Irreconcilable Differences? A Learning Resource For Jews And Christians

David Sandmel, Rosann M. Catalano, Chrostopher M. Leighton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780367098315
• eBook ISBN: 9780429979248
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

Written by Jewish and Christian educators for use by college and adult learners, this volume explores eight basic questions that lie at the core of both traditions and that can serve as a bridge for understanding. Among the questions are: Do Jews and Christians worship the same God? Do Jews and Christians read the Bible the same way? What is the place of the land of Israel for Jews and Christians? Are the irreconcilable differences between Christians and Jews a blessing, a curse, or both? Each chapter includes discussion questions.

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Speaking Theologically ... Together

LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR MIND

ROSANN M. CATALANO AND DAVID FOX SANDMEL

Why Did We Write This Book?

The purpose of this book is to help Jews and Christians explore fundamental beliefs that lie at the core of each tradition and thereby to equip them to talk with each other about what distinguishes Judaism and Christianity and what these traditions have in common. Getting Jews and Christians to talk with one another has proven an effective way to increase understanding and reduce prejudice, in and of itself a worthwhile goal, but there is an additional benefit. When Jews and Christians learn about each other in each other's presence, the outcome is often a deeper sense of self-understanding and an invigorated commitment to one's own tradition. Jews become stronger Jews, and Christians become stronger Christians; through the encounter with the "other," we come to know ourselves better.

Jews and Christians have been in relationship with one another since the beginning of Christianity. Much of that relationship has been tragic; there are wounds that have not yet healed. There is distrust, ignorance, fear, and even hatred. At the same time, encounters between the two communities—and they have not all been tragic¹— have been integral in shaping what both Judaism and Christianity are today.

In the years following the Shoah and the founding of the State of Israel, there have been dramatic changes in the relationship between the Jewish and Christian communities. Some Jews and Christians have embarked on a concerted effort of reconciliation, of facing history and looking for new ways to relate to one another. Scholars have produced an increasingly sophisticated portrait of the history of Judaism and Christianity. The roots of prejudice and its consequences have been examined and have led Christians and Jews to confront the past directly and in conversation with one another. Some Christian theologians are taking a close look at anti-Judaism as part of the Christian tradition and are reconstructing a Christian theology that respects and affirms Judaism. And Jews are beginning to take a new look at Christianity. They are acknowledging the changes taking place and as a result are thinking about Christianity as something more than a monolithic and dangerous enemy that is not worthy of consideration and should be avoided.

The impetus for the project of which this book is part came from a group of Jewish scholars working under the auspices of the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies in Baltimore. These scholars believe that it is in the best interest of the Jewish community to find a way to talk about Christianity from a Jewish theological perspective. This endeavor entails a serious consideration of the religious claims of Christianity: of how Jews might understand and evaluate them, learning where the traditions agree and where they do not. Equally important, this endeavor entails learning about Judaism in a new way. To begin that process, the Jewish scholars, who worked for five years with the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies, issued "Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity" on September 10, 2000. This brief statement, written by Tikva Frymer-Kensky, David Novak, Peter Ochs, and Michael Signer and endorsed by over 200 rabbis and scholars from across the Jewish religious spectrum, appears at the end of this chapter. In addition, the scholars produced Christianity in Jewish Terms (Westview Press, 2000), a collection of essays that explore in detail the core theological concepts that both unite and divide Jews and Christians. Irreconcilable Differences? A Learning Resource for Jews and Christians is written to facilitate study of the issues raised in "Dabru Emet" and Christianity in Jewish Terms. The Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies has supported the work of the Jewish scholars and the production of this book and has embarked on a project to engage Jews and Christians in the study of these resources. The institute will continue to offer an educational forum in which the challenges of religious diversity can be explored.

The positive developments in Jewish-Christian relations noted above have occurred at a time when both Jews and Christians have become increasingly concerned about the future. Before the Shoah, there were 18 million Jews; now there are 14 million. In most parts of the world outside Israel, Jewish communities are shrinking because of low birth rates, assimilation, and interfaith marriages. As American society has opened up to Jews, the traditional social and religious boundaries that used to maintain community cohesion have broken down. The demographic projections give Jews ample cause for concern; Jewish continuity has become the first priority for many Jewish leaders and institutions. Some Christians (to the surprise of many Jews) also believe they are facing a crisis. Religions other than Christianity and Judaism are growing in strength and in influence, an inevitable outcome of the growing diversity within our culture. The greatest threat, however, comes from a secular culture that devalues religious experience and mistrusts any expression of religious values or motivation in the public arena. No religious community is immune from secular influence. Yet, at the same time, there is a great hunger in our society for spiritual fulfillment and community.

Both Jews and Christians are compelled to respond to the challenges and opportunities such an environment presents. Both communities have recognized that education is the most effective way to preserve and strengthen religious identity, to defend against communal deterioration, and to enable individuals to experience the spirituality they seek within the religious community to which they already belong.

We believe that the encounter between Jews and Christians that this volume strives to nourish is an essential, and profoundly rewarding, component of contemporary religious education. This encounter can deepen and strengthen the current programs of education within individual Jewish and Christian communities and thus serve the twin goals of reducing prejudice and promoting the ongoing vitality of each community.

How Did We Write This Book?

In order to write this book, in March 2000, a group of Jewish and Christian educators came together under the auspices of the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies. Working together, Jews and Christians composed responses to the following questions, responses that instruct Jews and Christians about themselves and about each other, and that encourage conversation, discussion, and further study.

• Do Christians and Jews worship the same God?
• How do Jews and Christians read the Bible?
• How do Jewish and Christian ethics differ?
• What is the meaning of Israel for Jews and Christians?
• How do Judaism and Christianity respond to suffering?
• How do Jews and Christians understand sin and repentance?
• What do Jews and Christians believe about redemption, salvation, and life after death?
• Are there irreconcilable differences between Christians and Jews and, if so, are these differences a blessing, a curse, or both?

In order to carry out this assignment, the educators entered into the very same conversation that this book strives to promote among its readers. We started the process with a two-day working meeting, during which the authors taught each other about their particular topic according to their own religious tradition. They asked questions of each other and read sacred texts together. And they also spoke from their personal experience as participants in living, worshiping religious communities. The creative and searching exchange continued over months as the authors and the ICJS scholars composed the chapters. Each chapter, then, is an opportunity to join in a conversation between Jews and Christians and to continue the study and discussion that begins here.

Can Jews and Christians Talk to Each Other About God?

It is not always easy for Jews and Christians to talk to one another about religion, due in part to the reality of the history of Jewish-Christian encounters. Jews and Christians have talked at each other and past each other for centuries; only in the past two or three generations have some Jews and Christians started talking to one another. We are still learning to trust one another. We are still learning to understand each other's religious language; as the questions above demonstrate, both traditions use many of the same key terms (God, worship, Israel, sin, redemption, Messiah, etc.) even though in many instances we define them differently.

A second problem makes it difficult for Jews and Christians to talk about religion. One of the most basic assumptions of the Jewish-Christian encounter is that Christians do theology; Jews study texts. The study of sacred texts, taken almost exclusively from the Jewish Tanach/Christian Old Testament, has thus come to occupy center stage in the dialogue between Jews and Christians because biblical texts are thought to provide a neutral ground upon which both Jews and Christians can safely stand. Ask any long-term participant of the dialogue, and they will tell you that interfaith text study works an intoxicating magic. It teaches Jews and Christians what they can learn in no other setting: that the other brings to the study of a particular text ways of seeing and hearing, ways of listening and learning that illumine portions of the textual terrain that otherwise remain in darkness. Having glimpsed facets of a text previously hidden from our view, who among us would want to settle for a partially lit text.

Yet, the decision to focus—almost exclusively—on sacred texts as the subject matter of interfaith learning is based on at least two erroneous assumptions that seriously compromise the goal of such study. The first of these assumptions is that the playing field created by biblical texts is a theology-free zone. If Christians can reign in their impulse to "do theology," the text itself will provide a common language that both Jews and Christians can speak. But no study of texts is devoid of theological interpretation. No one, neither Jew nor Christian, comes to the text as a theological tabula rasa. Whether they know it or not, whether they admit it or not, both Jews and Christians approach a biblical text with eyes, hearts, and minds molded by a living tradition of interpretation.

The second erroneous assumption focuses on the character of theology itself. On the Christian side, theology is mistakenly assumed to be the exclusive domain of academics who reside in ivory towers far removed from the hopes, fears, and longings of ordinary people. Theology is thought to be what philosophers and theologians do when they ramble on about the number of angels on the head of a pin. For folks in the midst of the fray of life, theology may dazzle with its erudition, but it is judged to be fundamentally irrelevant to all but residents of other towers.

Jews, on the other hand, mistakenly assume that theology is synonymous with dogma, an arcane and peculiarly Christian grammar that is both foreign to and considered suspect by Jewish sensibilities precisely because it is judged as far removed, if not completely detached, from the study and interpretation of sacred texts. Christian theology is seen as a misguided effort still under the influence of Greek philosophy that focuses on abstractions such as "faith" and "belief." It is abstruse and systematic, with little, if any, connection to practice.

The consequences of such erroneous assumptions about theology pose a serious threat to the vitality of the Jewish-Christian encounter. Because theology is judged as either irrelevant or suspect, Jews and Christians rarely venture down paths of mutual learning that are open to them only when they risk speaking theologically. To limit interfaith conversations to the study of sacred texts is thus dangerous on two counts. First, both Jews and Christians are deprived of learning that can enrich, guide, and support them in their everyday lives as they strive to live in accord with God's commands. Second, both Jews and Christians risk the loss of conversations vital to the well-being of their respective communities and to their mutual enrichment, because they are without a language with which to speak. If they cannot speak theologically, neither Jews nor Christians can access their respective traditions. Deprived of the wisdom borne by synagogue and church, Jews and Christians become disconnected from a particular way of living in the world. Both communities are then consigned to secular solutions, and the society in which they live is deprived of critical religious voices. Thus, one of the primary educational tasks facing both the Jewish and Christian communities is to equip their members with the skills needed to reclaim their particular tradition, to articulate their unique spiritual identities, and to share that richness with each other and with the world. The question is: What are the skills that will best serve this end?

Characteristics of Theological Speech

Perhaps the most important skill both Jews and Christians need to acquire is the ability to speak theologically together. This kind of theological speech has three key characteristics: it is self-conscious, it is self-critical, and it is modest.

Self-conscious speech entails knowing that you are speaking theologically. It means that you are aware that you are engaging in theological discourse whenever you put into words that which gives your life enduring meaning and value. Jews and Christians speak theologically whenever they knowingly strive to articulate the ways in which their lives serve the Holy One of Israel, as mediated through Torah or Jesus Christ.

Self-critical speech entails the ability to ask yourself questions about what you believe and about the moral consequences that flow from those beliefs. It means that you intentionally engage in the content of your belief. Not satisfied to say, "I believe . . . and that is enough," the self-critical person asks: "What do I mean when I say I believe that..." For example, one of the core affirmations of Judaism is that God gave the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. But it is one thing to say "I believe that God revealed the Torah" and quite another to articulate a coherent understanding of what I believe that revelation to be and what difference it makes in how I live? Are the answers I give myself credible to me? Do I believe what I say? Do I understand what I believe? To be theologically self-conscious and self-critical is to run completely counter to the bumper sticker that reads: "God said it; I believe it; and that's enough for me!"

The third, and perhaps most important, characteristic of theological speech is often in short supply, namely, modesty. Modesty makes room for doubt. Although the notion of doubt may seem, on first hearing, to run counter to faith, theology puts doubt in the service of faith. Making room for doubt requires a profound awareness that no single articulation of the mystery of God can exhaust the meaning of who God is and what God requires of us. Jews and Christians alike are commanded to love God with all their hearts, all their minds, and all their strength (Deut. 6:4; Mt. 22:36; Mk. 12:29; Lk. 10:27). When they admit the limits of every theological concept and foundation, Jews and Christians may well learn better how to love God more fully with all their minds.

If speaking theologically is the skill most needed to access one's own tradition for the good of the self, the other, and the society in which one lives, if the skills required to speak theologically are the ability to be self-conscious, self-critical, and modest about one's beliefs and practices, then interfaith study offers an extraordinary opportunity. No other setting is better suited to help sharpen one's ability to speak theologically, because when Jews and Christians, in the presence of one another, try to put into words what they believe, they are more likely to be asked what their beliefs mean, and how those beliefs make them more righteous people. For example, it is one thing for a Roman Catholic to talk about what the Eucharist means with a group of other Catholics, but nothing is more disarming, more challenging, or more humbling than when a Jew turns to them and says, "What is the Eucharist?" In no other setting are we more self-consciously aware of what it means to speak theologically, because the religious other has the uncanny ability to "ask the obvious" and open up unacknowledged assumptions. Speaking theologically together makes us better Christians and better Jews precisely because in one another's company we are more compelled and inspired to give an account of what most shapes our religious identity.

Theology, Faith, and Revelation

What, then, is the subject matter of theology? The primary focus of theology is the religious dimension of human experience in our everyday lives. Both Jews and Christians claim that God has spoken a word in history, a word that is directed first and foremost to how we are to live in the world. The greatest challenge to the word of God emerges when our experiences of life conflict with what our religious traditions teach us.

Human experience often confronts us with...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction: Speaking Theologically . . . Together: Loving God with All Your Mind
• 2 Jewish-Christian Relations in Historical Perspective
• 3 Do Christians and Jews Worship the Same God?
• 4 How Do Jews and Christians Read the Bible?
• 5 Where Do Jewish and Christian Ethics Differ, and Where Do They Overlap?
• 6 What Is the Meaning of "Israel" for Jews and Christians?
• 7 Is Suffering Redemptive? Jewish and Christian Responses
• 8 How Do Jews and Christians Understand Sin and Repentance?
• 9 What Do jews and Christians Believe About Redemption, Salvation, and Life After Death?
• 10 Living with the Other: Are the Irreconcilable Differences Between Christians and Jews a Blessing, a Curse, or Both?
• Glossary
• For Further Study
• Contributors
• Index