Repentance for the Holocaust

Lessons from Jewish Thought for Confronting the German Past

Häftad, Engelska, 2017

AvC. K. Martin Chung

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In Repentance for the Holocaust, C. K. Martin Chung develops the biblical idea of "turning" (tshuvah) into a conceptual framework to analyze a particular area of contemporary German history, commonly referred to as Vergangenheitsbewältigung or "coming to terms with the past." Chung examines a selection of German responses to the Nazi past, their interaction with the victims' responses, such as those from Jewish individuals, and their correspondence with biblical repentance. In demonstrating the victims' influence on German responses, Chung asserts that the phenomenon of Vergangenheitsbewältigung can best be understood in a relational, rather than a national, paradigm. By establishing the conformity between those responses to past atrocities and the idea of "turning," Chung argues that the religious texts from the Old Testament encapsulating this idea (especially the Psalms of Repentance) are viable intellectual resources for dialogues among victims, perpetrators, bystanders, and their descendants in the discussion of guilt and responsibility, justice and reparation, remembrance and reconciliation. It is a great irony that after Nazi Germany sought to eliminate each and every single Jew within its reach, postwar Germans have depended on the Jewish device of repentance as a feasible way out of their unparalleled national catastrophe and unprecedented spiritual ruin.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2017-07-15
Mått152 x 229 x 25 mm
Vikt907 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
SerieSignale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought
Antal sidor376
FörlagCornell University Press
ISBN9781501707629

Tillhör följande kategorier

Religion: allmänt inom Filosofi och religion
Europas historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Förintelsen inom Historia och arkeologi
Judendom inom Filosofi och religion

Introduction: The German Problem of VergangenheitsbewältigungPart I: The Jewish Devise of Repentance: From Individual, Divine-Human to Interhuman, Collective "Turning"Chapter 1: "Turning" in the God-human relationship Chapter 2: Interhuman and collective repentance )Part II: Mutual-Turning in German Vergangenheitsbewältigung: Responses and Correspondence1: "People, not devils"2: "Fascism was the great apostasy"3: "The French must love the German spirit now entrusted to them"4: "One cannot speak of injustice without raising the question of guilt"5: "You won't believe how thankful I am for what you have said"6: "Courage to say No and still more courage to say Yes" (P6) Chapter 7: "Raise our voice, both Jews and Germans"8: "The appropriateness of each proposition depends upon who utters it"9: "Hitler is in ourselves, too"10: "I am Germany"11: "Know before whom you will have to give an account"12: "We take over the guilt of the fathers"13: "Remember the evil, but do not forget the good"14: "We are not authorized to forgive"

In its attempt to model a desecularizing methodology his study draws renewed attention to received critical commonplaces surrounding German Vergangenheinbewaltigung, offering a rich bank of historical examples. The book also demonstrates how important, but also how difficult, it is to (re)admit not just the sociology of religion but also theology itself into the realm of contemporary interdisciplinarity.(The German Quarterly) The issues discussed in this book continue to have resonance in, for example, current German policy on refugees and on attitudes to Israel. The first part of the book is biblical scholarship; the second relates to postwar German history. It is quite possible to be interested in one of these parts without being interested in the other. Either way, Chung writes really well and explains difficult and controversial issues very clearly and fairly.(The European Legacy) Chung approaches the aftermath of the Holocaust from a theological angle. His work is structured clearly and with the reader in mind, enabling them to navigate what is quite a dense text with ease, reading it in either a linear fashion or cross-referencing between the biblical analysis and relevant study of the German response.(Journal of Jewish Studies)