After-words: Post-Holocaust Struggles with Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Justice

6 / Struggles for Recognition in an Era of Globalization: The Necessity of a Theology of Reconciliation from a Political-Theological Perspective after Auschwitz

6 Struggles for Recognition in an Era of Globalization The Necessity of a Theology of Reconciliation from a Political-Theological Perspective after Auschwitz juergen manemann every theology is a political theology because theology is deeply steeped in political meaning, and all religious thought and behavior is subject to political analysis. We can say that theology is “transcendental politics.” A Christian theology after Auschwitz needs to be aware of the harm and danger theology has caused in history. Because it is seriously challenged by history and society and vice versa, Christian theology is not a kind of metaphysics. In fact, for Christian theology there is no world history with salvation history after or above it. From a Christian standpoint , the history of salvation is world history (Weltgeschichte).1 Every way of distancing ourselves from this history, from our society, and from the suªering of others produces the danger of creating idols instead of speaking of God. On the basis of these insights we can conclude that theologians have several primary duties, duties that Cornel West has outlined.2 First, there has to be a radical transition from system concepts to subject concepts. Second, theology must have the capacity to provide a broad and deep analytical grasp of the present in light of the past. Third, theology must protect narratives, and in order to protect narratives theologians have to “rub against the grain of history,” as Walter Benjamin states it.3 Fourth, we have to criticize every act of distancing ourselves from the suªering of others. In the words of Theodor Adorno, “[T]he need to lend a voice 142 to suªering is the condition of all truth,” that is, unless we can hear the voices of those who suªer, we are deaf to the voice of truth.4 This does not mean that those who suªer have a monopoly on truth, but it does mean that if truth is to emerge, it must be in tune with those who were and who are in misery. Fifth, we have to sustain “hope for the sake of the hopeless.”5 Sixth, we must track hypocrisy, which accentuates the gap between principles and practice. The purpose of this essay is to explore the logic of reconciliation as recognition and the non-logic of forgiveness within this framework. reconciliation and forgiveness A theology of reconciliation and forgiveness has to be worked out as a theology that is unable to distance itself from the suªering of others. This has to be taken into account when one raises the question of how to speak about reconciliation, forgiveness, and justice after Auschwitz. First of all, it is necessary to diagnose the current situation. Speaking of reconciliation and forgiveness today, we are confronted not only with a first guilt, the deeds of the perpetrators, but also with a “second guilt,” as Ralph Giordano describes it: the inability to take responsibility for what has happened.6 Are we allowed to speak of reconciliation and forgiveness in such a situation? Not only are we allowed to speak of reconciliation and forgiveness; we are obligated to do so if we can show that a theology of reconciliation and forgiveness has the power to rub against the grain of history. Therefore we first have to change our perspective. A precondition for becoming an individual is a capacity for becoming guilty as a person. Thus it is first of all necessary to recognize that the origin of subjectivity has to do with breaking through the mythicalgenealogical relationship between guilt and atonement. Consider the words of the prophet Ezekiel: “Why do you keep repeating this proverb in the land of Israel: ‘The parents have eaten unripe grapes; and the children ’s teeth are set on edge?’ As I live—declares the Lord Yahweh—you will have no further cause to repeat this proverb in Israel. Behold: all life belongs to me. . . . The one who has sinned is the one to die” (Ezekiel 18:2–4). Here we face a breakthrough in the collective guilt that gives rise to the individual. Ezekiel continues: “Throw away all your acts of 143 Theology of Reconciliation rebellion against me, and you will get yourselves a new heart, a new spirit” (Ezekiel 18:31). To sum up: the human being becomes an individual through the perception of his own sin, and he becomes an I through the power of creating within himself a new heart and a new spirit.7 Becoming a subject means...