God's omnipotence has been one of the most controversial issues in theology, especially after Auschwitz. In this article, first of all, I confront Auschwitz and the absurd through Claude Lanzmann's documentary film, Shoah. Then I compare these two Hol...
God's omnipotence has been one of the most controversial issues in theology, especially after Auschwitz. In this article, first of all, I confront Auschwitz and the absurd through Claude Lanzmann's documentary film, Shoah. Then I compare these two Holocaust's icons, Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi, in relation to their opposite responses to the Event. Levi, whose reflection on Auschwitz bears the likeness to Albert Camus', refused to connect God and the absurd. In spite of the devastating absurdity of Auschwitz, I doubt about the validity of their atheism which the existentialists had finally concluded. I assert that they were disenchanted not with God, but with the image of an omnipotent god onto which humans had projected their contaminated desires. Wiesel, on the other hand, struggled to create meaning from the overwhelming Event. This is exactly what we find from Qoheleth, the so-called “ancient existentialist” or “ancient Elie Wiesel.” Observing the world and honestly confronting its absurd. they both refused to disconnect God from the absurd. They give us a new horizon of “the impossible possibility” to reconcile God and Auschwitz.