NYU Press Strange Fire: Reading the Bible after the Holocaust

There can be little doubt that the Holocaust was an event of major consequence for the twentieth century. While there have been innumerable volumes published on the implications of the Holocaust for history, philosophy, and ethics, there has been a surprising lack of attention paid to the theoretical and practical effects of the Shoah on biblical interpretation. Strange Fire addresses the implications of the Holocaust for interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, bringing together a diverse and distinguished range of contributors, including Richard Rubenstein, Elie Wiesel, and Walter Brueggemann, to discuss theoretical and methodological considerations emerging from the Shoah and to demonstrate the importance of these considerations in the reading of specific biblical texts. The volume addresses such issues as Jewish and Christian biblical theology after the Holocaust, the ethics of Christian appropriation of Jewish scripture, and the rethinking of biblical models of suffering and sacrifice from a post-Holocaust perspective. The first book of its kind, Strange Fire will establish a benchmark for all future work on the topic. Review "An exceedingly well-informed look at the most important trend in legal scholarship today. An excellent, readable presentation of the most controversial and difficult ideas about law and legal culture."-David Kennedy, Harvard Law School "Deserves the attention of all who are interested in understanding the state of jurisprudence in the 1990s."-Mark Tushnet, Georgetown University Law Center About the Author TOD LINAFELT is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Georgetown University. He is the author of Surviving Lamentations and a commentary on the book of Ruth.