Hanspeter Heinz, Michael A. Signer, eds. Coming Together for the Sake of God: Contributions to Jewish-Christian Dialogue from Post-Holocaust Germany. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2007. xii + 173 pp. $19.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8146-5167-4.

Günther Niklas, Sönke Zankel, eds. Abrahams Enkel: Juden, Christen, Muslime und die Schoa. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2006. 145 pp. EUR 32.00 (paper), ISBN 978-3-515-08979-1.

Reviewed by K. Hannah Holtschneider (New College, University of Edinburgh)
Published on H-German (July, 2007)

Research on the relationship of Christians with Jews today and in particular during the National Socialist reign of Germany is steadily growing. The anthologies under review fit well into the wealth of existing publications. The collection of articles edited by Hanspeter Heinz and Michael Signer deals with contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue in Germany, introducing in particular German Catholic interpretations of the Jewish-Christian relationship since the Holocaust to an English-speaking audience. In contrast, Günther Niklas's and Sönke Zankel's anthology primarily addresses historical issues. The articles deal with Jews, Christians, and Muslims and their interpretations of the political situation in the 1930s and 1940s; Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perceptions of each other today; and perceptions of the other traditions based on the sacred texts of the three religious communities. Together these two works complement each other in giving an insight into the study of religion in relation to the Holocaust and surveying contemporary efforts at forging a better relationship between Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

Coming Together for the Sake of God is a translation of the German publication, Um Gottes Willen miteinander verbunden (2004), which focuses on the dialogue group "Jews and Christians" of the Central Committee of German Catholics, which has been meeting since the early 1970s. This anthology charts the history of the group and translates major statements issued by them from 1979 to 2005. American Catholic theologians Mary Boys and John Pawlikowski, Rabbis Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich and Michael Signer, and German Protestant theologian Martin Stoehr offer their appraisals of the group's work. The anthology does not present any new research, but is instead aimed at communicating developments in Germany to an American audience. These developments range from rapprochement between Jews and Christians in Germany to a sustained reflection on the meaning and aftermath of the Holocaust for Jewish and Christian communities. This collection of essays and statements charts the institutional side of Christian-Jewish dialogue in Germany (which is already well-documented, albeit mainly in German). Previous collections of statements in English, such as Helga Croner's Stepping Stones to Jewish-Christian Relations (1977 and 1985) and Catholic-Jewish Relations: Documents from the Holy See (1999) have largely focused on the Vatican when representing Catholic positions, but this anthology explicitly casts its eye on official institutional Jewish-Christian relations in Germany. Lay readers as well as academics will find it a useful reference tool when preparing courses on Jewish-Christian relations in the contemporary world.

Abrahams Enkel is presented as a "historical-theological anthology" (p. 8) which aims to tackle "the relationship of the three abrahamitic religions to National Socialism" (p. 8). It does so in three analytical parts, each comprised of three essays. The collection thus opens with three historical case studies, tackling the Zionist movement in Nazi Germany (Carsten Teichert); the relationship of a Catholic member of the resistance, Theodor Haecker, to Jews (Sönke Zankel); and an analysis of the Mufti of Jerusalem's interpretation of the "Jewish Question" (Sönke Zankel). Following these articles, Günter Wasserburg provides an overview of postwar Catholic and Protestant interpretations of the Holocaust, while Goetz Nordbruch analyses al-Jazeera's representation of the "myth of the Holocaust" and Micha Brumlik reflects on possibilities for Jewish-Muslim dialogue in the future. The last three essays deal with exegetical matters and summarize Jewish, Christian, and Muslim interpretations of the book of Job (Georg Langenhorst); the interpretation of the law in the Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Joachim Liß-Walther); and the representation of Jews and Christians in the Qur'an (Heribert Busse). The book closes with Norbert Masur's conversation with Hitler in April 1945 ("Ein Jude spricht mit Hitler" or "En Jude Talar Med Hitler," [1945]), which has been translated from the Swedish original for the first time for this publication by Hauke Siemen. The quality of the contributions in Abrahams Enkel varies greatly. While Zankel's analysis of Theodor Haecker's life and Nordbruch's work on al-Jazeera appear to present new and original research, the other articles summarize existing research, offering no new insights. The merit of this anthology, then, chiefly lies in collating research for convenient access. As such this collection may be a useful resource for graduate student seminars.

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at: https://networks.h-net.org/h-german.

Citation: K. Hannah Holtschneider. Review of Heinz, Hanspeter; Signer, Michael A., eds., Coming Together for the Sake of God: Contributions to Jewish-Christian Dialogue from Post-Holocaust Germany and Niklas, Günther; Zankel, Sönke, eds., Abrahams Enkel: Juden, Christen, Muslime und die Schoa. H-German, H-Net Reviews. July, 2007.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=13431

Copyright © 2007 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at hbooks@mail.h-net.org.