logy, moreover, that in his view Catholic faith is reduced to its doctrines about the Jews, as these are imagined in his own passionate mind.True enough, Professor Goldhagen has many reasons for internal agony and unquenchable anger. Many members of his family were brutally exterminated by the Nazis simply for being Jews. The scope and the execution of the Shoah are vile beyond description, worthy of all our anger, inexhaustibly so, and his too.True enough, many evils, sufferings, and humiliations were inflicted upon Jews by Catholics down the centuries, for which tears, repentances, and askings of pardon are in order; for which no amount of tears, repentances, and askings of pardon could suffice in justice. Mercy must be pleaded for.The calm and objective assessment of wrong — with due regard for every circumstance — was not, however, Goldhagen’s aim, neither as moral judge nor as historian. His tirade is theological in form, making an argument about the theological nature of Catholicism, its doctrines, its criteria for martyrdom and for sainthood, its proper relation to Judaism, its conception of what its mission as Church is (its ecclesiology), http://www.tomsoutletsaleonlinecheap.com - cheap toms , its relation to truth and its ideal relation to other religions.In its title (chosen perhaps by his editors, but well justified by his closing questions), Goldhagen opens with a theological taunt: “What would Jesus do?” There is no evidence in Goldhagen’s work, nor in the recent history of The New Republic, that such a question is one he himself or the magazine for which he writes takes seriously. Nor is there any sign that he, or the magazine, has examined the life, work, and words of Jesus to see just what Jesus in fact did in the circumstances of his day closest to those of today. In other words, not a serious question but a taunt.Regarding Roman imperialism, the subjection of the Jews, the Roman practices of slavery and torture (such as Jesus was made to suffer himself), according to the New Testament Jesus was, well, silent. “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were of this world, do you doubt that my Father would send legions of angels to my aid?” His silence infuriated his accusers.Unlike Jesus, Pius XII was not silent regarding the Jews. As secretary of state to Pius XI, he almost certainly had a determining hand in the letter condemning Hitler that Goldhagen praises, With Burning Concern (Mit Brennender Sorge). Through the broadcasts of Vatican Radio, regularly amplified for the English-speaking world through The Tablet of London and the British intelligence and broadcasting services, Pius XII was the first to tell the world about the sufferings of Jews (by name) and other minorities, including during the war years more millions of Catholics than Jews, http://www.tomsoutletsaleonlinecheap.com - Toms Shoes Outlet Sale . Much that the New York Times and the London Times published about the plight of Jews, Poles, and other civilians during the early war years came from the Vatican, through its radio broadcasts, papal statements, http://www.tomsoutletsaleonlinecheap.com - Toms Shoes Sale , and the Pope’s newspaper (totally dependent on Mussolini for newsprint and less free than Vatican Radio) Osservatore Romano.Although I have not read them myself, I am told by people I trust that the sworn depositions for the evidentiary process of beatification and canonization of Pius XII contain testimonies by persons well-known for their efforts to help the Jews, who affirm that they received specific instructions from the Pope to do so.Even those scholars who minimize what the Pope did have had to admit that his personal efforts saved scores of thousands of Jews (in Hungary, Goldhagen admits) — too little, too late, they say. Was not what Schindler and Raul Wallenberg did also too little, too late, and yet altogether noble?Why didn’t Pope Pius XII just warn all Europeans that mass extermination was happening, Goldhagen asks, so that they might hear the warning, and get away while they could? It is touching, the power that Goldhagen attributes to the Pope. Nearly all the popes of the twentieth century had had the experience of giving warnings about the impending madness of war and the b
Related articles:
- http://wan.gamenpc.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=921899 - http://wan.gamenpc.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=921899
- http://www.china-mama.com/UCenter_Home/space.php?uid=65000&do=blog&id=92202 - http://www.china-mama.com/UCenter_Home/space.php?uid=65000&do=blog&id=92202
- http://member.uxueba.com/home.php?mod=space&uid=216980&do=blog&id=3498637 - http://member.uxueba.com/home.php?mod=space&uid=216980&do=blog&id=3498637
|