Jews and Christians Together

An Invitation to Mutual Respect

A. Christian van Gorder, Gordon Fuller

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781532690099
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Religiöse Ökumene & Interreligiösität

Rabbi Gordon Fuller and Dr. Christian van Gorder are committed to helping people of both faith traditions gain, as far as is possible, a participant's appreciation of those from the other community. This means addressing misconceptions and misrepresentations as well as challenging widely held assumptions. Jews and Christians Together delves into the strained relationship between these two faith communities and exposes why these communities need to come to a better understanding and appreciation of the other. Events such as the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania demonstrate why society must address and foil anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism wherever and whenever such views appear. The efforts of Fuller and van Gorder to explore these issues with their own faith communities can provide a helpful starting-point to confront trends of increasing hate and bigotry towards Jews today. Fuller and van Gorder ask us to acknowledge the marred history of Christianity and anti-Semitism, so that we can explore healthy Jewish-Christian dialogue and gain a shared and constructive mutual respect.

Endnotes

1 Student Response, L (F). All student paper responses are from Messiah College (and designated) or Baylor University (undesignated). At Baylor, students are taking a course entitled REL3345—World Religions. Names are withheld in recognition that these quotations from classroom assignments might have been written differently had students known that their opinions might be made public. Invented initials and genders of the respondents is provided in order to give the reader a sense of the diversity of students represented in these responses.

2 An ideal resource for examining the different ways that various Christian communities have formally responded to Judaism can be found in a compilation by Helga Croner entitled, Stepping Stones to Further Jewish-Christian Relations: An Unabridged Collection of Christian Documents. The book includes statements made in Europe and North America by Catholic and Protestant religious organizations. In an interesting introduction to the book, Edward A. Synan quotes Karl Barth as saying, “The Ecumenical movement is driven by the Spirit of the Lord. But do not forget, there is only one important question: Our relationship with Israel,” cited on page xii.

3 Walter, “Contemporary Christians and Israel’s Ancient Scriptures,” 116.

4 According to the World Christian Encyclopedia there are at least 34,000 different Protestant denominations; it is daunting to generalize when speaking of such a wide range of experiences. We recognize that our observations are rooted in our own specific context.

5 Wilson, “An Evangelical Perspective on Judaism,” 3. Marc Tannenbaum was the National Interreligious Affairs Director of the American Jewish Committee and summarized his views of Messianic Judaism by saying: “Judaism is incompatible with any belief in the divinity of a human being.”

6 Class discussion, Baylor University, REL3345 class, October 11, 2011.

7 Student Response, J (M), 2001—Messiah College. Along with Dr. Howard Kenig I taught a semester-long course at Messiah College (for six years before coming to Baylor University) entitled “An Introduction to Judaism.” Although the class was mostly co-taught by Dr. Kenig, the chair at the time of the Jewish Community Relations Council, visitors to the class ...