First published 2001
Cultural critic and novelist James Carroll examines the Church's two-millennium struggle against Judaism and its impact on his own Catholic faith. Carroll argues that the Holocaust represents not an aberration but the culmination of centuries of entrenched anti-Jewish sentiment within Christianity. He traces this history from Gospel narratives of Christ's crucifixion through Constantine's militarization of Christian symbols to medieval blood libels and modern antisemitism. The book reveals how the Church's silence during the Holocaust under Pius XII formed part of a much larger pattern. Carroll weaves historical research with personal reflection, showing how this dark legacy became a central tragedy of Western civilization. He identifies moments when different choices were possible and argues that new paths remain available. The work demands that the Church confront its full history and calls for fundamental reconsideration of core Christian beliefs. Only through such honest reckoning can Christians, Jews, and others burdened by this history move toward a different future.
Genres: history, non-fiction, biography-memoir, church-history, antisemitism, academic, cultural-studies, jewish
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-nonfiction, personal-reflection
Setting: Catholic Church, West
Period: 2000s, 20th-century
756 pages · Hardcover · Houghton Mifflin