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

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In the last half century, ways of thinking about the Holocaust have changed somewhat dramatically. In this volume, noted scholars reflect on how their own thinking about the Holocaust has changed over the years. In their personal stories they confront the questions that the Holocaust has raised for them and explore how these questions have been evolving. Contributors include John T. Pawlikowski, Richard L. Rubenstein, Michael Berenbaum, and Eva Fleischner.

Reviews

"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."- Robert McAfee Brown Professor Emeritus of Theology and Ethics Pacific School of Religion
"Rittner and Roth have broken new ground with this collection. Moving and enlightening, it will have a notable impact on a still evolving field."-Deborah E. Lipstadt Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies Emory University
"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."- Donald J. Dietrich Chair, Department of Theology Boston College
"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
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
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
"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

Author Bio

CAROL RITTNER is a Sister of Mercy from the Dallas, Pennsylvania Regional Community. She was appointed the Ida E. King Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Holocaust Studies at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in 1994. She continues to teach there as Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies. In addition to her teaching and her many publications in the field of Holocaust Studies, Rittner has served as the founding director of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. JOHN K. ROTH is Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College, where he has been a faculty member since 1966. He has held visiting professorships in Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Israel, and Norway. He has published more than twenty books and hundreds of articles, many of them focused on the Holocaust. During 1995-96, he was a Fulbright Fellow in Norway.