We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
A Visit to Auschwitz
Arrestato guardiano del campo di concentramento di Auschwitz
Ever since I first learned of the full horror of the Holocaust when I was a freshman at the University of Minnesota I have had a kind of obsessive fascination with it. I’ve studied every aspect of Hitler and the Third Reich and about the philosophy that led to their “Final Solution.” In fact, for several years, I taught a course at Bethel University entitled “Theology After Auschwitz.” To get on the inside of this unthinkable horror, I would have the class not only read books, but also watch films and hear from living survivors. My conviction has always been that, after the Crucifixion of the Son of God, the Holocaust represents the greatest expression of evil in human history. For this reason, I believe it ought to serve as a criterion by which we measure the authenticity of our theology, and especially of our thinking on the problem of evil. “If you cannot speak it standing next to the mass grave of gassed children,” I have often said, “it is inauthentic to ever speak it.” In my view, all the flowery statements about God controlling all things for his glory become hollow nonsense in the vicinity of gassed children.
In just a few weeks I have the opportunity of fulfilling a several decades long dream of visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau. It will take place at the end of several weeks of kingdom teaching in Austria and Switzerland. I’ll be accompanied and supported by my wife Shelley and my kingdom co-workers, Greg and Marcia Erickson. I believe the experience will be powerful as we reflect on theological matters with the above criterion in full view.
To make the most of this visit, I’m wondering if any of you have ever visited these memorials? If so, do you have any recommendations for us? For example, should we view these memorials with a tour guide? And if you think we should have a guided tour, is there one you can recommend? Please send any information you think would be helpful to marcia@reknew2015.wpengine.com.
Thanks so much for your help. If it comes to mind, please pray that in both my speaking ministry and in our memorial visits, God will accomplish in us and through us all that he intends.
Sincerely,
Greg Boyd
Category: General
Tags: Auschwitz, Blueprint Worldview, Calvinism, Europe, Theodicy, Warfare Worldview
Related Reading
The Revolutionary Mission of the Church
Last week Greg tweeted the following: YES! “[T]he mission of the church is to participate in a drama that has a cross for its climax…” K. Vanhoozer This quote from Vanhoozer summarizes a theme that is crucial to the warfare view of the church that Greg holds. The drama of the church is a continuation of…
The Destiny of God’s People
Jesus represents the realization of God’s glorious dream for humanity. In Christ, we see what we who are in Christ are destined to be. As a stick placed in a river is destined to be carried to whatever body of water the river runs to, so all who have allowed themselves to be drawn by…
Do Angels and Demons Really Exist?
While the supremacy of God is never qualified in the Bible, this supremacy is not strictly autocratic. Other “gods” or spiritual entities like angels and demons are not mere puppets of the God of the Bible. Rather, they appear to be personal beings who not only take orders but also are invited to give input…
What is the warfare worldview?
The warfare worldview is based on the conviction that our world is engaged in a cosmic war between a myriad of agents, both human and angelic, that have aligned themselves with either God or Satan. This is the view that is presupposed throughout the entire Bible, and it’s especially evident in the New Testament. For…
The End and Beginning of Faith
Eduardo Amorim via Compfight Micah J. Murray shared the story of how his doubts and loss of faith led him to a truer, deeper faith. While we fear the doubts that sometimes sneak in, sometimes those doubts lead us to a place of goodness. Be not afraid. From Micah’s story: Eventually I gave up on…
Good From Evil
The Bible is very clear that God has nothing to do with evil. There is “no darkness” in God. (I Jn 1:5). Far from intentionally bringing about evil, God’s “eyes are too pure to look on evil” (Hab. 1:13). All evil, therefore, must be ultimately traced back to decisions made by free agents other than…