The “chosen people” and the others… this question is central to both Christian and Jewish thought, and lies at the heart of all Western history. But what exactly is the meaning of this divine election, of which the Jews were the first to speak, and to which Christians give a radically different meaning? Is it synonymous with the exclusion of other individuals and peoples? Or is it given as a superabundance that takes nothing away from others? Shmuel Trigano’s answer to these questions is a burningly topical one. For with Saint Paul begins a terrible misunderstanding of Judaism that continues throughout Western history, right up to Karl Marx and many contemporary philosophers. Here, René Girard, Alain Badiou, Jean-François Lyotard, Giorgio Agamben and a number of Catholic thinkers and theologians are examined in relation to Judaism and the Holocaust. At the risk of revealing the profound misunderstandings of which they are sometimes heirs. But this critical work also brings to light other meanings of the biblical tradition, much closer to us and invaluable for today’s world.
