Sixty Years Later: Spirituality After the Shoah
A CONFERENCE IN ASPEN, COLORADO
June 17th – 20th, 2007
SPONSORING INSTITUTIONS
Jewish Community Center, Aspen, CO
Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding, Muhlenberg College
Mizel Museum, Denver, CO
Wake Forest University Divinity School
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Greenberg Center for Learning and Tolerance, Colorado Springs, CO
Babi Yar Park Foundation
Holocaust Awareness Institute of the University of Denver"s Center for Judaic Studies
Susan Steiner Bolhouse
| STEERING COMMITTEE | |
| Rabbi Mendel Mintz, co-chair Director, Jewish Community Center Chabad Aspen, CO | Carolyn H. Manosevitz, co-chair Visiting Lecturer, Austin Seminary Wake Forest University Divinity School |
Robert H. Abzug, Oliver H. Radkey Regents Professor of History and American Studies, University of Texas.
John K. Roth, Edward J. Sexton Emeritus Professor of Philosophy; Founding Director, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights, Claremont McKenna College
Barry Schochet, Chair, Aspen Center for Jewish Thought and Culture
Rev. Chuck Cram, Pastor, Aspen Community Church
PROSPECTUS
“For those of us who lived through the terrible years, whether in safety or as victims, the Shoah conditions the way we encounter all things sacred and profane. Nothing in our experience is untouched by that absolutely decisive event. Because of the Shoah, some of us enter the synagogue to partake of our sacred times and seasons with those to whom we are bound in shared memory, pain, fate, and hope; yet, once inside, we are struck dumb by words we can no longer honestly utter. All that we can offer is our reverent and attentive silence before the Divine.”
Richard L. Rubenstein, After Auschwitz, second ed. (Johns Hopkins University Press), p. 200.
The Shoah has brought about a crisis in Western Religion, calling into question how we see ourselves and our world and how we make sense of our most basic moral and religious values.
Through a gathering of educators, scholars, religious leaders and artists, this symposium will examine the phenomenon of faith and how it has been affected by the Shoah. What was lost? How have we dealt with the aftermath of this volcanic rupture? How have we responded in faith?
This symposium will present aesthetic responses to suffering as pursued in the arts as well as conceptual approaches of philosophers, historians, theologians, scholars and religious leaders. This event will also attempt to establish connections between visual expressions of the Shoah and literary or other narratives, which have become part of the legacy of the event.
After sixty years, we have become aware of links between various disciplines on the cultural representation of the Shoah. As it has become an archetype of suffering, while acknowledging at the same time the specificity of Jewish suffering, its possible links to theology have become more clear.
And what about the future? In a few years, there will be no physical witness to this event that shaped our world, our tradition, our culture for generations to come. How will we look at it with no survivors present? How will we remember? What direction should and will our faith take?
Participation of several academic institutions, theological seminaries, foundations, museums and community organizations will lend authenticity to issues discussed at this symposium. They will also provide a broad base for both presenters and participants.
ADVISORY PANEL
Bill Leonard, Dean, Wake Forest University Divinity School. Ellen Premack, Director, Mizel Museum, Denver, CO., Peter Pettit, Director, Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding, Muhlenberg College. Heather Gosda, Aspen, CO., Linda Rutland, Aspen, CO., Decatur, GA., Debbie and Todd Burkholder. Debbie and Ron Rader, Aspen,CO., Eric Childers, Stamford, CT., John Brantly, Austin, TX., Michael Jinkins, Dean, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Father Tom Dentici, Aspen, CO.
PRESENTERS
| John K. Roth Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Founding Director, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Claremont McKenna College | Betty Rubenstein Senior Research Fellow University of Bridgeport |
| Richard L. Rubenstein President Emeritus University of Bridgeport | Carolyn H. Manosevitz Visiting Lecturer Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary |
| Roger S. Gottlieb Professor of Philosophy Dept. of Humanities and Arts Worcester Polytechnic Institute | John T. Pawlikowski Professor/Director, Catholic-Jewish Studies Program, Catholic Theological Union |
| Bill Leonard Dean and Professor of Church History Wake Forest University Divinity School | Carol Rittner Distinguished Professor of Holocaust/ Genocide Studies The Richard Stockton College |
| William Dean Emeritus Professor The Illif School of Theology | Rabbi Marc Sack Congregtion Rodeph Sholom Tampa, Florida |
| Robert H. Abzug Oliver H. Radkey Regents Professor of History and American Studies Dept. of History, University of Texas | David Dunne Sculptor, Filmmaker Dublin, Ireland |
| Peter Ochs Edgar Bronfman Professor University of Virginia | Brad R. Braxton Assoc. Professor of Homiletics and New Testament Vanderbilt University Divinity School |
For further information, contact lynmano8(at)carolynmanosevitz.com