Jesus and the Holocaust

by Joel Marcus

What does Jesus have to do with the millions who died and the countless people who suffer to this day because of the Holocaust? In Jesus and the Holocaust, scripture scholar Joel Marcus finds meaning in the relationship between persecution of these millions of Jews and the crucifixion of the Jewish man named Jesus who suffered and died on the cross two thousand years ago. Marcus, a Jew raised in Chicago who later converted to Christianity, puts us in touch with the inhumane treatment and murder of millions of Jews during the Holocaust, and with the horrible suffering of Jesus. Originally presented in a Good Friday service - the day Christians reflect on the meaning of Jesus' death - Marcus's simple, stirring language and his use of images and poetry in this series of homilies evoke anger, tears, and warmth. Readers are surprised by the unexpected healing offered in this union of Jesus and the Holocaust.