Jürgen Moltmann, the Jewish People, and the Holocaust

Jürgen Moltmann's claim that the Holocaust has determined his theological rethinking is subjected to scrutiny through his two latest books. In The Crucified God the pre-Holocaust (and pre-critical) dichotomy of Jewish “inhuman legalism” and “free” Christian grace is fully perpetuated, as is the questionable charge that Jesus was condemned by the Jweish “guardians of the law” and killed as a “blashemer.” Illustrative of Moltmann's Christian absolutism and triumphalism is his handling of a scene from Wiesle's Night, a treatment that entails the trinitarianization and Christianization of Auschwitz. In the present article the moral collapse of Chrisitan symoblism and redemptivist allegations amidst and since the Holocaust is argued. Through referencet to the Godforsakenness in the burning alive of the childrern of Auschwitz, the Geman theologian's advocated link between the cross and ultimate horrribleness ios denied. Kirche in der Kraft des Geistes reflects marked and welcome changes in Moltmann's outlook on the Jews, Judaism, and Israel. Nevertheless, he there retains the Christian penchant for making special demands upon spiritual Israel and political Israel. While now lamenting Christian triumphlism, Moltimann does not succeed in overcoming that condition but honors it in “postponed” proleptic form. It is adjudged that Moltmann's inability to date to escape from pre-Holocause bonds is related to a failure to apply unqualifiedly has own declared nrom of “liberation.” This criticism is not groundwend in presuppositions and reasoning. The hope is expressed that he may yet fashion a theology that sustains hope.

Criticism · Judaism · Nazism · Political science · Politics · Scrutiny · The Holocaust · Theology · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity · Religious studies · Theology and Philosophy of Evil · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy