The 2009 Bernard Manekin Lecture
The Bernard Manekin Lecture is presented annually to honor Bernie's life long commitment to the work of Jewish-Christian relations. This year, please join us as we remember and celebrate Bernie’s vision, commitment to forging creative partnerships and his many friendships. We will miss his wise counsel, kind heart and steadfast optimism.
God was not Odd to Choose the Jews:
Augustine on the Jewishness of Jesus
With Dr. Paula Fredriksen
"Augustine and I met my junior year of college," says Paula Fredriksen, "and we've been an item ever since."
Listen to the complete lecture!
Click the link to listen now, or right-click and select the "save as..." option to save the mp3 file to your computer or iPod and listen later!
Download the Manekin Lecture handout (PDF).
Resources
Book Reviews
Paula Fredriksen's new book "Augustine and the Jews" is the culmination of her decades of research on Augustine and Jewish-Christian relations. It has been widely reviewed in both scholarly and popular publications. Here are two recent popular reviews:
On Paul and the New Testament
A superb multipart documentary on PBS, "From Jesus to Christ," covered the first few generations of Christianity, from its birth as Jewish sect to its emergence as an independent religious tradition. The web site is a great resource, with sections on all aspects of early Christianity (e.g., Paul, the main documents, Judaism and Hellenism). Coincidentally, Paula Fredriksen was one of the scholars invited to participate.
On Augustine
A very useful website on Augustine's life and writings is maintained by a professor at Georgetown, J. O'Donnell, a prominent scholar of Augustine and religion in late antiquity.
About Dr. Fredriksen
Dr. Paula Fredriksen is one of the world's leading scholars of early Christianity. Her most recent work, Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism (2008), is a creative and compelling interpretation of Augustine of Hippo (354-430), a prolific philosopher and writer on spirituality and society, and a central figure in the definition and development of Western Christian doctrine. During the three centuries that separate Jesus and Paul from Augustine, orthodox Christian theologians had developed a thoroughgoing anti-Judaism. Re-reading the gospels and Paul's letters at the end of the fourth century, Augustine sought to understand Jesus and Paul in terms of their original, first century Jewish context. In the process, he radically challenged this earlier orthodoxy and anticipated many of the conclusions of modern scholars in their quest for the historical Jesus. Dr. Fredriksen will discuss Augustine's views and their implications for Jewish-Christian relations.
Dr. Fredriksen is the Aurelio Professor of Scripture at Boston University. Her work includes two translations of Augustine's commentaries on St. Paul, and the National Jewish Book Award–winning Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity (2000).
The Bernard Manekin Lecture Series is made possible by an endowment grant from The Clark Charitable Foundation. Bernard Manekin was one of the founding fathers of the ICJS and served on its Board of Trustees from its inception in 1987. Bernie was a pillar that sustains the work of the ICJS. A. James Clark is a long time friend of Bernard Manekin. His commitment to forging creative partnerships is embodied in his endowment of The Bernard Manekin Annual Lecture.
