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Most memorable--and certainly one of the best ways to approach reading this book is to use this as a starting point--is Rubenstein's radical reconsideration of covenant. In this, Rubenstein's revised work still stands among the Death-of-God theologians of the mid- and late-sixties (Altizer, etc.) in its rejection of "that" God who either could not or would not, but certainly did not save the victims of the Holocaust. And while his more-or-less continued rejection of the status of the Nazi's mass-murdered victims as martyrs is questionable and certainly uncomfortable, this is entirely in keeping with the theological position of the work. Also keeping with his theological position as it has developed is Rubenstein's suggestion that Jews will either assimilate or reaffirm traditional perspectives on covenant--if only because no other theological resources exist in the classical Jewish texts.
Still chilling--and a must-read for anyone interested in post-trauma theologies--is the chapter discussing Rubenstein's meeting with Dean Gruber.
My only problem with the book has little to do with the quality thought or consistency--it is an astounding combination of methodological rigor and very profound theological reflection. I do think, though, that the continued emphasis on process theology and the yet-unrejected Death-of-God thought as it is reflected in Rubenstein's personal theological statements (particularly the extended discussion of the Ground-of-being) is not sufficient for a religious community. However, Rubenstein admits as much, and it is unfair to disparage him for his obviously very well thought out opinions.
Excellent and, for individuals who believe or do not believe, a necessary work for comprehending the implications of the Holocaust.
The book intoruduces the concept of 6 vectors within which future paths can be examined. These are the inter-state system; world production; world labour force; human welfare; cohesion of states; and the structures of knowledge.
The book displays the weaknesses inherent in the world system thesis. These include overstating the degree of integration of the economies of the world and thus not taking into account the emergence of "non-states" run either by armed bandits or by organised crime.
The book does not deal adequately with the current state of the state. Given the debate around MNCs and their increasing expansion into areas which were the domain of the state this is an issue needing serious appraisal.
The depiction of this era as being a post US hegemonic era is also an area which will be contested by many writers, not least of all the Fukuyama's of the world.
Wallerstein concludes that the future depends onm how the following factors develop: * the extent to which there is loyalty to citizenship;
* the level of security through police order; the extent to which military orders are maintained; * level of welfare especially in relation to health and food distribution; * stability of religious institutions.
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Richard Price has painstakingly arranged his research in such a matter that you get 4 different perspectives of life in Saramaka (Maroon colony located in the interior of Suriname): German Moravian (religious sect), Dutch Colonist, Saramaka, and his own. It is neatly arranged so that the information flows like a captivating story in which you follow these historical characters and get caught up in their lives, motivations, changes...
Because he has made one character the focal point, you get a more centralized view of what it was like in 18th century colonial Suriname and you can take away more detail from these individualized accounts.
I have discovered a great source for Maroon history in Suriname and will be seeking out all of Richard Price's titles to get the complete story about the Maroons.
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Henderson does an outstanding job of taking you inside the lives and minds of the people in her stories. She takes you right along with them on their emotional journies through the hospital. This book will have you laughing and crying through the pages. Once you get started, you cannot put it down.
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The book provides a good overview of what diabetes really is and why it is so destructive. But MUCH MORE important is the help it gives us in understanding how the disease impacts the way one lives. If the diabetes is responded to constructively the situation can be improved. Depending on the severity of the condition it can be improved a little bit to, in a mild case, something like normality. Most are somewhere in the middle.
The danger is to ignore the condition. This book can help make clear all the good things that can come from responding positively to the condition and gives helpful information on how to do that. And you can find specific information very quickly because the book is so thoughtfully organized.
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The most widely commented and controversial assertion in the book was that the Holocaust proved that "God is Dead" or more accurately that the traditional notion of God as a loving, caring protector of the Jewish people, was in the light of the catastrophe, no longer tenable. This idea, eventually lead the author to experiment with and praise Buddhism, for it's notion of God as "empty", an idea which is also found in Jewish mysticism, known as the Kabbalah.
The author demonstrates great personal and theological courage in articulating the true issues concerning the Holocaust, and also in revising his original text a generation later, with the issuance of this superb second edition. This book covers all the developments in Israel, the U.S. and Europe between 1966-92 that the first edition could not foresee, and provides the "theological jumping off point" for those theologians, such as this writer who followed him.
That "jumping off point" is his assertion, that the Holocaust is only comprehensible in dumstruck silence as a mystery. or as traditional Jewish theology would have it, as a punishment. He finds the first course preferable to the second, since he states he would be unable to believe in a God who would punish millions of innocent Jews so horribly, for a cause he cannot or does not identify.
However, for this writer Rubenstein's inability to answer the dilemna he raises, is a critical issue, for answering this question well, and articulating it properly, are at the heart of whether it is possible to remain a Jew in this day and age. For my part, I was able to identify culpable Jewish behavior, words, thoughts and actions which could very well, from a mystical standpoint, have precipitated the Shoah as it is known in Hebrew.
My discussions of these issues occurs in my recent book, "Jewish History and Divine Providence: Theodicy and the Oddyssey" available here on Amazon.com. However, if all this writer did was to answer Rubenstein's conundrum, "Jewish History" would have only been half finished. I also work to explain the processes of divine providence which operate behind Jewish history, and how the Jewish poeple can avoid the pitfalls which lead to such massive destruction.
Rubenstein's 1992 edition of After Auschwitz is first rate popular and academic scholarship, but essentially it ends with a question. Post-Holocaust writers such as this reviewer, are as much if not more content, with answers than more questions.