National Jewish Scholars Project

New dialogue between
Jews, Christians

Philadelphia Inquirer
Thursday, September 7, 2000
by Jane Eisner

When the four scholars began work on the project a year and a half ago, they believed it was time for Jews to reevaluate publicly their relationship with Christians and Christianity.

But surely they could not have imagined this: a national debate on the role of religion in public life, prompted in part by a Jewish vice-presidential candidate's genuine but controversial God-talk.

Such a context makes the timing of the forthcoming "Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity" appear almost providential.

The statement, to be released on Sunday by the National Jewish Scholars Project, is meant to initiate a revolutionary conversation within the Jewish community and between Jews and Christians. It could do even more -- by creating a paradigm for the kind of discussion that acknowledges religious differences without feeding the culture of argument or victimization.

This reconsideration is prompted by what the scholars believe is an unprecedented shift in relations between two peoples whose histories have been intertwined, often unhappily, for millennia. Ever since the Holocaust, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches have publicly expressed remorse over the treatment of Jews and Judaism and reformed many of their teachings.

"It behooves someone in the Jewish community to re-spond," says David Novak, a project member.

In fact, Novak, who teaches at University of Toronto, notes it's no accident that the four project members -- including Tikva Frymer-Kensky of the University of Chi-cago, Peter Ochs of the University of Virginia and Michael Signer from Notre Dame -- all teach at non-Jewish institutions: "We have careers because Christians have changed their attitudes. This statement comes out of our experience of acceptance by people who until recently had excluded us."

So the document states that a "new relationship be-tween Jews and Christians will not weaken Jewish practice." And it excuses modern Christians for the sins committed by their ancestors, noting that "Naziism was not a Christian phenomenon."

Bold statements. The aim is not simply to make them, but to discuss them, study them. The project includes a book of essays by Jewish and Christian scholars, a study guide and a program of outreach organized through the Baltimore-based Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies.

"There's a sense that as religious people, Jews and Christians are both concerned about surviving in a secu-lar culture that is not particularly hospitable to religion," says the Institute's David Fox Sandmel. "In terms of pre-serving the distinction of religious communities, there may be ways to work together for each community's benefit."

This will not be universally acclaimed. Among the 160 or so co-signers of the statement are only about 20 Ortho-dox Jews. Some Christians may not easily be able to swallow statements such as "Jews and Christians wor-ship the same God."

And the secularists in both camps won't be thrilled to hear prominent scholars argue that the best way to improve Christian-Jewish relations is to talk more about theology, not less.

"We believe in religion," says Ochs. "The simplistic mantra ‘church-state, church-state’ misrepresents the founding fathers." But, he adds, "it's time to consider religion in a new way."

This new relationship is going to be continually tested. Just this week, Jews were rightly upset over the beatifi-cation of the anti-Semitic Pope Pius IX. And interfaith dialogue was hurt by Tuesday's pronouncement from the Vatican that other religions could not be considered equal to Roman Catholicism.

Indeed, the Jewish document speaks directly to the widespread fear by Jews that they will forever have an asymmetrical relationship with Christianity.

It is naïve to expect that profound religious differences will melt away under the false sunlight of benign toler-ance or social niceties. Religion is about absolute beliefs and time-tested ways of living; if they were easily sur-rendered or compromised, what would they be worth?

Besides, this isn't about making the relationship perfect; it's about finding a new way to show respect for an-other's beliefs and traditions without fear of coercion or assimilation. As such, it's an important step toward a more tolerant society.

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Posted with permission.

© 2000 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.

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