From the Unthinkable to the Unavoidable American Christian and Jewish Scholars Encounter the Holocaust

Subjects:

• Religious Studies » Religious Studies (General)
• History » Holocaust Studies
• Multicultural Studies » Jewish Studies

Reviews:

• The individual and collective essays of this book work their way into the reader's mind and heart. Not only is one left with ample food for thought about a host of vitally significant issues, but a deep appreciation for these scholars who are such passionate and caring human beings....This is a book that many readers, especially those who are engaged in study, scholarship, and/or activism in the fields of Holocaust, genocide, and human rights will likely return to time and again. Not only will they revisit it for its many cogent discussions of critical issues, but also for the inspiration that can be gleamed from the struggles and successes inherent in the stories of these remarkable human beings.
  —Educational Studies
• Important essays from some of the most influential American Holocaust scholars....[A] valuable resource for the study of American responses to the Holocaust and its impact on contemporary Jewish-Christian relations.
  —Religious Studies Review

• Endorsement From
  Deborah E. Lipstadt
  Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies
  Emory University: Rittner and Roth have broken new ground with this collection. Moving and enlightening, it will have a notable impact on a still evolving field.
• Endorsement From
  Robert McAfee Brown
  Professor Emeritus of Theology and Ethics
  Pacific School of Religion: It would be hard to imagine a group of writers better qualified to reflect on what it means to reflect on the Holocaust, than those who have been assembled in this volume....This [is] utterly unique material.
• Endorsement From
  Donald J. Dietrich
  Chair, Department of Theology
  Boston College: These essays illuminate the poignancy of the struggles that each of the authors has endured as they have intellectually and emotionally sought to penetrate the reasons for the rampaging evil that has shaken our belief in human dignity. As the millennium approaches, this sensitively crafted testament may help us more constructively shape our moral responses for the 21st century.

Table of Contents:

• Series Foreword
• Introduction: Memories, Encounters, and Challenges by Carol Rittner and John K. Roth
• Memories
• Voices for Change: Chapters in the Post-Holocaust Dialogue by Abraham J. Peck
• A Door that Opened and Never Closed: Teaching the Shoah by Eva Fleischner
• In the Name of the Father by Harry James Cargas
• Being Catholic, Learning Jewish: Personal Reflections on the Shoah by Eugene J. Fisher
• Post-Holocaust Jewish Reflections on German Theology by Susannah Heschel
• Encounters
• How My Mind Has Changed by Alan L. Berger
• My Experience with the Holocaust by Franklin H. Littell
• Penetrating Barriers: A Holocaust Retrospective by John T. Pawlikowski
• Once and Not Future Partisan: A Plea for History by A. Roy Eckardt
• From Ignorance to Insight by Carol Rittner
• Challenges
• The Shoah-Road to a Revised/Revived Christianity by Alice Eckardt
• From Anger to Inquiry by David R. Blumenthal
• A Twentieth-Century Journey by Richard L. Rubenstein
• Transforming the Void by Michael Berenbaum
• It Started with Tears: The Holocaust's Impact on My Life and Work by John K. Roth
• Selected Bibliography
• Index