Holocaust: Religious and Philosophical Implications [Paperback]

John Roth (Author), Michael Berenbaum (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1557782121 | ISBN-13: 978-1557782120 | Publication Date: April 3, 1998 | Edition: First Edition

Holocaust: Religious and Philosophical Implications is an anthology specifically designed for use as a textbook for courses on the Holocaust in universities and adult study groups. It is a complilation of what are now "classic" pieces in the voluminous literature on the Holocaust - pieces by Raul Hilberg, Hannah Arendt, Primo Levi, George Steiner, Richard Rubenstein and Irving Greenberg - all organized around what the editors have found to be the most often asked questions by their students: (1) Is the Holocaust unique? (2) What really happened in the ghettos and death camps? (3) Who knew what was going on? (4) How could people do the things they did? (5) What about God?

Governed by the thesis that the Holocaust left fundamental questions, Holocaust: Religious and Philosophical Implications, in addition to being organized around the five themes identified above, addresses the multiple implications of complexities such as resistance during the Holocaust, and Jewish and Christian identity after Auschwitz.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...an excellent source text on the Holocaust for students being introduced to that chapter in human history. -- Rabbi Jacob Shtull, John Carroll University

...an invaluable collection of religious and analytic accounts of the Holocaust and of its continuing consequences. -- Berel Lang, SUNY Albany

One cannot imagine a more comprehensive introduction to issues raised by the Holocaust than this volume. -- Robert McAfee Brown, Emeritus, Pacific School of Religion

The essential writings that illuminate the darkness around the least comprehensible event in human history. -- Peter Hay, Holocaust survivor, author of Ordinary Heroes: The Life and Death of Chana Szanes

About the Author

John K. Roth is the Pitzer Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College, where he has taught since 1966. In 1988, he was named National Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Roth is a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council in Washington.

MICHAEL BERENBAUM was the Director of the United States Holocaust Research Institute of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Goldman Adjunct Professor of Theology at Georgetown University. From 1988-1993, he served as Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where he was responsible for the conceptualization and development of the Museum's permanent exhibition. Berenbaum is the President and CEO of The Survivors of the Shoah, A Visual History Foundation, located in Los Angeles, CA.

>

Product Details

• Paperback: 390 pages
• Publisher: Paragon House; First Edition edition (April 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557782121
• ISBN-13: 978-1557782120
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #688,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John K. Roth is the Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights (now the Center for Human Rights Leadership) at Claremont McKenna College, where he taught from 1966 through 2006. In 2007-2008, he served as the Robert and Carolyn Frederick Distinguished Visiting Professor of Ethics at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. In addition to service on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and on the editorial board for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, he has published hundreds of articles and reviews and authored, co-authored, or edited more than forty books, including Genocide and Human Rights: A Philosophical Guide; Gray Zones: Ambiguity and Compromise in the Holocaust and Its Aftermath; and Ethics During and After the Holocaust: In the Shadow of Birkenau. With Peter Hayes, Roth is currently editing the Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies for the Oxford University Press. Roth has been Visiting Professor of Holocaust studies at the University of Haifa, Israel, and his Holocaust-related research appointments have included a 2001 Koerner Visiting Fellowship at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies in England as well as a 2004-05 appointment as the Ina Levine Invitational Scholar at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. In 1988, Roth was named U.S. National Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully selected anthology, July 18, 2004

By 

Jason A. Beyer (Ottawa, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Holocaust: Religious and Philosophical Implications (Paperback)

One normally wouldn't think of a 15-year old anthology as being "old", but in the ever-growing field of Holocaust and genocide studies, a 15-year old anthology threatens to be positively ancient.
Roth and Berenbaum's *Holocaust*, however, is still standing the test of time, and still sets the gold standard for anthologies on the subject. While other excellent anthologies treating issues concerning the moral, philosophical, and religious implications of the Holocaust have been published recently (I find those by Morgan and by Cohn-Sherbok to be quite excellent), this volume still deserves a prominent place on the bookshelf of anyone even *remotely* concerned with the implications of the Holocaust.
Every selection in this book is excellent, and worth reading more than once--*every* selection. There is not a single dud among them. Most are exceedingly insightful; and many deserve to be considered among the seminal pieces of Holocaust studies. Nearly every one of the most influential Holocaust scholars is present: we are treaed to selections from Wiesel, Dawidowicz, Hilberg, Bauer, DesPres, Fackenheim, Rubenstein, Levi, Amery, Lifton, and Langer. This realy is, without hyperbole, the "best of the best" collection on Holocaust studies: the best and most influential pieces by the best and most influential scholars.
Because of the high quality of this collection, people with a very diverse range of interests (history, philosophy, religion, politics) will find much of interest and many insightful ideas in this collection.
This collection is so outstanding that, to be honest, I am surprised that no reviewer has sung its praises here yet. If you are at all interested in the Holocaust and how to make sense of things afterward, this collection will not be the only one you will want to buy, but you shouldn't hesitate for even a single moment about getting this one. By the exploding development of Holocaust studies, this collection may be an oldie, but it's still a goodie, and promises to be for a long, long time.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Single Finest Study of the Holocaust, May 23, 2007

By 

SC116 (Alta Loma, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holocaust: Religious and Philosophical Implications (Hardcover)

I have had the priviledge of hearing Dr. Roth speak.

Roth and Berenbaum provide comprehensive stories of several survivors of the Holocaust, and also provide brief personal narratives, based upon their own research.

As of 2007, this is, bar none, the finest work on the Holocaust in existence. Any student of the Holocaust, or of world history should not be without this book.

A must-read for all who embrace freedom, and for those who truly eschew oppression.

SC