Plantations and Death Camps: Religion, Ideology, and Human Dignity

Historical theologian Beverly Mitchell probes some of the mostegregious assaults on humans in the modern era to divine not only theroot of racial and ethnic oppressions but also the unassailable heartof human dignity revealed in that suffering. Mitchell's work looks atthe parallel oppressions that were visited upon African Americans inthe slave era and upon Jews in the Nazi era. Even apart from the manysimilarities in their respective plights, Mitchell finds a deepercommonality in the underlying religious and ideological justificationsfor their oppressions and the underlying, dynamic theological featuresof each. Even more striking is the strong assertion of their owndignity in the face of such oppression, an assertion on which Mitchellbuilds her theological anthropology. She finds important collaborative"lessons regarding what it means to be human in a world in whichdiscrimination, alienation, and maltreatment between human beings aredaily companions." We live in an era of rampant violence andwidespread violations of human dignity. Mitchell's work calls us backto the deepest roots of human dignity and the solidarity thatmaintains it.