The Holocaust, the Church, and the Law of Unintended Consequences

Download or read book The Holocaust, the Church, and the Law of Unintended Consequences written by Anthony J. Sciolino and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2014 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 Nazism's racial anti-Semitism was rooted in Christian anti-Judaism. While tens of thousands of Christians risked their lives to save Jews, many more including some members of the hierarchy aided Hitler's campaign with their silence or their participation. Sciolino's research and interpretation provide an 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 anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism and the controversial position of Pope Pius XII to the Catholic Church's current endeavors to hold itself accountable for their role, The Holocaust, the Church, and the Law of Unintended Consequences offers an examination of one of history's most disturbing issues.