The Sunflower

Martin E. Marty begins by discussing the legacy of Christianity, that believers are taught to be prepared to die for their faith as disciples of Jesus, and adds that he is not sure that he would be capable of doing so if the circumstance ever arose. Addressing Wiesenthal’s questions as to what he would have done in this situation, he is inclined to turn the question into what he should have done. However, Marty states that he prefers the uncertainty that Wiesenthal expresses to the idea that there might be one correct answer.

Marty says that, because he is a Christian and Wiesenthal is Jewish, he can only read the question as “What would/should a Jew have done?” and goes on to say that “Non-Jews and perhaps especially Christians should not give advice about the Holocaust experience to its heirs for the next two thousand years. And then we shall have nothing to say” (210).

Marty believes, in general, that “more value would grow out of forgiveness than out of its withholding” (211), but he then goes on to express his reservations about this belief. First, he is resistant to the possibility that grace might be cheapened if it is offered without limits.