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Foreword
Emilio Baccarini
The Symposium GOOD AND EVIL AFTER AUSCHWITZ: ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY, as an “open symposium”, did not aspire to arrive at definitive conclusions. It elicited the thinking of philosophers and theologians to begin a post-Auschwitz theological, anthropological and ethical reflection. It attempted to come to terms with the tragedy of the event without escaping the memory nor ignoring the historical, sociological, philosophical and theological causes. More than thirty topics were addressed from a wide variety of denominational and disciplinary viewpoints. They will serve to inspire and give direction to an ongoing ‘public’ dialogical reflection. Thus the Symposium is unfinished. Its results are now entrusted to further analysis and actualization by others involved in the fields of philosophy, theology, ethics and socio-pedagogy.
Most of the presentations, particularly that by J.B. Metz, compellingly addressed our present culture’s inherent and dangerous capacity to have a short memory and often to be without memory. In view of this they have presented to the public a vast amount of theological reflection which gives rise to questions about God’s presence in history as well as God’s absence.
Many reports echoed the metaphysical concern with evil, an element which still needs attention in its post-Auschwitz dimension. Given the theme of the Symposium, there was special emphasis on the ethical and anthropological reflections. The impelling need to reformulate moral standards in an age of science which tends to value that which Auschwitz stands for - eugenic experimentation and human manipulation; rejection of that which is different - caused the expression ‘ethics of responsibility’ to resound several times. To understand Auschwitz is to feel the ‘guilt’ which will prompt new anthropological routes to allow the human community new ways of living together. If genocide, genetic manipulation and aberrant forms of ethnic cleansing continue to self-generate, it means that we have learned nothing from this radical evil. For this we are now more responsible than we were yesterday, because now we know.
As expected, special attention was directed to Jewish-Christian relations which received new stimuli for more diverse and original approaches to mutual understanding. For both Jews and Christians there emerged a new willingness and desire for effective encounter and cooperation in the effort to help humanize the world. As Jews and Christians we are commanded to this immense responsibility by the same One God.
The Symposium’s moments of profound spiritual stimulation surpassed its remarkably high level of scientific proposal. It was not merely a great academic event. It also facilitated an intense exchange of perspectives and modeled a way of living with the differences encountered when we reflect on Auschwitz. It was an occasion when the “children of Abraham” together encountered the recognition of faults and the assumption of new responsibilities.
Given the theme of the Symposium, many speakers emphasized the need to establish an ethic of responsibility. In this context professors I. Kajon, B. Dupuy, J. Halpérin and E. Baccarini reflected some of the great voices of contemporary philosophy such as Néher, Levinas, Jonas and Arendt. Ethical-scientific issues were significantly addressed by P. Haas, D. Pollefeyt, P.J. Bernauer and E. Lepicard.
Professors J. Bemporad, P.J. Pawlikowski, B. Carucci Viterbi and D. Ansorge were explicitly concerned with the radical question: Where was God at Auschwitz? and with the equally urgent query: Where was humanity? The paradigm of “limit situations” was the focus of presentations by A. Rigobello, S. Levi Della Torre and M. Giuliani, while P.A. Roest Crollius and D. Blumenthal addressed what it means to educate after Auschwitz. The particularly significant theological issue of Christology was addressed by M. Fritz.
Of particular importance was the opening presentation by Professor Emil Fackenheim to whom this issue of SIDIC is dedicated. This Jewish Canadian philosopher of German origin, one of the most authoritative contemporary thinkers, has made decisive contributions to the effort to “think about Auschwitz.” His impassioned presentation, Abraham’s Covenant Under Assault. The Need for a Post-Holocaust Theology: Jewish, Christian and, as will emerge – Muslim, was testimony to a life dedicated to recovering from the era of the Shoah. It addressed the thinking which gave rise to the tragic event, the diabolical potential of Auschwitz, and its attempt to erase the “very memory of Judaism” along with all Messianic and other hope. He emphasized that the attack was against the God of the Covenant with Abraham, the God who is common to Jews, Christians and Muslims - a fact not sufficiently recognized by the latter. Hitler attempted to replace the God of the Bible with an “Aryan naturalism” accompanied by the bloody violence which denies people’s humanity. In a most evocative passage, Fackenheim recalled the Exodus experience of the Jewish people: “If Egypt is the place where Judaism was born, Babylon is that of Zionism, of tenacious Jewish hope, and of two new hopes - Christianity and Islam. For all generations of faithful Jews of the Covenant, as well as for Christians and Muslims, this faith and this hope could not have been a vanity of vanities.”
Emilio Baccarini, professor of Philosophy at ‘Tor Vergata’ University of Rome and Direttore Responsabile of the SIDIC periodical, presented the paper “Tra volontà di potenza e derelizione - Dire l’uomo dopo la Shoah” at the Symposium
