Holocaust Theology: A Reader - Softcover

Cohn-Sherbok, Dan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0859896250 ISBN 13: 9780859896252

Publisher: University of Exeter Press, 2002

Synopsis

Where was God when six million died? Over the last few decades, this question has haunted both Jewish and Christian theologians. If God is all-good and all-powerful, how could he have permitted the Holocaust to take place? Holocaust Theology: A Reader provides a panoramic survey of the responses of over one hundred leading Jewish and Christian Holocaust thinkers. Beginning with the religious challenge of the Holocaust, the collection explores a wide range of thinking which seek to reconcile God's ways with the existence of evil. In addition, the book addresses perplexing questions regarding Christian responsibility and culpability during the Nazi era. Designed for general readers and students, the readings are arranged thematically, and each one is divided into separate topics. For anyone who is troubled by the religious implications of the tragedy of the Holocaust, this collection of Holocaust theology provides a basis for discussion and debate: each reading is followed by several questions designed to stimulate this.

About this title

About the Author:

Dan Cohn-Sherbok is Professor of Judaism at the University of Wales and Visiting Professor of Interfaith Dialogue at Middlesex University. He is the author and editor of over 60 books, including The Crucified Jew, Understanding the Holocaust, The Atlas of Jewish History, Messianic Judaism.

From Publishers Weekly:

The Holocaust starkly challenges theologians to answer the profoundly perplexing question at the foundation of theodicy: why does an omnipotent, benevolent God permit evil to exist in the world? Most of the selections in this anthology deal with theodicy, although only a few actually use that term. Cohn-Sherbok, a professor of Judaism at the University of Wales, brings together the responses of more than 100 Christian and Jewish thinkers. For each one, Cohn-Sherbok provides brief excerpts from their writings, grouped into four overlapping categories: "The Challenge," "Faith in the Dead Camps," "Wrestling with the Holocaust" and "Jews, Christians and the Holocaust." Some of the authors are little known, but many are more familiar, such as Elie Wiesel, Paul Tillich, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Jacob Neusner and Primo Levi. They repeatedly quote from each other. The book begins with a useful summary of its contents and a history of the Holocaust. Cohn-Sherbok also provides an epilogue, "The Future of Holocaust Theology," in which he states the conclusion reached by many of the writers: the Holocaust "is an unfathomable mystery." A less significant mystery is in the inclusion of two obscure individuals, Julio de Santa Ana and Marc Ellis, who somehow subvert Holocaust theology into an attack on the State of Israel, accusing it of "oppression of the Palestinian masses" and torturing Palestinian prisoners. These writers diminish the value of Cohn-Sherbok's compilation, since their comments contrast sharply with the more thoughtful and balanced efforts of the other contributors.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Exeter Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0859896250
• ISBN 13: 9780859896252
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432