In this powerful book, David Blumenthal maintains that having faith in a post-Holocaust world means admitting that while God is often loving and kind, fair and merciful, God is also capable of acts so unjust they can only be described as abusive. Grounding his argument in Scripture and in the experience of Holocaust survivors and of survivors of child abuse, Blumenthal grapples with how to face a God who has worked "wondrously through us" and who has worked "aw(e)fully against us." Delving into Jewish literary and theological traditions, the author articulates a theology of protest which accepts God as God is, yet defends the innocence of those who are utterly victimized.
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About the Author
David R. Blumenthal is Jay and Leslie Cohen Professor of Judaic Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He has significantly contributed to Judaic studies and has written many articles on a variety of topics in medieval Judaica.
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44 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Raises Some **VERY** Uncomfortable Issues For Christians,
This review is from: Facing the Abusing God: A Theology of Protest (Paperback)
This is, bar none, the most uncompromisingly and unflinchingly honest work of theology I have read in 35+ years of studying the subject. Blumenthal's proximate subject is the Holocaust, but his ultimate subject is holocaust-as-such, not only **the** Holocaust -- in particular, those experiences of holocaust, personal and individual as well as historical and communal, in which God's tendency to abuse His/Her children are nakedly manifest. Most moving of all, in terms of individual holocaust, are the comments of one of Blumenthal's colleagues at Emory Univ, herself a survivor of the holocaust of childhood sexual abuse, who was given the MS for evaluation and comment. Christian theologians, this writer included, would do well to ponder a conclusion Blumenthal never states explicitly, but which is inescapably latent in his text: for a holocaust survivor, the only authentic and honest mode of theological discourse is the rhetoric of deliberate blasphemy. Perhaps respect for God ends where the experience of holocaust begins. If this book, and that possibility raised thereby, does not keep you awake nights, then take warning: your soul may quite possibly be dead.
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent, challenging book,
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This review is from: Facing the Abusing God: A Theology of Protest (Paperback)
Blumenthal has written a wonderful, but challenging book on the nature of God in light of the Holocaust and the human experience of divine abandoment. He also invites a Christian theologian a chance to interact with his ideas and thoughts. You may not agree with him in the end, but rarely are you going to find a book that so thoroughly challenges the traditional notions of who God is while remaining very true to tradition.
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This review is from: Facing the Abusing God: A Theology of Protest (Paperback)
The book was well packaged, sent out in a timely manner, and arrived in a timely fashion. The book was used, but (like advertised) it was in great condition. Thank you!
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
TO BE A THEOLOGIAN is to be on the boundary. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
grouped textual field, proper religious affection, holocaust abuse, personalist theology, olive saplings, rebellious sins, abused means, psychotherapeutic healing, sweet bliss, ethical nihilism, ongoing fear, blood loyalty, considered sheep, religious healing, personal discourse, intimate recesses, heart echoed, spiritual discourse, family abuse, one tacks, religious affections, religious disposition, abused person Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, God's Face, Holy One, Levi Yitzhak, University of Chicago Press, Guide of the Perplexed, King James, State of Israel, Yom Kippur, Jewish Theological Seminary, Mesudat David, Oxford University Press, San Francisco, Bloch Publishing, Elie Wiesel, Jason Aronson, Modern Judaism, Publishing House, Religious Studies Review, Understanding Jewish Mysticism, Day of Atonement, Face of God, God Himself, Mishne Torah, Sefat Emet New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
TO BE A THEOLOGIAN is to be on the boundary. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
grouped textual field, proper religious affection, holocaust abuse, personalist theology, olive saplings, rebellious sins, abused means, psychotherapeutic healing, sweet bliss, ethical nihilism, ongoing fear, blood loyalty, considered sheep, religious healing, personal discourse, intimate recesses, heart echoed, spiritual discourse, family abuse, one tacks, religious affections, religious disposition, abused person Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, God's Face, Holy One, Levi Yitzhak, University of Chicago Press, Guide of the Perplexed, King James, State of Israel, Yom Kippur, Jewish Theological Seminary, Mesudat David, Oxford University Press, San Francisco, Bloch Publishing, Elie Wiesel, Jason Aronson, Modern Judaism, Publishing House, Religious Studies Review, Understanding Jewish Mysticism, Day of Atonement, Face of God, God Himself, Mishne Torah, Sefat Emet New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 52
books:
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34
books
cite this book:
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- The Guide of the Perplexed, Vol. 1 by Moses Maimonides on 10 pages
- For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence by Alice Miller on 7 pages
- The Rabbinic Mind (Global Academic Publishing Books) by Max Kadushin on 5 pages
- Arguing with God: A Jewish Tradition by Anson Laytner on 5 pages
- Poetry With a Purpose: Biblical Poetics and Interpretation (Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature) by Harold Fisch on 5 pages
See all 52 books this book cites
- The Banality of Good and Evil: Moral Lessons from the Shoah and Jewish Tradition (Moral Traditions series) by David R. Blumenthal on 7 pages
- Unsettled: An Anthropology of the Jews by Melvin Konner on 4 pages
- The Gift of Anger: A Call to Faithful Action by Carroll Saussy on 4 pages
- The Female Face of God in Auschwitz: A Jewish Feminist Theology of the Holocaust (Religion and Gender) by Melissa Raphael on 4 pages
- From the Unthinkable to the Unavoidable by Carol Rittner on page 117, page 123, and Back Matter
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