God and Humanity in Auschwitz
Jewish-Christian Relations and Sanctioned Murder
Religion and Society
Description
God and Humanity in Auschwitz synthesizes the findings of research developed over the last thirty years on the rise of anti-Semitism in our civilization. Donald J. Dietrich sees the Holocaust as a case study of how prejudice has been theologically enculturated. He suggests how it may be controlled by reducing aggressive energy before it becomes overwhelming. Dietrich studies the recent responses of Christian theologians to the Holocaust and the Jewish theological response to questions concerning God's covenant with Israel, which were provoked by Auschwitz.
Social science has dealt with the psychosocial dynamics that have supported genocide and helps explain how ordinary persons can produce extraordinary evil. Dietrich shows how this research, combined with theological analyses, can help reconfigure theology itself. Such an approach may serve to help dissolve anti-Semitism, to aid in constructing such positive values as respect for human dignity, and to point the way to restricting future outbreaks of genocide.
God and Humanity in Auschwitz surveys which religious factors created a climate that permitted the Holocaust. It also illuminates what social science has to tell us about developing a strategy that, when institutionally implemented, can channel our energies away from sanctioned murder toward a more compassionate society. The book has proven to be an essential resource for theologians, sociologists, historians, and political theorists.
Editorial Reviews
“Outstanding Title! Dietrich's ambitious study makes an important contribution to understanding the interrelationship of the historical role of antisemitism in Christian theology, the Holocaust, and the ongoing dialogue between Christians and Jews. Dietrich argues that although religious antisemitism alone was not a sufficient condition for the Holocaust, it was a necessary one. Making good use of the vast interdisciplinary literature that deals with the origins and results of the Holocaust, he traces the development of Christian antisemitism within its various historical contexts and examines in detail the ways in which Christian and Jewish theologians have been forced to rethink their view of themselves and of each other in the post-Holocaust era.”
—W. Smaldone, Choice