Sep-27-2002

JESUS THROUGH JEWISH EYES: RABBIS AND SCHOLARS ENGAGE AN ANCIENT BROTHER IN A NEW CONVERSATION, edited by Beatrice Bruteau. Orbis Books (Maryknoll, N.Y., 2001). 191 pp., $20.
ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH: TWO VOICES FOR THE SAME GOD, by Jacques B. Doukhan. Hendrickson Publishers (Peabody, Mass., 2002). 108 pp., $19.95.
CHRISTIANITY IN JEWISH TERMS, edited by Tivka Frymer-Kensky, David Novak, Peter Ochs, David Sandmel and Michael Signer. Westview Press (Boulder, Colo., 2000). 438 pp., $30.
IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES? A LEARNING RESOURCE FOR JEWS AND CHRISTIANS, edited by David Sandmel, Rosann Catalano and Christopher Leighton. Westview Press (Boulder, Colo., 2001). 228 pp., $23.
Reviewed by Eugene J. Fisher
Catholic News Service
"It is time for Jews to reflect on what Judaism may now say about Christianity," said a statement in September 2000 signed by some 200 Jewish religious leaders. Called "Dabru Emet" -- in English, "To Speak Truth" -- it amounted to the first major Jewish theological reconsideration of Christianity in modern times. The four books reviewed here are among the first fruits of that reassessment by modern Jews of rabbinic Judaism's relationship with Christianity.
In "Israel and the Church: Two Voices for the Same God," Jacques Doukhan, director of the Institute of Jewish-Christian Studies at Andrews University, provides from a Jewish perspective what is perhaps the best short summary of the "dramatic changes" in Christian teaching about Judaism and of the concurrent dialogue between the two faith communities. Along the way he explodes many a myth dear to the hearts of the polemicists of both traditions.
He stresses, for example, the fact that the New Testament, written by Jews for Jews, is as Jewish a book as the "Old" Testament and other traditional Jewish writings, and points to increasing sociological, historical and archaeological evidence that shows that in many cases where "Jews were exposed to the Christian message, a great and growing majority and in some places the totality of the population responded positively." The old saw that "the Jews rejected Jesus" is thus effectively rebutted, while at the same time it is shown that gentile Christian followers of Jesus in subsequent generations more and more went out of their way to "reject" Judaism, leading to the tragic heritage of a Christianity that increasingly saw itself in opposition to the very religious tenets and traditions that nurtured Jesus and the Apostles.
In "Jesus Through Jewish Eyes," Beatrice Bruteau, co-founder of the Schola Contemplationis in North Carolina, brings together a remarkable group of 20 rabbis and other religiously active Jews to answer Jesus' own question to his co-religionists: "Who do you say that I am?" (Mk 8:29), which is the title of the essay on "the new Jewish view of Jesus" by the long-time leader of the dialogue in Chicago, Byron Sherwin. The essays range from the historical (e.g., Michael Cook's brilliantly succinct survey of "Evolving Jewish Views of Jesus" over the centuries) to the theological and personal.
The range of fresh insights into Jesus and Christian faith in Jesus will make this book most attractive to Christian as well as Jewish readers. Daniel Polish's essay, for example, asks what is there about Jesus "that adds to the sum total of Jewish experience or changes our sense of what is possible within it." Precluding the notion of Jesus' divinity as "beyond the pale," Polish notes most of Jesus' teachings, including belief in resurrection from the dead, have parallels elsewhere in Jewish tradition, and that a "miracle-working preacher," however memorable, is hardly a unique phenomenon in Jewish history. Surprisingly, he focuses on the image of Jesus as an infant, on Christmas rather than Easter, as an "emotion we can feel for God" as something from which Jews have much to learn.
Both "Christianity in Jewish Terms" and "Irreconcilable Differences? A Learning Resource for Jews and Christians" were developed by the framers of "Dabru Emet" to probe its implications for the future of the dialogue. Both successfully bring together leading Jewish and Christian scholars for in-depth explorations of "Dabru Emet's" core theological affirmations and the questions they raise, such as: Do Christians and Jews really worship the same God and read the same Bible? How do our ethical traditions differ and where do they overlap? How do we understand Israel and the Shoah, sin and repentance, suffering and redemption? The latter book was put together by the staff of Baltimore's Institute for Christian and Jewish studies as a resource for local dialogue groups and may be more suitable for use by educators, whether Jewish or Christian, while the former is more suitable for seminaries and theological programs. Both are highly recommended.
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Fisher is associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington.