Westminster Professor Cliff Cain to be Published in International Journal and in Book on Interfaith Appreciation

An article by Rev. Dr. Clifford Chalmers Cain has been accepted for publication in The International Journal of Philosophy and Theology. Dr. Cain is the Harrod C.S. Lewis Professor of Religious Studies and Chair of the Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at Westminster College.

The article, entitled “The Re-Judaization of Christian Theology after the Holocaust,” stems from Dr. Cain’s study of Jewish-Christian relations, Jewish theology, and Christian theology, and one of the key theological and ethical issues of the Holocaust.

The central question addressed in the article is that of “theodicy”—how could a loving and powerful God who intends good things for the world have permitted, or not intervened to prevent, or even caused the Holocaust and its extermination of six million Jews and four million others deemed “expendable” by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime?

“I have been fortunate to have participated in a number of Summer Faculty Seminars in Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and this article has grown out of my experience there,” says Dr. Cain.

The article passed a rigorous peer review process prior to acceptance by the journal editor. It will appear in the summer issue of the journal.

Dr. Cain, who has previously authored nine books on the subjects of faith, theology, and philosophy, will have another work published later in 2018: a chapter in the book Learning from Other Religious Traditions: Leaving Room for Holy Envy, edited by Professor Hans Gustafson of St. Thomas College. The book contains chapters written by theologians who are also practitioners of various religions and who appreciate aspects of religions which are not their own. Dr. Cain’s chapter is titled, “Self-Reliant and Ecologically-Aware: A Christian Appreciation of Buddhism.”

“As a Christian theologian,” Dr. Cain says, “I indicate in my chapter the respect I have for Buddhism and that religion’s emphasis on religious persons’ responsibility to work diligently on, and take responsibility for, their own spiritual development, as well as Buddhism’s ecological consciousness and biocentric conscience involving the interdependence and interconnection of all living things.”

Learning from Other Religious Traditions will be published by Palgrave MacMillan Press this fall as part of the series Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue.

Learn more about Religious Studies at Westminster College here.