A fair and even-tempered account of a volatile subject. (20 b&w photos, not seen)
A well-reasoned but damning overview of the Vatican’s response to Nazi atrocities during and after WWII.
Following hard upon John Cornwell’s controversial Hitler’s Pope (not reviewed), and John Paul II’s unprecedented apology to Jews in Israel, Phayer (History/Marquette Univ.) offers exactly what was needed all along: a more incisive, if somewhat dry, view of Pius XII that portrays him not as a power-mad anti-Semite, but as an indecisive ruler with definite German sympathies whose fear of Communism and Fascist reprisals (as well as his astonishingly naïve efforts to seek diplomatic protections) provided few obstacles to the Nazi extermination of millions of Jews, Gypsies, and Polish Catholics. Elected to the papacy in 1939, Eugenio Pacelli took over a divided church whose more liberal members (led by his predecessor, Pius XI) were highly alarmed by their fellow Catholics’ hatred of Jews (including Jewish converts to Catholicism). The author believes that Pius XII halted an encyclical that would have condemned anti-Semitism because he knew that Hitler, a Catholic apostate, had threatened similar attacks against German Catholics. Part of the problem may also have been that Pius XII (who had lived for years in Germany as a Vatican diplomat) looked upon German National Socialism as the devil that he knew—compared to the anti-religious mania of Stalin’s Communism. Once WWII began, in the author’s view, Pius’s refusal to aid Catholics helping Jews escape persecution and his silence about Nazi depravities were, in fact, attempts to maintain Vatican neutrality and to control a church rife with virulent anti-Semites—many of whom would not have hesitated, with Fascist backing, to overthrow the papacy and possibly even destroy the Vatican itself. Although no apologist for the Vatican, Phayer concludes that, given the church’s perversely divided loyalties and its pathetically powerless condition before and during WWII, Pius should be judged not as a collaborator so much as a sad example of a weak man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
A fair and even-tempered account of a volatile subject. (20 b&w photos, not seen)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-253-33725-9
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Indiana Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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