Blessing of a New Dawn: Reorienting Christianity's Relation to Judaism

Why has recent scholarship and post-Vatican II documentation about relations between the church and Judaism made so little impact on Christian self-understanding vis-à-vis Jews and Judaism? In Catholicism we have, for the most part, some fine statements, both on relations with Judaism and on interpreting the Bible. Theologians across specializations are generally aware of the statements, with a number actively teaching and writing on various topics relevant to Catholic-Jewish relations. There are some fine popular writings. But from my recent involvement in what may become a modest initiative from the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations (weakened by reductions in staff and funding), it seems that most bishops have little interest and even less background in continuing what Nostra Aetate inaugurated. This also seems to be the case with our clergy.And after 28 years of teaching at Union Seminary in NYC, I observe that things are only marginally better in Protestant traditions.Why has recent scholarship and post-Vatican II documentation about relations between the church and Judaism made so little impact on Christian self-understanding vis-à-vis Jews and Judaism? In Catholicism we have, for the most part, some fine statements and popular writings. But it seems that most bishops have little interest and even less background in continuing what Nostra Aetate inaugurated. This also seems to be the case with our clergy.I suspect the problem is that the process by which Christianity emerged over the course of four centuries as a tradition distinct from Judaism has been oversimplified and distorted by erroneous depictions of Judaism and the complex process by which the band of Jesus’ disciples became a church with formal organizational structures and doctrines―and a structure with an antagonistic attitude toward Judaism. And this misleading depiction took hold for nearly 2,000 years, forming the ground on which other problematic claims and categories were planted. The misrepresentation of Jewish life contributed significantly to an adversarial relationship that deteriorated even further over the ages―and with tragic consequences.This succinct work aims to correct this problem, by retelling the “big picture” of Christian origins, using the latest scholarship. The book is just long enough to develop important ideas, and short enough for busy people to learn something significant. Text boxes and graphic material is used to highlight key facts and concepts. Read more