Syllabus

Course Description

In the final days of the II Vatican Council the publication of Nostra Aetate (Declaration on non-Christian Religions) reversed a negative attitude of the Catholic Church toward Judaism and the Jewish people as well as toward Muslims and Hindus. This remarkable change promoted "dialogue" with Jews, and positive changes in the ways in which Judaism was presented in Liturgy and Catechesis. Reactions from the Jewish communities were diverse: from rejection to welcoming. Subsequent documents produced by the Vatican as well as Bishops’ Conferences have brought more Jews into dialogue with the Catholic Church.   This course will explore a number of issues which emerge from the history of Christian theology: How did a negative image of Judaism develop within Christianity? In what ways did these unfavorable teachings contribute toward violence against the Jews over the centuries?   What is the relationship between Christian anti-Jewish teachings and Anti-Semitism? Is there any corresponding Jewish hostility towards Christians? In what ways have Jewish authors reacted to developments within the Christian tradition?   As we survey the past, we shall also want to explore the possibilities of a more constructive theological relationship between the two communities for the future. How can Jews and Christians develop religious responses to modernity? In what senses can a study of Judaism by Christians, or Christianity by Jews, help either community to understand itself better? How can Christians and Jews develop a theology of "the other" which is not triumphalist, but empathetic and based on love and justice?

Course Objectives

1. The students will be able to define and evaluate basic concepts that have been the subject of controversy between Christians and Jews.
2. The students will discern the distinctive characters of pre-modern and modern Christianity and Judaism.
3. The students will be able to reflect critically on the subject matter of the course, and evaluate how it affects their own theological ideas.

Prerequisites

None

Required Textbooks

Harold W. Attridge, Hermeneia - A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible, The Epistle to the Hebrews

Hardcover: 437 pages.

Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers (April 1989)

Language: English.

ISBN-10: 0800660218.

ISBN-13: 978-0800660215

 

Mary C. Boys, Has God Only One Blessing? Judaism as a Source of Christian Self-Understanding

Paperback: 416 pages

Publisher: Paulist Press (March 2000)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0809139316

ISBN-13: 978-0809139316

 

Jeremy Cohen, Living Letters of the Law; Ideas of the Jew in Medieval Christianity (The S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies)

Paperback: 461 pages

Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (November 11, 1999)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0520218701

ISBN-13: 978-0520218703

 

National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholics Remember the Holocaust

Product Code:  5-290

ISBN:  1-57455-290-2

http://www.usccbpublishing.org/searchproducts.cfm

 

Frymer-Kensky et. al. Christianity in Jewish Terms

Paperback: 464 pages

Publisher: Westview Press; Reprint edition (March 19, 2002)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0813365724

ISBN-13: 978-0813365725

 

Katharine T. Hargrove, Seeds of Reconciliation

Paperback: 256 pages

Publisher: D. & F. Scott Publishing (June 1996)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0941037401

ISBN-13: 978-0941037402

 

Joseph Kimhi, The Book of the Covenant

Paperback: 88 pages

Publisher: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies (November 1998)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0888442610

ISBN-13: 978-0888442611

 

Hyam Maccoby, Judaism on Trial

Paperback: 245 pages

Publisher: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization; New Ed edition (June 1993)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1874774161

ISBN-13: 978-1874774167

 

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Many Religions, One Covenant: Israel, Church and the World

Paperback: 113 pages

Publisher: Ignatius Press (September 1999)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0898707536

ISBN-13: 978-0898707533

 

Encyclopaedia Judaica Hardcover

Publisher: Keter Publishing House Ltd. (1972)

ASIN: B000ENG764

 

This course does not require any previous knowledge of Judaism. Therefore, some students may want more information. I recommend:

 

Mary C. Boys [editor], Seeing Judaism Anew: Christianity’s Sacred Obligation

Paperback: 320 pages

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (April 28, 2005)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0742548821

ISBN-13: 978-0742548824

 

Adele Reinhartz, Befriending the Beloved Disciple, A Jewish Reading of the Gospel of John

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group (October 2002)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 082641446X

ISBN-13: 978-0826414465

 

Michael Fishbane, Judaism Revelation and Traditions (Religious Traditions of the World Series)

Paperback: 149 pages

Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco; 1 edition (December 23, 1987)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0060626550

ISBN-13: 978-0060626556

 

Robert Seltzer, Jewish People: Jewish Thought

Paperback: 873 pages

Publisher: Prentice Hall (October 9, 2003)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0024089400

ISBN-13: 978-0024089403

Readings

1. Unanswered Questions, Ed. Roger Brooks, Notre Dame Press, 1986
2. The Church and the Nineteenth Century, Raymond Corrigan, The Bruce Publishing Company, 1938, pgs. 289-295.
3. The Apostolic Fathers, ed. by Fr. Jack Sparks, Light and Life Publishing, 1978, pgs. 263-301. (Session 3)
4. Melito of Sardis in The Christological Controversy, trans. and ed. by Richard A. Norris, Jr., Augsberg Fortress Press, 1980, pgs. 33-47 (Session 9)
5. In Answer to the Jews, Treatises on Marriage and Other Subjects/The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, St. Augustine, ed. Roy J. Deferrari,  Catholic University of America Press, 1955,  pgs. 391-413. (Session 9)
6. Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Volume II/Tractate Baodesh, ed. by Jacob Lauterbach, Jewish Publication Society, http://www.jewishpub.org/product.php?isbn=0827606788 2004, pgs. 229-236. (Session 10)
7. Midrash rabbah, English, London, Soncino Press, 1939, pgs. 50-53. (Session 10)
8. Bavli Gittin: Tractate Gittin, Folio 56b-57a, Soncino Talmud, 1961, http://www.come-and-hear.com (Session 10)
9. Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, R. Travers Herford, Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1975, pgs. 82-83, 118-119, 146-147, and 178-179. (Session 10)
10. The Jew in the Medieval World, Jacob Rader Marcus, Atheneum Publishing, 1975, pgs. 121-157. (Session 13)
11. Toward a Definition of Antisemitism, Gavin I. Langmuir, University of California Press, 1990, pgs. 263-300. (Session13)
12. Soloveitchik's article in A Treasury of Tradition, ed. by Norman Lamm and Walter S. Wurzberger, Hebrew Publishing Company, 1967, pgs. 55-80. (Session 17)
13. Jewish Perspectives on Christianity: Leo Baeck, Marin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Will Herberg, and Abraham Heschel, ed. by Fritz Rothschild, Crossroads Publishing Company, 1990, pgs. 132-153, 206-226. (Session 15, 16, 18)
14. A Jewish Legal Authority Addresses Jewish-Christian Dialogue: Two Responsa of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, by Rabbi David Ellenson, The Chronicle of Hebrew Union College, Volume LII, Nos. 1&2, Fall 2000-2001. (Session 17)
15. Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, Essays, Abraham Joshual Heschel, ed. by Susannah Heschel, Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1996, pgs. 235-285. (Session 18)
16. Tractate on the Jews: The Significance of Judaism for Christian Faith, Franz Mussner: Trans. and with an introduction by Leonard Swidler, Augsberg Fortress Press, 1984, pgs. 1-52.
17. Humanity at the Limit: The Impact of the Holocaust Experience on Jews and Christians, ed. by Michael A. Signer, Indiana University Press, 2000, pgs. 63-103. (Session 20) 

Websites

Students should utilize the following websites for additional bibliography. They contain documentation and articles relating to problems in Jewish-Christian relations. Additional sites can be found under “links” on the instructor’s web-page.

Jewish Christian relations

Vatican

Center for Christian Jewish Learning