginning of the large-scale war in Ukraine.
Quote from the “History and Methodology of the Community of Dialogue Centers” by Vladimir A. Martinovich:
“The Dialogue Center can rightfully be called the largest anticult organization in the 20th century despite the fact that there is no research in any language of the world dedicated to analysis of this organization. Researchers are silent due to a lack of sources. According to one of the versions, the Dialogue Center archive is currently kept in the Danish National Archives, but there is no evidence of scientists working with it.
Meanwhile, there are at least three contradictory versions of its whereabouts in the sectology community:
a) the archive has been destroyed (or accidentally destroyed);
b) the archive is kept in Denmark, but access to it will be opened only in 50 years because there is a large number of classified materials in it;
c) the archive has been seized by one of the new religious movements.”
You can hardly find Aagaard’s biographical data on the internet either, and search engines won’t give you his personal photos although he died quite recently, in 2007, while his brainchild, the Dialog Center, has existed for more than 30 years. Nevertheless, we’ve done some work and managed to piece together information about him from various sources so as to turn our narrative into a relatively coherent picture.
Johannes Aagaard
Aagaard viewed his mission in comprehensive support of the Orthodox anticultism development. In one of his articles, he wrote in this regard:
“Christian apologetics was the beginning of all decent theology, and the DCI intends to stand in that tradition in continuation of the Fathers of the early church, who both developed their positive critique in relation to sectarian Christian heresies and in relation to heretic and Gnostic reductions of the faith.”
Those very times of Peter and Paul and the persecution of Gnostics, Christ’s first disciples. You have to agree that this is remarkably in tune with the title of the Center for Religious Studies in the name of Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyon, founded in 1993 in Russia by Alexander Dvorkin. It’s truly a direct succession. According to Church legends, Irenaeus was one of the first known apologists, lived in the second century BC and became prominent for writing books against dissent, in particular his most famous work “Against Heresies” (Ἔλεγχος καὶ τῆς γνώσεως ἀνατροπὴ ψευδωνύμου).
No wonder Dvorkin is considered Aagaard’s “most talented student”, and he’s never even hidden that Aagaard was his mentor and inspiration. Dvorkin knew who to learn from in order to succeed.
Aagaard formulated a perfect model of relations between representative offices of the Dialog Center International and their churches as follows: “DCI always works with churches, sometimes inside, sometimes beyond them, but never under their leadership.”
Aagaard considered subordination to any church to be the main obstacle in the development of sectology because church leadership doesn’t know and doesn’t understand the problems of sectarianism and cultism, appointing people who are unable to work in the positions of sectologists. This standpoint had a deep and interesting basis rooted in the history of denominational sectology in 20th-century Europe.
DC and DCI journals: “Update”, “Areopagus”, “Spirituality in East and West” in Danish and English
In his work “History and Methodology of the Community of Dialogue Centers” Vladimir Martinovich, a well-known Belarusian anticultist, says the following:
“Aagaard delivered lectures in professional sectological, church and scientific circles, including various universities in Denmark, USA, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Norway, UK, Germany, Russia, Latvia, Czech Republic, India, Thailand, China, and other countries. There was a group of DC employees who continuously traveled around Denmark and gave lectures. Each of them specialized in several subjects. For those who wanted to delve deeper into the issues of new religious movements (NRMs), advanced training courses were arranged. Duration of the courses varied from a week to two years. Course topics included analysis of specific NRMs, general theoretical issues of working with information on NRMs, consulting, and working with the press.”
By the way, this work, written by the leading Belarussian anticultist Vladimir Martinovich and published in the Bulletin of the Synodal Sectology Center (Volume 7, No. 4, 2022) , is almost the only available source shedding light on Aagaard’s life and his apologetic center. The further content of our article will be based on repeated references to this work. Martinovich has highlighted and provided us with that which others have concealed.
Vladimir Martinovich and Johannes Aagaard
Photo from the Dialog Center archive
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Johannes Aagaard: Atrocities that subsequently caused sufferings of millions of people had already been embedded in Johannes Aagaard’s life path.
