Jewish-Christian relations: A Jewish perspective

Abstract

Jewish-Christian relations have undergone a fundamental metamorphosis since the days of Vatican II, but they remain complex and fraught with tension and promise. The agenda of interfaith dialogue has tended to reflect the "historical" issues favored by many Jews, but the logic of these discussions is moving participants inexorably toward a theological agenda which raises delicate questions for Jews. The vitality of dialogue is threatened by a missionary posture, and some Christians have proposed a two-covenant theology which exempts Jews from missionary efforts; this position, however, is not yet typical, and the role of Jews as objects of Christian "witness" remains ambivalent and problematical. Jews have welcomed the forthright denunciations of Antisemitism by Christian groups, although it is by no means clear that there should be any Jewish intervention in internal Christian debates about Christology and Antisemitism or the historicity of certain Gospel passages. It has become easy to denounce Antisemitism, and the acid test of genuine Christian concern for Jewish welfare has become the State of Israel, which has often been subjected to an egregious double standard. Hostility to Israel cannot readily coexist with Jewish-Christian dialogue. ¶

Finally, social and moral questions can be addressed profitably in dialogue, although the relative absence of Orthodox Jews from such discussions can distort the perception of Jewish positions on these issues. (from Introduction)