History, Religion, And Meaning, Vol. 62

The Holocaust continues to be a defining event for understanding not only the course of history during the 20th century but the course of human events in general. Perhaps the most contentious issue is that of how the Holocaust continues to be understood, explained, and appropriated. The chapters focus on questions arising from the Holocaust and that have to do with the American understandings of the interrelated web of history, religion, and meaning. In addition, the contributors, from a variety of disciplines, express views that range across several dimensions of receptivity and both support and challenge other views of how the Holocaust should be commemorated and/or historically situated.

The chapters included in this volume demonstrate that the ongoing rethinking and integrating of memories and questions from and on the Holocaust result in ever-new ethical orientations and demands that continue to affect religious praxis and the work of historians. They deal both explicitly and implicitly with how the Holocaust has been understood or misunderstood. The contributors write from across the disciplinary boundaries of philosophy, theology, history, aesthetics, and political science and raise important ethical issues while providing fresh perspectives from both established and emerging scholars. This unique, cross-disciplinary approach is an essential addition to the literature on the Holocaust.

Essays assess the meaning of the history and consequences of the tragedy of the Holocaust, introducing several new perspectives on determining ethical meaning. Each essay is related to the geographic parameters of Israel and America, either by content or by authorship and in some cases both. Some topics are US foreign policy makers' attitudes toward Israel, the Warsaw ghetto uprising in Passover haggadot, and British millenarian missionaries in 19th-century Palestine. Material originated at an October 1998 conference. Simon is assistant professor of Jewish philosophy at The University of Texas-El Paso. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

JULIUS SIMON is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso.