For the first time; Etty Hillesum's diary and letters appear together to give us the fullest possible portrait of this extraordinary woman in the midst of World War II. In the darkest years of Nazi occupation and genocide; Etty Hillesum remained a celebrant of life whose lucid intelligence; sympathy; and almost impossible gallantry were themselves a form of inner resistance. The adult counterpart to Anne Frank; Hillesum testifies to the possibility of awareness and compassion in the face of the most devastating challenge to one's humanity. She died at Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of twenty-nine.
#1046266 in Books Giorgio Agamben 2015-02-04 2015-02-04Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.00 x .40 x 4.50l; .0 #File Name: 080479454584 pagesPilate and Jesus Meridian Crossing Aesthetics
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I read this as a part of a small group ...By CustomerI read this as a part of a small group from my church; a sort of 'book club' if you will. I was always intrigued with the interaction of Pilate and Jesus. Agamben gives a balanced; well researched view. His theme is profound and worth an honest exploration.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. On the Crisis of JudgementBy StreetlightReaderIn this little book (essay really) Giorgio Agamben turns his considerable philological prowess to the parable of Jesus’s trial and its strange significance with respect to the question of judgement. For Agamben; the singular import of the trial resides in the confrontation between two orders of judgement: the first celestial and eternal; the other; terrestrial and historical - corresponding to the judgements of Jesus and Pilate respectively. And what happens at this crossroads; at which the kingdom of divinity touches upon the kingdom of humanity; and at which the one is called upon to judge the other? Agamben’s surprising answer is… not much. Certainly; the consequences are lethal and ramifications far reaching; but as far as judgement goes; the curious and surprising fact of the trial consists in the seeming lack of judgement handed down at any point during the proceedings. Indeed this abstention from judgement – exemplified by the indecision and evasiveness of Pontius Pilate; who presides over the trail – leads Agamben to pronounce that “the trail of Jesus is thus not properly a trial; but something that remains for us to define and for which it is likely we will not manage to find a name.â€Thus; over and against those who affirm the properly juridical nature of the trial (Dante being one of Agamben’s main targets here); Agamben instead insists on the grey zone into which this nameless event places the efficacy of the law. The encounter between Pilate and Jesus then; results in a sort of suspension of the law; one in which no decision is made and in which a state of 'krisis' (which means 'judgement' in Greek) prolongs itself indefinitely (writes Agamben: "the indecisive one - Pilate - keeps on deciding; the decisive one - Jesus - has no decision to make"). The upshot here for Agamben is that the trial of Jesus is thus nothing less than an ominous "allegory of our time"; one according to which we live in a state of unending crisis. As usual with Agamben; it's not so much the specifics of theology that is at stake here; so much as the limit and threshold of the law; which Agamben's work has never ceased to critique. Read in conjunction with his other; recent work on the Christian tradition (The Kingdom and the Glory; The Highest Poverty); Pilate and Jesus offers a fitting accompaniment.
