- Summary
- "Paradoxically, no other subjects of modern inquiry are as likely to generate false consolation as the Holocaust and anti-Semitism. Even as we acknowledge the enormity of these twin evils and resolve not to forget or repeat them, we deem them opaque or purely irrational phenomena, thereby minimizing them. We are tempted to relativize the effects of the Shoah and general hatred of the Jews by pointing to the emergence of the state of Israel on earth, or to the redemption of the elect in heaven, as compensation. More dangerously still, we blind ourselves to the objective causes of the pervasive malice by denying that there are objective causes. I argue, in contrast, that every Jew interred in a Nazi death camp was a prisoner of conscience, even as every Jew murdered by the Nazis was a martyr. It was Jewish conscience and Jewish faith themselves that the Nazis loathed and wished to eliminate by degrading and finally destroying the Jewish people. The pantheistic naturalism at the core of National Socialism - a.k.a. survival of the fittest - inevitably conflicted with Jewish moral monotheism. To this day, the erotic mind does not relish being dependent upon and decentered by God's righteousness. If we insist the Holocaust was pure insanity without any objective basis, we fail to appreciate its radical evil. If we blind ourselves to how Christian supersessionism made the genocide possible (if not inevitable), we make the Shoah more likely to be repeated. This is not to blame the victims but to name the victimizers: our instinctually prideful selves"-- Provided by publisher.
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Jackson, Timothy P. (Timothy Patrick), author.
- Published
- New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021]
- Contents
-
Prayerful Unscientific Preface
Judaic Holiness and a Holistic Approach to Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust
Legitimating a Topic as Old as Esther
The Perennial Either/Or
Nazism and the Western Conscience
The Evils of Supersessionism
Jesus and the Jews: Two Suffering Servants Incarnate
Naming Good and Evil: Hitler's Insidious Genius
A Closer Look at Schadenfreude and the Prophetic
Conclusion: Guilt, Innocence, and Anne Frank.
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-248) and indexes.
Prayerful Unscientific Preface -- Judaic Holiness and a Holistic Approach to Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust -- Legitimating a Topic as Old as Esther -- The Perennial Either/Or -- Nazism and the Western Conscience -- The Evils of Supersessionism -- Jesus and the Jews: Two Suffering Servants Incarnate -- Naming Good and Evil: Hitler's Insidious Genius -- A Closer Look at Schadenfreude and the Prophetic -- Conclusion: Guilt, Innocence, and Anne Frank.
