The Holocaust, the Church, and the Law of Unintended Consequences: How Christian AntiJudaism Spawned Nazi AntiSemitism, A Judg

I admire greatly the way in which Deacon Sciolino has been able to absorb a vast amount of material and weave it into a coherent account of the R. C. Church visvis the Holocaust . . . . Telling the story from the inside has an especial relevance and importance Rev. Hubert G. Locke, cofounder of the Annual Scholars Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches The image of Jews as Godkillers and their refusal to convert to Christianity has fueled a long tradition of Christian intolerance, hatred, and violence. It is no surprise, then, that when Adolf Hitler advocated the elimination of Jews, he found willing allies within the Catholic Church and Christianity itself. In this study, author Anthony J. Sciolino, himself a Catholic, cuts into the heart of why the Catholic Church and Christianity as a whole failed to stop the Holocaust. He demonstrates that Nazisms racial antiSemitism was rooted in Christian antiJudaism. While tens of thousands of Christians risked their lives to save Jews, many moreincluding some members of the hierarchyaided Hitlers campaign with their silence or their participation. Sciolinos solid research and comprehensive interpretation provide a cogent and powerful analysis of Christian doctrine and church history to help answer the question of what went wrong. He suggests that Christian tradition and teaching systematically excluded Jews from the circle of Christian concern and thus led to the tragedy of the Holocaust. From the origins of antiJudaism and antiSemitism and the controversial position of Pope Pius XII to the Catholic Churchs current endeavors to hold itself accountable for their role, The Holocaust, the Church, and the Law of Unintended Consequences offers a vital examination of one of historys most disturbing issues.