Common wisdom has it that a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this series of paintings artist Samuel Bak wonders: can a word be worth a thousand pictures? Words are constructed from letters, which stem from hieroglyphic representations of the world around us. The use of letters, words, and sentences in art is not the domain only of comics and cartoons. Examples exist in medieval art, in the art of the post-Impressionists, the Cubists, the Dadaists, the Conceptualists, and more. Bak has always integrated letters and words into his art, incorporating both Hebrew and English characters, cleverly visualizing turns of phrase, and playing on multiple meanings and double entendres. In this series, the letters of the word hope appear in various conditions and ambiguous states—sometimes monumental, sometimes disguised, unnaturally large or unusually small, at times solid and whole, at other times broken and in disarray. They are both impish and foreboding, sometimes clearly presented and other times defying order or even recognition. They are wounded yet resilient, detached but seeking connection. Four simple letters—H, O, P, E—belie the significance and complexity of the word they spell. Is hope something we find or something we build? We dwell in a world that shapes us as we shape it and this interactive dimension applies to the feeling of hope, familiar to every human being who has ever anticipated, wished, or expected. For Bak, the work of building hope, or believing in the hope that others offer, requires engaging with the discarded and broken pieces of a previously trusted world now irrevocably shattered by the Holocaust. In landscapes, still lifes, and figural works, Bak gathers the layered elements of hope for us to contemplate and reminds us that they hold within and among them a promise for rebuilding and renewal. At best, hope is a wager of trust embodied in the venture of going forth. In his essay, Henry Knight guides us through the multivalent forms of hope in Bak’s work, asks us to question what we see and look beyond the visible, endeavors to define what hope after the Holocaust looks like, and teaches us that the process of creation after destruction represented by Bak’s work is itself the ultimate act of hope.

The questions posed by the Holocaust force faithful Christians to reexamine their own identities and loyalties in fundamental ways and to recognize the necessity of excising the Church's historic anti-Jewish rhetoric from its confessional core. This volume proposes a new framework of meaning for Christians who want to remain both faithful and critical about a world capable of supporting such evil. The author has rooted his critical perspective in the midrashic framework of Jewish hermeneutics, which requires Christians to come to terms with the significant other in their confessional lives. By bringing biblical texts and the history of the Holocaust face to face, this volume aims at helping Jews and Christians understand their own traditions and one another's.

An ongoing issue for clergy as well as Christians in general is how to approach New Testament narratives about the crucifixion of Jesus in relation to Jews, Judaism, and the horrific events of the Holocaust. The events of Holy Week pose particular challenges for clergy and congregations. In this book Henry Knight helps us deal with Holy Week texts in light of our post-Holocaust world and provides practical examples of prayers, liturgies, and resource material to help pastors prepare for and lead worship and teach during this important time in the life of a congregation.

Confronting Genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam is the first collection of essays by recognized scholars primarily in the field of religious studies to address this timely topic. In addition to theoretical thinking about both religion and genocide and the relationship between the two, these authors look at the tragedies of the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Sudan from their own unique vantage point. In so doing, they supply a much needed additional contribution to the ongoing conversations proffered by historians, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, and legal scholars regarding prevention, intervention, and punishment.

Confronting Genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam is the first collection of essays by recognized scholars primarily in the field of religious studies to address this timely topic. In addition to theoretical thinking about both religion and genocide and the relationship between the two, these authors look at the tragedies of the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Sudan from their own unique vantage point. In so doing, they supply a much needed additional contribution to the ongoing conversations proffered by historians, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, and legal scholars regarding prevention, intervention, and punishment.

The questions posed by the Holocaust force faithful Christians to reexamine their own identities and loyalties in fundamental ways and to recognize the necessity of excising the Church's historic anti-Jewish rhetoric from its confessional core. This volume proposes a new framework of meaning for Christians who want to remain both faithful and critical about a world capable of supporting such evil. The author has rooted his critical perspective in the midrashic framework of Jewish hermeneutics, which requires Christians to come to terms with the significant other in their confessional lives. By bringing biblical texts and the history of the Holocaust face to face, this volume aims at helping Jews and Christians understand their own traditions and one another's.