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Christians and
Jews: Redefining
the Relationship
by Thomas Ryan,
C.S.P.
For two
centuries,
Christians have
represented
Judaism as a
failed religion.
The tendency is
to think of it
as an Old
Testament
religion, and to
lose sight of it
as a continually
evolving
religion with an
on-going
covenant with
God that has
enduring
validity. The
impression often
given in
Christian
representation
is: God chose
the Jews; the
Jews gave the
world Jesus; and
thereafter
Judaism, having
fulfilled its
historic
purpose, drops
off the screen.
But historians
of the Second
Vatican Council
observe that the
most radical
shift emanating
from the Council
pertains to the
church's
relationship to
Judaism. Jewish
scholars have
concurred that
there is a sea
change. 200
rabbis and
Jewish academics
from around the
world published
on September 10,
2000, a full
page ad in the
New York Times
and the
Baltimore Sun
acknowledging
the significant
changes in the
Christian world
in the years
since the Shoah
and suggesting
that a climate
now exists in
which Jews, too,
can begin to
think about
Christianity in
new ways. The
statement is
titled Dabru
Emet: A Jewish
Statement on
Christians and
Christianity.
In 2002 a
Christian
scholars group
gave further
momentum to this
development with
ten statements
for the
consideration of
Christians
entitled A
Sacred
Obligation:
Rethinking
Christian Faith
in Relation to
Judaism and the
Jewish People.
Observers on all
sides recognize
that the
historical
models have
broken down and
that we are in a
moment of
relational
reinterpretation.
On March 17, at
the Center for
Jewish History
in New York
City, a panel of
academics and
theologians met
to examine the
relationship
between
Christianity and
Judaism .The
discussion,
titled
"Understanding
the Divide
Between Judaism
and
Christianity:
What Happened
Centuries Ago?
Why Does it
Matter Now?"
explored the
conflict that
has existed
between the two
religions since
the first
century.
The panelists
were Bruce
Chilton, Ph.D.,
Bernard Iddings
Bell Professor
of Religion at
Bard College;
Jacob Neusner,
Ph.D., professor
of theology at
Bard College;
and Rev. Donald
Senior, Ph.D.,
president of the
Chicago Catholic
Theological
Union. Susannah
Heschel, Ph.D.,
chair of the
Jewish studies
program of
Dartmouth
College,
moderated the
discussion.
Dr. Neusner, a
Jewish scholar,
said that the
"no-fault" model
of divorce
current in our
time does not
apply to
Jewish-Christian
relations,
because we have
and do find
fault with each
other. The
metaphor of "irreconciliable
differences"
might be better.
But the best
image, he felt,
was that of
family members
sharing a common
inheritance and
competing in a
disputed legacy
for its
benefits.
Prof. Chilton,
an Episcopalian
representing a
Protestant
Christian voice,
spoke about how
for Paul,
Christianity's
preeminent
teacher, both
baptized Jews
and Greeks made
up the Israel of
God. Paul did
not ask Jews to
stop keeping the
Torah, he said,
recalling that
Paul was
arrested while
in Jerusalem
offering
sacrifice in the
Temple to
fulfill the law.
But he did
emphasize that
the Torah is not
necessary to the
new Israel. And
that was the
scandal-for the
Jews--of his
preaching.
The entire
center of Paul's
religious system
shifted to the
presence of
God's son in the
believer. Both
Judaism and
Christianity
understand
themselves as
covenantal
religions, but
in different
ways. For
Judaism, it is
the Torah that
offers access to
eternal joy. For
Christians,
Jesus offers a
new template by
opening up his
relationship
with the Father
and inviting
others to share
in it.
Rev. Donald
Senior reflected
on the 200 page
study issued by
the Vatican's
Pontifical
Biblical
Commission in
2001entitled The
Jewish People
and Their Holy
Scriptures in
the Christian
Bible. It
affirmed the
"extreme
importance" of
the Old
Testament and
stated that
"without the Old
Testament, the
New Testament
would be an
indecipherable
book, a plant
deprived of its
roots and
destined to dry
up." The
Christian bible,
said Senior,
owes an
extraordinary
debt to Jewish
Scriptures:
motifs, symbols,
piety, moral
life, ritual,
notions of
covenant.
What has already
been
accomplished in
Christ, must
still be
accomplished in
us. In the words
of the Biblical
Commission's
Study, "The
Jewish messianic
wait is not in
vain. We, like
them, live in
expectation. The
difference is in
the fact that
for us, he who
will come will
have the traits
of that Jesus
who has already
come and is
already present
and active among
us."
The irritant is
disagreement on
the identity of
Jesus, but this
does not nullify
the surprising
force of the
spiritual ties
that unite the
Church of Christ
and the Jewish
people. In light
of these
vigorous
spiritual ties,
the only
appropriate
attitude for
Christians is
one of esteem,
love and respect
for the Jewish
people, said
Senior, adding:
"We share a
common spiritual
DNA.
Christianity
emerged from
Biblical
Judaism. We are
siblings."
In the
discussion
period, someone
in the audience
asked Prof.
Chilton: "In
your book Rabbi
Jesus you write
about how Jesus
was born a Jew,
lived as a Jew,
and died as a
Jew. Why, then,
are you a
Christian?"
Chilton
responded that
Jesus'
experience of
sonship was not
a relation that
excluded others,
but one that
others could
share. When Paul
lists the gifts
that come from
Judaism, the
privilege of
being adopted
"sons of God" is
at the top,
followed by the
glory, the
covenants, the
law, the worship
and the promises
(Rom. 9:4).
Christians'
apprehension of
their faith,
said Chilton,
does not rest on
ideology, but on
this grounding
in the religious
experience of
sonship and
daughtership.
"For the Jews,"
he said, "the
question: 'How
do you know
God?' is
answered by
'Through the
Torah.'
Christians
approach God
through Jesus.
He is the pivot
of one's
relationship
with God."
April 2005
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