On the Side of the Angels: Ethics and Post-Holocaust SpiritualityThe Holocaust demands a rethinking of spirituality, both human and Christian. Traditional definitions of spirituality that focus on the human capacity for self-transcendence in relation to an ultimate horizon of meaning, whether or not that ultimate horizon is called 'God', are inadequate after the Holocaust to the degree that they make ethical responsibility a secondary consideration. Because the unthinkable has, in fact, happened, a contemporary spirituality must locate ethical responsibility for the other at the heart of human subjectivity and self-transcendence. The extreme suffering of the incarcerated and murdered, as well as the ethical engagement of the rescuers cry out for a newly articulated spirituality that defines self-transcendence primarily as ethical responsibility. This study also contributes to a contemporary discussion situated at the nexus of philosophy and spirituality. This discussion seeks to characterize spirituality by using terms other than the traditional categories of being. Such an approach may reveal the contours and dynamics of a spirituality springing from the ethical consideration of the other. This study defines spirituality as fundamentally self-transcending ethical engagement in which the subject 'enacts' himself or herself into the fullness of his or her humanity. This new perspective stresses ethical engagement over the ontologically-based conceptual categories found in traditional philosophical or theological anthropologies. |
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Contents
Preface | 1 |
SelfTranscendence Toward a Horizon of Ultimate Meaning | 8 |
Postmodern Diversity? | 20 |
VI | 22 |
Are Otherness and Community Compatible? | 27 |
Ideological versus True Order in History | 34 |
The Meaninglessness of Suffering in Extremity | 44 |
The Primacy of Subjects | 51 |
Current Theories of Rescue | 100 |
The Religious Dimension of Rescue | 103 |
Rescuers Teach The Full Resonance of Civilization | 110 |
Summary | 116 |
Chapter 5 | 119 |
The Other as The Irreducible Point of Departure | 120 |
The Face of the Other and The Trace of God | 125 |
Christian Faith Good Works and PostHolocaust Spirituality | 126 |
II | 57 |
Proximity Substitution Hostage | 69 |
Is It Spirituality? | 80 |
John Caputos Poetics of Obligation | 82 |
James Olthuiss Ethics of Mutuality | 85 |
Summary | 87 |
Chapter 4 | 89 |
The Role of Lived Experience in Levinass Thought | 90 |
Affective SelfTranscendence | 95 |
beyond Dualism and Individualism | 128 |
PostHolocaust Spirituality and a Community of Others | 129 |
Byond Community | 132 |
Ethical Responsibility and the Hands of God | 134 |
a Personal Reflection | 138 |
| 140 | |
| 143 | |
Common terms and phrases
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References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | On the Side of the Angels: Ethics and Post-Holocaust Spirituality Volume 7 of Studies in Spirituality Studies in spirituality: Supplement |
| Author | Marie L. Baird |
| Publisher | Peeters Publishers, 2002 |
| ISBN | 9042911565, 9789042911567 |
| Length | 143 pages |
| Subjects | › › Religion / Christianity / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |