Giuliani, Massimo
Theological Implications of the Shoah

'Caesura' and 'Continuum' as Hermeneutic Paradigms of a Jewish Theodicy.

Using the title of Franz Rosenzweig's masterpiece, the Shoah could - and perhaps should - be called 'the star of irredemption' because of the struggling implications of its radical evil. In Auschwitz, God is at stake because the very existence of the Jews is threatened, but the Jewish identity is also at stake because the justice and reliability of God is questioned. The Shoah poses a double problem of 'caesura' and 'continuum' - it is both a break in the continuity of the tradition and continuity inside of the break of modernity. The intersecting of these two dimensions constitutes the basic hermeneutic conflict of the Jewish consciousness at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Contemplating the meta-historical character of the Shoah, this study takes a philosophical-theological approach in elucidating the complex relationship between faith, history and Jewish self-understanding. Prominently featured among the thinkers discussed in this book is Emil Fackenheim. XI,322 Seiten mit 6 Abb., gebunden (American University Studies. Series VII: Theology and Religion; Vol. 221/Peter Lang Verlag 2002) Mängelexemplar/near mint