Book Description: Kertzer, David I., The Popes Against the Jews: The Vatican’s Role in the Rise of Modern AntiSemitism

Bibliographic Information: 
Kertzer, David I, The Popes Against the Jews: The Vatican’s Role in the Rise of Modern AntiSemitism
ISBN:978-0-307-42921-6

Summary

Prof. Kertzer reports that he wrote this book in response to the Vatican’s release of its report on the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews on the question of the Church’s alleged responsibility for the Shoah. The report differentiated between longstanding anti-Judaism that it acknowledged, based on the religious differences and disagreements between Christianity and Judaism. In the 19th and early 20th Centuries, the report suggested a new racism-based concept of antisemitism. The Commission further indicated that this anti-semitism was anti-Christian and opposed by the Church. Antisemitism is what caused the Shoah, in the Commission’s view. Kertzer successfully critiques this history. He calls it “a history that many wish had happened, but it is not what actually happened.” Kertzer’s book is a fine example of investigatory scholarship. Scholars have raised questions about specific components of his findings, but overall, he firmly establishes his conclusion that the Commission’s vindication of the Church does not comport with what transpired.

Context

The Shoah raised essential questions about the modern era. One of these flows from the fact that the societies that produced the genocide were from the heart of historically Christian civilization. The Commission pondered the connection between historical and contemporary views of Jews and the murder of most Jews of those lands. Kertzer does the same, using the tools of the study of history and arrives as strikingly different conclusions.

Style

Kertzer’s style is eloquent and scholarly. He goes to some lengths to write unemotionally. However, the nature of the material is such that this was self-evidently a difficult challenge for him. (Kertzer notes that he is the son of a rabbi who served the Jewish community in interfaith relations for many years.) His choice of a title for the book is illustrative. Overall, this is a book written more in sorrow than in anger, yet it retains a tightly controlled degree of outrage that some readers will confirm and some will find upsetting.

Classroom

The Popes Against the Jews will be a difficult book to use in a classroom setting. Nevertheless, the effort will be worth it. Students, particularly from Catholic backgrounds, will need preparation for using it. Kertzer’s book is not easy reading because it focuses on a particular dysfunction among the leadership cadres of the Catholic Church over a long period.