ABSTRACT
The larger issue is Christian antisemitism in the first place, and the largest question of all is how Christian antisemitism suddenly came to a head in the form of the Holocaust. Some official criticism of antisemitism emerged from the Vatican, the World Council of Churches, and other bodies after the Holocaust. Educated Jews have been more disgusted than relieved by this grumpy act of absolution. Supersessionism is firmly ensconced in Christian sacred writ, however contrary it may be to Jewish belief, and it may be at variance with what the “historical Jesus” was actually preaching. Supersessionism is not the essence of antisemitism, but it is a facilitator of antisemitism. Most appalling of all the post-facto rationalizations of the Holocaust is what may be termed the just punishment theory. Amos Funkenstein has argued that the Holocaust was a “human event,” and that “theological responses” are powerless to give meaning to the depth of pain and degradation endured by the victims.
