Found an interesting essay on Christian complicity in and resistance to the holocaust. It's in a book called Must Christianity be Violent? edited by Kenneth R. Chase and Alan Jacobs.
Two from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who eventually died for his part in a conspiracy to overthrow Hitler:
"When evil becomes powerful in the world, it infects Christians, too...[The reconciliation we find in Christ] is replaced by bitterness, suspicion and contempt for me and the world...Thus a world which has become evil succeeds in making the Christians become evil, too."
"We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use?"
And one from Darrell J. Fasching
"In encountering the stranger, one encounters a witness to the transcendence of God, one who, like God, cannot be domesticated in order to legitimate one's life, religion, or cultural-national identity--one who by his or her very differentness or otherness calls one's identity into question."
1 comment:
"When evil becomes powerful in the world, it infects Christians too.."
This rings very true to my experience and shows that we need to be more vigilant and loving in the present day.
Thanks for sharing
Peace
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