Includes bibliographical references (p. [111]-118) and indexes.

1. Jewish-Christian relations since 1945 -- Obstacles along the way -- Confessional mea culpas : church statements addressing the Holocaust -- 2. Barth and the Jewish people : the historical debate -- The context of controversy -- Reading Barth's ambiguity -- Barth and the Jewish people : how scholars have understood him -- Barth and the Jews : his personal relationships -- 3. Karl Barth and natural theology : a case study of the Holocaust as a theological locus -- The problem of natural theology -- The Holocaust and the doctrine of evil -- Outline of a doctrine -- An evaluation -- 4. Karl Barth and the state of Israel : between theology and politics -- Out of the ashes : the 1948 (re-)creation of Israel -- The creation of Israel in 'the doctrine of creation' -- De Gubernatione and the King of Israel -- The history of Israel as a witness to the rule of God -- Political support for Israel as a theological necessity -- 5. The function of 'Israel' in the 'doctrine of reconciliation' -- Christological election as the presupposition of dialogic possibilities -- The Jews in the far country -- The royal man -- The ministry of the reconciled community.

"The attitude of Karl Barth to Israel and the Jews has long been the subject of heated controversy amongst historians and theologians. The question that has so far predominated in the debate has been Barth's attitude, both theologically and practically, towards the Jews during the period of the Third Reich and the Holocaust itself. How, if at all, did Barth's attitudes change in the post-war years? Did Barth's own theologising in the aftermath of the Holocaust take that horrendous event into account in his later writings on Israel and the Jews? Mark Lindsay explores such questions through a deep consideration of volume four of Barth's Church Dogmatics, the 'Doctrine of Reconciliation'."--BOOK JACKET.