A Moral Reckoning

Infobox Book
name = A Moral Reckoning


image_caption = Paperback cover
Little, Brown edition
ISBN 9780349116938
author = Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
country = United States
language = English
subject = history, Holocaust
publisher = Knopf (1st edition, hardcover)
release_date = October 29, 2002 (1st edition, hardcover)
media_type = Hardcover, Paperback
pages = 384 pages (1st edition, hardcover)
isbn = ISBN 0-375-41434-7 (1st edition, hardcover)

"A Moral Reckoning", by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, who also authored "Hitler's Willing Executioners", is a 2003 American non-fiction book examining the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the Holocaust. More fully titled "A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair", the book offers a review of scholarship in English addressing what Goldhagen argues is anti-Semitism throughout the history of the Church, which the book claims contributed substantially to the persecution of the Jews during World War II. The book recommends several significant steps which might be taken by the Church to make reparation for its alleged role. "A Moral Reckoning" was the subject of considerable controversy regarding allegations of many factual inaccuracies and anti-Catholic bias.Citation | last =Riebling | first =Mark | title =Jesus, Jews, and the Shoah | journal =National Review | volume = | issue = | pages = | date =January 27, 2003 | year =2003 | url =http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_1_55/ai_96403717 | doi = | id = Accessed January 5, 2008.] [For further examples, see Critical reception.]

Background

Goldhagen, the son of a Holocaust survivor, first engaged in serious academic discourse concerning the Holocaust following a lecture he attended as a student of Harvard University in 1983.Smith, Dinitia. (April 1, 1996). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9805EEDB1039F932A35757C0A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Challenging a view of the Holocaust] . "The New York Times". Accessed January 4, 2008.] He gained prominence in the field with the publication of 1996's "Hitler's Willing Executioners", which met acclaim and controversy, particularly in Germany.Landler, Mark. (November 14, 2002) [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E0D61F31F937A25752C1A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 Holocaust writer in storm over role of Catholic Church] "The New York Times". Accessed January 4, 2008.] The "Journal for German and International Politics" awarded him the Democracy Prize in 1997. In awarding the prize for the first time since 1990, the Journal wrote "Because of the penetrating quality and the moral power of his presentation, Daniel Goldhagen has greatly stirred the consciousness of the German public."citeweb |url=http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/01.09/GoldhagenWinsGe.html| title=Goldhagen Wins German Prize For Holocaust Book |publisher= Harvard Gazette |author=Deborah Bradley Ruber] Invited by "The New Republic" to review several books concerning Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust.,Gritz, Jennie Rothenberg. (January 31, 2003) [http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200301u/int2004-01-31 The Guilt of the Church] . "The Atlantic". Accessed January 4, 2008.] Goldhagen was inspired to write a review of the literature concerning the question of the "culture of antisemitism" in the Catholic Church prior to Vatican II and its impact on the Holocaust. Dietrich, Donald. [http://bc.edu/research/cjl/meta-elements/texts/cjrelations/resources/reviews/goldhagen.htm Review] . bc.edu Accessed January 4, 2008.] His impressions first appeared as a lengthy essay in the January 21, 2002 edition of "The New Republic" entitled "What Would Jesus Have Done? Pope Pius XII, the Catholic Church, and the Holocaust" before their publication by Knopf in extended book form as "A Moral Reckoning".Rychlak, Ronald J. (June/July 2002). [http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=2040 Goldhagen v. Pius XII] . "First Things: The Journal of Religion, Culture and Public Life". Accessed January 5, 2008.]

Overview

In the resultant book, according to "New York Times" book reviewer Geoffrey Wheatcroft, Goldhagen sets out an indictment of the Roman Catholic Church comparable to the author's indictment of Germany in "Hitler's Willing Executioners", setting out an argument that " [b] oth as an international institution under the leadership of Pope Pius XII, and at national levels in many European countries, the church was deeply implicated in the appalling genocide. ...Just as Germans had been carefully taught to hate the Jews, to the point that they could readily torment and kill them, so had Catholics".Wheatcroft, Geoffrey. (November 2, 2002). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E4DC1730F937A15752C1A9649C8B63 Sins of the Father] "The New York Times" Accessed January 4, 2008.] Wheatcroft adds that Goldhagen "sees a deep vein of Jew-hatred ingrained within Catholic tradition; and he does not think that there was any difference of kind between that old religious Jew-hatred and the murderous racial anti-Semitism of the 20th century".

In a 2003 interview with Jennie Rothenberg Gritz of "The Atlantic", Goldhagen indicated that the "principal substance" of "A Moral Reckoning" is "moral issues". As Gritz expressed it, Goldhagen's concern was "a consideration of culpability and repair". Goldhagen, in a letter to "The New York Times", said that "the book's real content" is in "setting forth general principles for moral repair from which I derive concrete proposals for the church". [Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah. (December 15, 2002). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E2D7133BF936A25751C1A9649C8B63 To the Editor] "The New York Times". Accessed January 5, 2008.] Donald Dietrich, author of "God and Humanity in Auschwitz: Jewish-Christian Relations and Sanctioned Murder" and Boston College professor of Theology specializing in Holocaust studies, notes that the author "asks the Catholic Church a question: 'What must a religion of love and goodness do to confront its history of hatred and harm, to make amends with its victims, and to right itself so that it is no longer the source of hatred and harm that, whatever its past, it would no longer endorse?' (p. 3) He has attempted to analyze the moral culpability of Catholics and their leaders, to judge the actors, and to discern how today’s Catholics can make material, political and moral restitution".Dietrich, Donald. [http://bc.edu/research/cjl/meta-elements/texts/cjrelations/resources/reviews/goldhagen.htm Review] . bc.edu Accessed January 4, 2008.] Goldhagen's book suggests that the Church owes financial reparation and support to Jews and the State of Israel and should change its doctrine and the accepted Biblical canon to excise statements he labels as anti-Semitic and to indicate that "The Jews' way to God is as legitimate as the Christian way". Failing this, the author proposes disclaimers in every Christian Bible to annotate anti-Semitic passages and acknowledge them as having led to injury against Jews.

Legal controversy

In 2002, the book's German publisher—Siedler Verlag, a sister company of Random House—was sued by the archdiocese of Munich as a result of the misidentification of a photograph, falsely asserting the presence of Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber, whom Rabbi David G. Dalin calls "a famous opponent of the Nazis", at a Nazi rally.Landler, Mark. (November 14, 2002) [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E0D61F31F937A25752C1A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 Holocaust writer in storm over role of Catholic Church] "The New York Times". Accessed January 4, 2008.] The picture misidentified actually depicted papal nuncio Cesare Or­­senigo attending a May Day labor parade, not a Nazi rally, in Munich rather than Berlin.Rychlak, Ronald J. (January 1, 2003) [http://www.crisismagazine.com/january2003/feature1.htm Another Reckoning: A Response to Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair] "Crisis Magazine". Accessed January 5, 2008.]

In October 2002, the district court of Munich required the publisher to withdraw the book or correct the copies, but in spite of the disclosure of the error in Germany, the book was released in English by Knopf with the error intact. A representative of the archdiocese said with regards to the mislabeled photograph that "The implication is that Cardinal Faulhaber was an associate of the Nazis. When one writes about these things, one should be more precise about the truth".

Goldhagen, who acknowledged that the photo wrongly identified the figure and location, described the lawsuit as a crude diversionary tactic to displace focus from the real issues. Goldhagen stated that the photograph was misidentified by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, from which the picture was obtained. [Eddy, Melissa. (October 11, 2002) [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/11/print/main525353.shtml German Holocaust censorship alleged] . AP. Hosted by cbsnews.com. Accessed April 6, 2008.] Religious commentator and former priest Paul Collins characterized the mislabeling of the photograph as inexcusable,Collins, Paul. (February 1, 2003) [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804516182.html A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust] "The Sydney Morning Herald". Accessed April 6, 2008.] while "The New York Times" reported that most historians agreed that "a single mislabeled photo in a 346-page book is a minor error".

Critical reception

Although "A Moral Reckoning" was favorably reviewed in "The Spectator", [Noel, Gerard. (November 2, 2002) [http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/books/20286/a-failure-of-papal-nerve.thtml A Moral Reckoning: A failure of papal nerve] . "The Spectator" Accessed April 6, 2008.] "Kirkus Reviews", [Kirkus Reviews. (October 1, 2002) [http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-miscellaneous/4936037-1.html A Moral Reckoning] . Hosted at allbusiness.com. Accessed January 5, 2008.] the "The San Francisco Chronicle", [Boylan, Brian Richard. (December 1, 2002) [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/12/01/RV64077.DTL Chilling study blames Catholic Church for the Holocaust] "The San Francisco Chronicle". Accessed April 6, 2008.] and given a generally favorable overview ahead of an interview in "The Atlantic", it was also subject to substantial criticism, even among some of those reviewers who found aspects of the work praiseworthy. The "International Social Science Review", which described the book as a "seminal work" and a "valuable introduction to and synthesis of the literature on church and state during the Holocaust", also indicated that the message of the book is "diluted by stylistic problems". [Green, Harol M. (Fall-Winter, 2003) [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IMR/is_3-4_79/ai_113139430/pg_1 Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah. A Moral Reckoning: the Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair - book review] "International Social Science Review". Accessed April 6, 2008.] "New York Times" reviewer Geoffrey Wheatcroft praised Goldhagen's assembly of "an impressive body of evidence" but criticized his repetitiveness, his "misinterpreting the record" and his use of it to promote a particular view, which Wheatcroft deems appropriate for an advocate but reprehensible in a historian. Dietrich, whose review lauded Goldhagen for asking "many of the proper seminal questions", mirrored Wheatcroft's concerns about repetitiveness, misunderstandings and polemics, specifically suggesting that " [r] eaders must be sure to also review the footnotes since in many cases he contextually and theologically nuances his book’s claims only there". John Cornwell, author of "", writing for "The Times", praised Goldhagen's "excellent job in exposing the propagandistic hagiography of recent defenders of Pius XII, especially their tendency to confuse diplomatic eulogy with historical fact", but suggests that Goldhagen errs in identifying one key Vatican figure in particular as "anti-semitic", an untruth that he feels "can only provide ammunition for the Pius XII lobby". [Cornwell, John. (October 27, 2002). [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article816496.ece Review: History: A Moral Reckoning by Daniel Johan Goldhagen] "The Sunday Times". Accessed January 5, 2008.] [In 2004, Cornwell stated with regards to his own work, "Hitler's Pope", that subsequent evidence and debate had convinced him Pius XII had such "little scope of action" to render it "impossible to judge the motives for his silence during the war". In this review, Cornwell similarly argues that with respect to Pius XII, "We have no way of entering his conscience". "The Economist" (December 9, 2004) "The papacy". ( [http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_PQSTTPS&CFID=13758594&CFTOKEN=eccddca748e3395-8EBC05CD-B27C-BB00-0129F3B899A8B0C7 sample] ) economist.com. Accessed March 6, 2008. Cornwell, "Review: History: A Moral Reckoning by Daniel Johan Goldhagen".] Gritz noted that Goldhagen "does not cushion his criticisms of the Church in diplomatic language", adding that " [e] ven philosophy professor John K. Roth, who gave "A Moral Reckoning" one of its most positive reviews in "the Los Angeles Times", wryly conceded that "'unpretentious,' 'indecisive,' 'moderate' and 'patient' are not words that come to mind when reading Goldhagen." In another review, "The New York Times" referred to the book as an "impressive and disturbing bill of indictment against" the church, but conceded that the work is tonally unbalanced, "turning history into a kind of cudgel". [Bernstein, Richard. (December 9, 2002) [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFD71E3BF93AA35751C1A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 Books of the Times; the Church and the Jews, down history's tragic road] . "The New York Times". Accessed April 6, 2008.]

More negative reviewers also questioned the book's accuracy and tone. Before the book's publication, Ronald Rychlak, author of "Hitler, the War, and the Pope", decried it as factually incorrect, releasing a lengthy catalog of corrections to Goldhagen's essay "What Would Jesus Have Done?" in the summer of 2002. Following the book's publication, Rabbi Dalin and J. Bottum, later co-authors along with William Doino of "The Pius War: Responses to the Critics of Pius XII", [See Doino, William; Joseph Bottum and David G. Dalin (November 28, 2004). "The Pius War: Responses to the Critics of Pius XII". Lexington Books. ISBN 0739109065.] in separate articles for "The Weekly Standard" denounced it as failing "to meet even the minimum standards of scholarship" and "filled with factual errors".Dalin, David G. (February 10, 2003) [http://www.catholicleague.org/research/history_as_bigotry.htm History as Bigotry: Daniel Goldhagen slanders the Catholic Church] "The Weekly Standard". Hosted by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Accessed January 5, 2008.] Bottum, J. (October 23, 2002) [http://www.theweeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/806rjxpb.asp?pg=1 The Usefulness of Daniel Goldhagen] "The Weekly Standard". Accessed January 4, 2008.] [See cite book |title=The Pius War: Responses to the Critics of Pius XII |last=Doino |first=William |authorlink= |coauthors=Joseph Bottum and David G. Dalin |date=November 28, 2004 |publisher=Lexington Books |location= |isbn=0739109065.] In his review, Paul Collins indicated that the purpose of the book was undermined by poor editing, incoherence and redundancy. Mark Riebling of "National Review", who described himself as an admirer of Goldhagen's first book, called "A Moral Reckoning" "a 352-page exercise in intellectual bad manners" and "a spree of intellectual wilding".

In response to the question of his book's factual accuracy, Goldhagen asserted that it is accurate in "central contours", noting that the title and first page of the book reveal its purpose as a moral, rather than historical analysis. He stated that he has invited to no avail European Church representatives to present their own historical account in discussing morality and reparation.

The book has led to Goldhagen's being labeled "anti-Catholic" or accused of promoting an "anti-Catholic" agenda by several sources. Bottum wrote that its "errors of fact combine to create a set of historical theses about the Nazis and the Catholic Church so tendentious that not even Pius XII's most determined belittlers have dared to assert them. And, in Goldhagen's final chapters, the bad historical theses unite to form a complete anti-Catholicism the likes of which we haven't seen since the elderly H.G. Wells decided Catholicism was the root of all evil". Eugene J. Fisher, the Associate Director, Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, writing for the Catholic News Service, suggested that Goldhagen avoided original research, as " [s] uch methodological and factual considerations would definitely get in the way of the demonic portrait of the Church that he seeks to paint". [Fisher, Eugene J. [http://www.ethical-perspectives.be/page.php?LAN=E&FILE=ep_book&SID=233&ID=0 Review of A Moral Reckoning] Written for Catholic News Service. Hosted with permission by Ethical Perspectives, Journal of the European Ethics Network. Accessed January 4, 2008.] Philip Jenkins, in his book , consigned Goldhagen's book, along with anti-Catholic conspiracy theories and other "anti-Church historical polemic [s] " to the category of psuedohistory, anti-Catholic "mythic history", or "Black Legend", noting that such book are published by major publishing houses not so much to "destroy or calumniate Catholicism" but because they sell. [Jenkins, Philip [http://books.google.com/books?id=cVwthOtTiI4C&dq The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice] , pp177, 179 2003 Oxford University Press US] William A. Donohue president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights asserted that Goldhagen "hasn't a clue about Catholicism", arguing that Goldhagen "separates himself" from other critics of Pius XII "by demanding that the Catholic Church implode: he wants the Church to refigure its teachings, liturgy and practices to such an extent that no one would recognize a trace of Catholicism in this new construction. That is why Goldhagen is not simply against Pope Pius XII: he is an inveterate anti-Catholic bigot". [Donohue, William. [http://www.catholicleague.org/annualreport.php?year=2002&id=71 2002 Report on Anti-Catholicism, Executive Summary] Catholic League. Accessed January 5, 2008] Rabbi Dalin accused Goldhagen of engaging in a "misuse of the Holocaust to advance [his] ...anti-Catholic agenda". Dalin also described the book as slanderous bigotry, noting "That the book has found its readership out in the fever swamps of anti-Catholicism isn't surprising. But that a mainstream publisher like Knopf would print the thing is an intellectual and publishing scandal." [Dalin, David G., The Weekly Standard, February 10, 2003.]

Partial publication history

*cite book |author=Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah | title=A Moral Reckoning | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | date=October 29, 2002 | id= ISBN 0375414347 | pages=384 1st edition hardcover.
*cite book |author=Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah | title=A Moral Reckoning | publisher=Little, Brown | date=November 3, 2002 | id= ISBN 0349116938 | pages=384 Hardcover.
*cite book |author=Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah | title=A Moral Reckoning | publisher=Abacus | date=December 11, 2003 | id= ISBN 0316724467 | pages=496 Paperback.
*cite book |author=Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah | title=A Moral Reckoning | publisher=Vintage Books | date=December 30, 2003 | id= ISBN 0375714170 | pages=416 Paperback.

ee also

*Pope Pius XII#The Holocaust

Notes

Further reading

*Citation | last =Deak | first =Istvan | title =Jews and Catholics | journal =The New York Review of Books | volume = 49 | issue =Number 20 | pages = | date =December 19, 2002 | year =2002 | url = | doi = | id = ("Book review")
*cite web |url=http://www.booksincanada.com/article_view.asp?id=3627 |title=A Moral Reckoning |accessdate=2008-01-05 |author=Maes, Nicholas |date= |work=Books in Canada |publisher= The Canadian Review of Books Ltd ("Book review")
*cite web|url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=13571077250157 |title=Daniel Goldhagen. A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair. |accessdate=2008-03-06 |author=Ruff, Mark Edward |month=February | year=2004 |work= [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/catholic_historical_review/v090/90.1ruff.html The Catholic Historical Review 90:1 (2004) 153-154] |publisher= Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online ("Book review")
*cite web|url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=144851073956099 |title=Daniel Goldhagen. A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair. |accessdate=2008-03-06 |author=Steigmann-Gall, Richard |month=January | year=2004 |work=H-German |publisher= Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online ("Book review")