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Hanson to participate in seminar at Holocaust Museum

By Alexandra Wertz '12
April 20, 2011

Associate Professor of Religion James Hanson '83 has been selected to participate in a seminar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., this summer.

The 2011 Annual Seminar for Seminary and Religious Studies Faculty is titled "Transforming Troubling Tellings: The History of the Deicide Charge and the Holocaust." It will explore how Christian teaching and preaching about the Passion story has impacted Jewish-Christian relations.

"The St. Olaf Religion Department has a long history of involvement in Jewish-Christian dialogue, and this seminar will be a significant way to further that tradition," Hanson says.

Discussion topics at the seminar will include how the death of Jesus has been interpreted in church life and popular culture, analysis of its role in fueling antisemitism across Europe, assessment of its influence among Christians during the Holocaust, and a historical overview of church responses during the Holocaust. The seminar will conclude with a review of post-Holocaust readings and an exploration of how teachings and traditions can be transformed to create a greater understanding between the Christian and Jewish traditions.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.