Strange Fire Reading the Bible After the Holocaust Ed by Tod Linafelt: Reading the Bible After the Holocaust

by Linafelt, Tod

• ISBN13: 9781841270975
• ISBN10: 1841270970
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Continuum Intl Pub Group (Sd)

Summary

There can be little doubt that the Holocaust was an event of major consequence for the twentieth century. While there have been innumerable volumes published on the implications of the Holocaust for history, philosophy, and ethics, there has been a surprising lack of attention paid to the theoretical and practical effects of the Shoah on biblical interpretation. Strange Fire addresses the implications of the Holocaust for interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, bringing together a diverse and distinguished range of contributors, including Richard Rubenstein, Elie Wiesel, and Walter Brueggemann, to discuss theoretical and methodological considerations emerging from the Shoah and to demonstrate the importance of these considerations in the reading of specific biblical texts. The volume addresses such issues as Jewish and Christian biblical theology after the Holocaust, the ethics of the Christian appropriation of Jewish scripture, and rethinking of biblical models of suffering and sacrifice from a post-Holocaust perspective. The first book of its kind, Strange Fire will establish a benchmark for all future work on the topic. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Tod Linafelt is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Georgetown University

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	p. 9
Acknowledgments	p. 14
Introduction: Strange Fires, Ancient and Modern	p. 15
Issues in Post-Holocaust Interpretation
Matters of Survival: A Conversation	p. 22
Rupture and Context: The Ethical Dimensions of a Post-Holocaust Biblical Hermeneutics	p. 36
Rabbinic Bible Interpretation after the Holocaust	p. 52
A Fissure Always Uncontained	p. 62
The Hebrew Bible in the Framework of Christian-Jewish Relations in Post-Holocaust Germany	p. 76
Of Faith and Faces: Biblical Texts, Holocaust Testimony and German 'After Auschwitz' Theology	p. 86
Beyond Totality: The Shoah and the Biblical Ethics of Emmanuel Levinas	p. 106
Edmond Jabes and the Question of Death	p. 121
Engaging Biblical Texts in Light of the Holocaust
Avraham, Emil and Andre: Re-Reading Avraham's Monologue with the Divine in Light of Fackenheim and Neher	p. 136
Banality and Sacrifice	p. 146
Written in Stone: Biblical Quotation in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum	p. 161
Am I a Murderer? Judges 19-21 as a Parable of Meaningless Suffering	p. 176
'Isaiah 'Twas Foretold It': Helping the Church Interpret the Prophets	p. 192
Isaiah and Theodicy after the Shoah	p. 208
The Covenant with Death	p. 220
Job and Auschwitz	p. 233
Job and Post-Holocaust Theodicy	p. 252
Zion's Cause: The Presentation of Pain in the Book of Lamentations	p. 267
Death as the Beginning of Life in the Book of Ecclesiastes	p. 280
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 294
Index of Biblical References	p. 296
Index of Authors	p. 301
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