Book Review: 'A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair,' by Daniel Goldhagen, the Catholic Historical Review (April 2003).

Abstract

In this article, Professor Ronald Rychlak defends the Catholic Church against Daniel Jonah Goldhagen’s attack on the entirety of the religion and institution in his book titled “A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church In the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair.” Rychlak’s review of Goldhagen’s book provides substantial arguments countering Goldhagen’s readings of specific excerpts from the Bible perceived as anti-Semitic. Rychlak points out that Goldhagen not only twisted the Church’s understanding of certain Biblical excerpts but also intentionally accepted bogus translations of Italian and Latin text to misconstrue Catholic writings as anti-Semetic. Furthermore, in his crusade to defend the Church, Rychlak seriously calls into question Goldhagen’s reliance on other dubious publications on the same topic, including Susan Zuccotti’s Under His Very Windows and James Carroll’s Constantine’s Sword.

Keywords: Pius XII, Goldhagan, Holocaust

JEL Classification: B00, Z00