Winter Mini-Course 2010
Steps Forward, Steps Back: The Unsettled World of Contemporary Jewish-Christian Relations
Overview
Presented in four evening sessions by ICJS Jewish Scholar Dr. Adam Gregerman with Dr. Christopher Leighton, Dr. Rosann Catalano and Rev. Jason Poling.
The last decade has presented many unexpected challenges and disappointments regarding the stability of Jewish Christian relations. As Jews interact with Protestants, Catholics and Evangelicals, each relationship has been in a state of flux. Join us for a lively mini-course during which we will study recent controversies regarding the state of Israel, mission and conversion, and changes in liturgy, for example, and how they affect contemporary Jewish-Christian relations.
Teacher Summaries
Session 1 - Dr. Adam Gregerman
In the last few years there has been much news from the world of Jewish-Christian relations. Naturally, the bumps in the road get the most attention, especially recent controversies between the Catholic Church and the Jews (e.g., changes in Catholic liturgy; statements by schismatic bishop Williamson denying the Holocaust; the move to beatify Pope Pius XII). We began by quickly reviewing some of these, and noted that we hope to have more time to discuss them in detail in future meetings. This first class focused on the broader trends in the remarkable improvements in the relationship, which is unprecedented in the history of relations between any two religious groups. This was illustrated by a comparative study of two documents: 1) a pathbreaking statement by a group of Jews and Christians from 1947, The Ten Points of Seeligsburg, and 2) a recent statement by another group of Jews and Christians, 2009's Twelve Points of Berlin. These are bookends to modern Jewish-Christian relations. The bulk of the class was devoted to discussion of them, in small groups and as a whole class.
We first studied the 1947 document, which concisely touches on many of the issues that would come to dominate interreligious dialogue: the charge of deicide against the Jewish people, the covenant between God and the Jews, the responsibility to present Judaism accurately in Christian teaching. Some participants were unconvinced by the document's distinction between the anti-Jewish behavior of individual Christians and the true doctrines of Christianity and the New Testament. However, most were impressed by strong denunciations of anti-Judaism of any sort and willingness to question long-standing Christian theological claims that might encourage hostility toward Jews. Our study of the second document focused largely on the choice of topics that are addressed in the text. While some topics also appear in the first document, the creation of the State of Israel introduced a new, contentious issue in the relationship. There are important statements about how to respectfully discuss Israel and differing attitudes toward the land in the two traditions. In another change, participants noted that the second document is addressed to both Jews and Christians and contains more specific demands. This reflects efforts to achieve more balance, even though, as participants noted, the demands of Christians are much stronger. Also, the guidance for conducting interreligious dialogue reflects more interaction between members of different religious groups than existed in the 1940's.
Session 4 - Rev. Jason Poling on Evangelical-Jewish Relations
I began with a general overview of Evangelical Christianity. I invited people to mention the words/phrases and people they associate with Evangelicalism; these free associations indicated significant confusion of Evangelicalism with Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism. I therefore situated Evangelicalism historically with a quick review of the past few centuries. I discussed the Great Schism and the Reformation, and then moved to the fundamentalist-modernist controversy of the 1920s and 1930s, in which proponents of modern/liberal theology and biblical scholarship gained control of major Protestant denominations and seminaries. Moving ahead, I introduced the modern-day split of Evangelicalism from Fundamentalism after WWII as a reaction against that movement's anti-intellectualism, legalism, exclusivism, and separationism. I also identified Pentecostalism as being under the umbrella of Evangelicalism in some respects but really being large and distinctive enough to merit consideration as a separate movement.
As a different heuristic, I discussed the "4 Marks" of Evangelicalism according to historian David Bebbington:
- Biblicism — the Bible is inspired, trustworthy, and authoritative
- Conversionism — it is necessary for everyone to turn decisively from sin and to God
- Crucicentrism — this turning to God is only possible through the atoning death of Jesus on the Cross
- Activism — being one of God's people is not a matter of occasional religious observance but is an entirely new way of life which includes, among other things, inviting others to come to God through Jesus
I then introduced some of the biblical sources that have had prominent role in shaping Evangelicalism on these topics. After a "beta run" through Mt. 28:16-20, I invited participants to read Acts 2:14-41 through the evangelical "lenses" articulated above. We then moved to the modern period, and discussed how relations between Evangelicals and Jews have often been strained over the question of evangelism; while some Evangelicals believe it is not necessary to invite Jews to accept Jesus as Messiah, most believe that it is. On the question of Israel most Evangelicals are supportive of the Jewish state but only about 10% base that support in a particular type of apocalypticism known as "dispensationalism" (technically "dispensational premillennialism") or "rapture" theology. Few non-Evangelicals are aware of the diversity of Evangelical thought, and we had a lively conversation about the range of Evangelical belief on these and other topics.
