I haven’t posted much lately because I’ve been on holiday and because I’ve been reading mostly about the Holocaust for the last few months, which is a difficult topic to address (perhaps especially in a blog) and throws up a bewildering number of issues (bewildering because there hasn’t been time to address each as thoroughly as I would like). Still, here are some thoughts.
The Holocaust seems to be addressed much less frequently than one may expect in theology and philosophy. Berel Lang has offered reasons for this in philosophy, aside from the obvious desire to be respectful of the victims. I wonder if in theology the Holocaust gets placed in the theodicy bracket and can be left therefore as a specialist sub-topic within the field. This doesn’t seem right to me, though I appreciate that arguments about uniqueness are ongoing. Yet perhaps the outcome of those debates are not relevant to the fact that the Holocaust is a feature of modernity and as such requires a serious response (Bauman is excellent here), as well as a result of anti-Semitism and supersessionism (which also require urgent responses from the churches). I also wonder if it’s because the Holocaust profoundly challenges orthodox ideas of divine omnipotence, providence, covenant and election. (Of course, I could just be too close up to the horror and am over-egging its importance, but I doubt this. And again, of course, I may just be generally ignorant about responses). I’ve certainly had to re-think a number of assumptions and am still doing so, which is why I’ve not been able to say much of substance lately.
In a sort of related vein, I’ve read a couple of excellent pieces by James Wood lately, one in the New Yorker and one in the Guardian on the potential rapprochement of atheism and theism. I find myself in a lot of agreement and sympathy with Wood.
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