Christ Jesus and the Jewish People Today

Philip A. Cunningham (editor), Joseph Sievers (editor), Mary C. Boys (editor), Hans Herman Henrix (editor), Jesper Svartvik (editor)

2011; pp. 334

Co-publishing Eedermans-GBPress

Christ Jesus and the Jewish People Today. New Explorations of Theological Interrelationships explores the historical, biblical, christological, trinitarian, and ecclesiological dimensions of this crucial question: “How might we Christians in our time reaffirm our faith claim that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all humanity, even as we affirm the Jewish people’s covenantal life with God?”. This volume is the result of a transatlantic collaboration among Boston College, Catholic Theological Union, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Lund University, Pontifical Gregorian University, and Saint Joseph’s University.

Contributors:
•    Mary C. Boys
•    Philip A. Cunningham
•    Tamara Cohn Eskenazi
•    Adam Gregerman
•    Elizabeth Groppe
•    Daniel J. Harrington
•    Hanspeter Heinz
•    Hans Hermann Henrix
•    Gregor Maria Hoff
•    Walter Cardinal Kasper
•    Edward Kessler
•    Ruth Langer
•    Barbara U. Meyer
•    Thomas J. Norris
•    John T. Pawlikowski
•    Didier Pollefeyt
•    Christian Rutishauser
•    Marc Saperstein
•    Joseph Sievers
•    Jesper Svartvik
•    Liam Tracey

Reviews

Alan Brill — Seton Hall University
"This book opens up new vistas after forty-five years of Catholic-Jewish reconciliation. Not comfortable with resting on prior accomplishments, this work is a bold step forward in Catholic searching for a closer theological bond to Judaism without giving up the differences between the two faiths. . . . Offers the cutting edge of Christian theological views of Judaism."

Peter A. Pettit — Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding, Muhlenberg College
"Stunning in its scope, erudition, and creativity, this work is without parallel or peer. . . . A watershed contribution to a new era in the Jewish-Christian encounter, as both communities increasingly take decades of dialogue experience back into their own theological workshops and strive to fashion a more adequate account of God's work among us."

On October 28, 1965, Pope Paul VI promulgated one of the most influential documents of the Second Vatican Council: the Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate. Although in the course of its composition the declaration had been expanded to discuss all religions of the world, its original subject — the unique relationship of the Catholic Church to Judaism and the Jewish people — remained at the heart of the final document. By repudiating the presentation of Jews “as rejected or accursed by God” and by insisting that “God holds the Jews most dear,” Nostra Aetate reversed previously unchallenged presuppositions that had shaped Christian attitudes and theologies for centuries. It thus paved the way for an unprecedented era of increasingly positive relations between Catholics and Jews.
Forty years later, in September 2005, hundreds of scholars from dozens of countries gathered at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome to consider the impact of Nostra Aetate on interreligious relations. In terms of Catholic-Jewish relations, many crucial developments had occurred in the intervening four decades. . . . The papers and discussions at that event made it clear that the conciliar declaration had given rise to challenging and still unresolved theological questions. Foremost among these questions were those concerning the relationships among Jesus Christ, the covenantal status of the Jewish people, and understandings of salvation. . . . As our consultations unfolded, it gradually became clear that our thinking was converging on a number of basic principles. For the most part, these perspectives informed the composition of this volume, and readers will perceive them throughout the pages that follow. 
— from the introduction

Table of contents

Foreword, by Walter Cardinal Kasper

Introduction, The Editors

“Your Privilege: You Have Jewish Friends”: Michael Signer’s Hermeneutics of Friendship
Hanspeter Heinz

Historical Memory and Christian-Jewish Relations
John T. Pawlikowski

Facing History: The Church and Its Teaching on the Death of Jesus
Mary C. Boys

A Jewish Response to John T. Pawlikowski and Mary C. Boys
Marc Saperstein

Reading the Epistle to the Hebrews Without Presupposing Supersessionism
Jesper Svartvik

The Gradual Emergence of the Church and the Parting of the Ways
Daniel J. Harrington, S.J.

Revisiting Our Pasts and Our Paths: A Jewish Response to Jesper Svartvik and Daniel Harrington
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

The Son of God Became Human as a Jew: Implications of the Jewishness of Jesus for Christology
Hans Hermann Henrix

The Dogmatic Significance of Christ Being Jewish
Barbara U. Meyer

A Jewish Response to Hans Hermann Henrix and Barbara Meyer
Edward Kessler

The Tri-Unity of God and the Fractures of Human History
Elizabeth Groppe

The Triune One, the Incarnate Logos, and Israel's Covenantal Life
Philip A. Cunningham and Didier Pollefeyt

A Realm of Differences: The Meaning of Jewish Monotheism for Christology and Trinitarian Theology
Gregor Maria Hoff

A Jewish Response to Elizabeth Groppe, Philip A. Cunningham and Didier Pollefeyt, and Gregor Maria Hoff
Adam Gregerman

"The Old Unrevoked Covenant" and "Salvation for All Nations in Christ": Catholic Doctrines in Contradiction?
Christian Rutishauser, S.J.

The Jewish People at Vatican II: The Drama of a Development in Ecclesiology and Its Subsequent Reception in Ireland and Britain
Thomas J. Norris

The Affirmation of Jewish Covenantal Vitality and the Church's Liturgical Life
Liam Tracey, O.S.M.

Exploring the Interface of Dialogue and Theology: A Jewish Response to Christian Rutishauser, Thomas Norris, and Liam Tracey
Ruth Langer