Faith After the Holocaust

In this essay the author seeks to defend God after Auschwitz. Beginning with the premise that the Holocaust is not unique, that the Jewish people have "had innumerable Auschwitzes," he returns to classical responses to the "problem of evil" and, while acknowledging that the Holocaust was "an injustice countenanced by God" nevertheless seeks to explain the Holocaust by combining two arguments. The first appeals to the notion that there are times when God mysteriously and inexplicably - and without any obvious human cause such as sin - turns His face away from man. The second argument recycles the seminal doctrine of "free will."