Overview

The Holocaust lies, often unacknowledged, near the heart of our contemporary crisis of religious faith. The horrific fruit of two millennia of Christian antisemitism, the slaughter calls into sharp question the moral and intellectual credibility of the Churches and the Christian faith itself. Can Christianity ever recover? In Broken Gospel? Peter Waddell suggests that it can, but only by facing unflinchingly the history that paved the way for the Nazi genocide, and the Churches' sins of omission and commission as it took place. Engaging with both Christian and Jewish scholarship, Waddell also approaches with sensitivity the theological issues that arise from the horror: questions of how the claimed holiness of the Church relates to its wickedness; of Christian-Jewish relations; of prayer and providence; of heaven and hell, and the faint possibility of forgiveness. Scholars, clergy and general readers alike will be challenged by this exercise in repentance and reconstruction, and inspired by the possibility it offers for Christian theology and practice to flourish once more.  

Full Product Details

Author:   Peter M. Waddell
Publisher:   James Clarke & Co Ltd
Imprint:   James Clarke & Co Ltd
ISBN:  

9780227178478

ISBN 10:   0227178475
Pages:   192
Publication Date:   24 November 2022
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements   Introduction   1. Barabbas and His Afterlife       The Story of Barabbas       What Really Happened?       Bearing the Blood: The Consequences of a Story       Coda: Reading the Barabbas Story Today   2. Reaping the Whirlwind: The Christian Churches and the Killing       Pius XII: Hitler's Pope       The Case for the Defence       The Case for the Prosecution       The Protestants and the Killing       Dietrich Bonhoeffer and 'the Jewish Question'       The Broader Confessing Church       Coda: Christian Nazis?   3. The Aftermath       The Protestants and the Aftermath       The Catholics and the Aftermath: We Remember Assessed   4. Has the Church Disproved the Gospel?       Why Is There a Problem at All?       The Usual Defence: Augustine and the Donatists       A Broken Church   5. Christians, Jews and Israel       The Nostra Aetate Revolution       Two Covenants?       Coda: Christians and the State of Israel   6. Where Was God?   7.  Is Hitler in Heaven?       Why Even Ask the Question?       A Very Popular, Wrong Answer: Universalism       If Universalism Is Not the Answer, What Is?   Select Bibliography Index  

Reviews

I can think of no other recent work on this subject which offers so unsparingly honest and so theologically intelligent a perspective. Dr Waddell recognises with complete clarity the degree to which the Holocaust puts in question the moral integrity of Christian language, and his proposals for responding to this challenge are deeply thoughtful and constructive. This is a very significant essay for Jewish-Christian relations. The Rt Revd Rowan Williams With meticulous attention to texts, statements and facts, Peter Waddell sets out with great clarity the historical, theological and spiritual record for which Christianity must account. This does not make for comfortable reading, but the issues he raises are unavoidable and of existential import. In particular, the discussion on the shaping of Christian-Jewish relations - the question of covenant(s), the place of evangelism, the idea of fulfilment - is handled with a sensitivity and nuance which are exemplary but rare. This is a book which deserves serious attention from all who take seriously the need for Christian repentance in light of the long and painful history of our relationship with our first and most significant other. The Rt Revd Michael Ipgrave, Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews To wrestle honestly with reality at its darkest points is one of the greatest challenges. Waddell does that - profoundly, courageously, and taking into account the best thinking about evil, sin, and the human condition. What is more, at issue is the appalling record of his own Christian community before, during, and after the Holocaust. Waddell not only vividly exposes this, and offers penetrating critiques of Christian responses to it, but he also opens up a wise, practical way forward that is deeply Christian. David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus, University of Cambridge In this fine book Peter Waddell addresses the most testing of all questions facing the church. Has the terrible history of Christian anti-Judaism and complicity in the holocaust fatally undermined the Christian Gospel? He traverses a range of highly controversial issues in a way that is both comprehensive and balanced and whilst fully facing the evil does not lose hope for a repentant church, even repentant Nazis. Professor Richard Harries, author of After the Evil: Christianity and Judaism in the Shadow of the Holocaust

"""I can think of no other recent work on this subject which offers so unsparingly honest and so theologically intelligent a perspective. Dr Waddell recognises with complete clarity the degree to which the Holocaust puts in question the moral integrity of Christian language, and his proposals for responding to this challenge are deeply thoughtful and constructive. This is a very significant essay for Jewish-Christian relations."" The Rt Revd Rowan Williams ""With meticulous attention to texts, statements and facts, Peter Waddell sets out with great clarity the historical, theological and spiritual record for which Christianity must account. This does not make for comfortable reading, but the issues he raises are unavoidable and of existential import. In particular, the discussion on the shaping of Christian-Jewish relations - the question of covenant(s), the place of evangelism, the idea of fulfilment - is handled with a sensitivity and nuance which are exemplary but rare. This is a book which deserves serious attention from all who take seriously the need for Christian repentance in light of the long and painful history of our relationship with our first and most significant other."" The Rt Revd Michael Ipgrave, Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews ""To wrestle honestly with reality at its darkest points is one of the greatest challenges. Waddell does that - profoundly, courageously, and taking into account the best thinking about evil, sin, and the human condition. What is more, at issue is the appalling record of his own Christian community before, during, and after the Holocaust. Waddell not only vividly exposes this, and offers penetrating critiques of Christian responses to it, but he also opens up a wise, practical way forward that is deeply Christian."" David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus, University of Cambridge ""In this fine book Peter Waddell addresses the most testing of all questions facing the church. Has the terrible history of Christian anti-Judaism and complicity in the holocaust fatally undermined the Christian Gospel? He traverses a range of highly controversial issues in a way that is both comprehensive and balanced and whilst fully facing the evil does not lose hope for a repentant church, even repentant Nazis."" Professor Richard Harries,    author of After the Evil: Christianity and Judaism in the Shadow of the Holocaust   Anti-Semitism is not limited to the Christian world, but that is where it has been at its most vicious and enduring, culminating in the Holocaust. How could this happen in a society that was the heir to 2,000 years of Christian values of loving your neighbour as yourself? Is that not only a terrible indictment of the perpetrators and bystanders, but also a stinging challenge to the integrity of Christianity itself? These are the painful questions that Peter Waddell confronts Jonathan Romain, Maidenhead Synagogue, Theology - 2023, Vol. 126(2) 81-83.  "

Author Information

Peter Waddell is Vicar of Abbots Langley and Bedmond in the Diocese of St Albans. After receiving a doctorate in theology from the University of Cambridge, he taught theology there and subsequently at the University of Winchester, where he remains a Visiting Research Fellow. He is the author of Joy: The Meaning of the Sacraments and Charles Gore: Radical Anglican.  

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions