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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholics Remember the Holocaust
   Product Code:  5-290
   ISBN:  1-57455-290-2
   http://www.usccbpublishing.org/searchproducts.cfm
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. Encyclopaedia Judaica (Hardcover)
    Publisher: Keter Publishing House Ltd. (1972)
    ASIN: B000ENG764

Recommended Textbooks

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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, Roger Brooks, ed. , 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, 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, (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. "Confrontation", Joseph B. Soloveitchik, 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:

• Jewish Christian relations
  
• Vatican
• Center for Christian Jewish Learning