In Search for a Theology Capable of Mourning: Observations and Interpretations After the Shoah - Hardcover

by H. Martin Rumscheidt (Author), Richard Rubenstein (Foreword by)

To what extent are the children of Holocaust perpetrators to feel remorseful or responsible for their parents' wrongdoing? Is the yearning by those offspring of Nazi sympathizers for forgiveness justified, or should they separate themselves from their parents or relatives and ignore the history? Such dilemmas have gnawed at theologian Martin Rumscheidt ever since, at age eighteen, he discovered his father's complicity in using Jewish slave labor at his workplace, IG Farben. He has written and spoken extensively about his journey in search of what he calls a theology of mourning that would preserve his concept of the reality of God and still recognize the reality--at times grim reality--of life.

Author Biography

H. Martin Rumscheidt was born in Germany, and educated there, in Switzerland, and in Canada. He holds a PhD from McGill University, and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada. After serving in three different congregations he taught historical theology at the University of Windsor and at Atlantic School of Theology. His present research focuses on the Holocaust and Jewish-Christian relations. He and his spouse live in New England.