Reclaiming the Center Projects
Reflections on the Scandal of Particularity
Rev. Andrew Foster Connors
Pastor, Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD
Serving as the pastor of a self-described "progressive" Presbyterian church with deep connections in the Jewish community, I was somewhat skeptical about what I, and more importantly, the community of Christians I serve might take away from "The Scandal of Particularity." Many Christians in my congregation are painfully aware of the legacy of anti-Semitism within the Church. In fact, at times the awareness of our history has made many within our faith reluctant to embrace core claims of the faith – claims related to Jesus, biblical authority, and the Church.
Perhaps, too, this skepticism was nurtured in interfaith conversations shared among self-described "progressive" Jews, Christians, and Muslims where the tenor of the conversation often led to the false and unsatisfying conclusion that we are "all the same," or we are all paths leading to the same one truth – a conclusion that obliterated rather than respected the claims of "the other."
My skepticism soon abated as new colleagues, many well versed in Jewish-Christian dialogue, took the reverse approach. Instead of looking for those places where our faith convictions overlap, we went directly to conversations about difference. What was shared was not always a common approach, or common faith conviction, but rather a desire to understand our differences, to grapple with ways those differences have led to harm in the past, and to bring fresh, imaginative approaches to ways in which our differences might lead not to harm but to healing, and a deepening of our respective traditions.
I came away with new understanding that might be roughly divided into three categories: what I learned about Judaism, what I learned about Christianity, and hopes I have for the future.
© 2009 Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies
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