Rethinking Christianity: A Challenge to Jewish Attitudes
PAWLIKOWSKI, JOHN T.
Rethinking Christianity A Challenge to Jewish Attitudes JOHN T. PAWLIKOWSKI I, or two decades I have been in-|i volved with Christianjewish rela-1 tions, both nationally and internationally....
...Biblical and sacramental cannot be interchanged as easily as Greenberg exchanges them...
...Let me try to explain why...
...In my perspective Jews definitely remain a distinct religious community...
...This new sense of bonding, growing in importance since Vatican II in 1965 and most prominently expressed in the speeches of Pope John Paul II, is gradually replacing the older Christian view that the church displaced Judaism as the heir of the covenant...
...John T. Pawlikowski, Catechetics and Prejudice (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1973...
...In the last four decades, mainline Christian churches have significantly changed what their textbooks say about Jews and Judaism...
...As a result they can more easily portray aspects of Christianity in a positive light...
...The sense of divine absence—in the face of which humans must sometimes act on their own—is an integral part of the history of Christian spirituality, just as Greenberg describes Judaism...
...Now it is time for Jewish thinkers to ask questions such as: Can a non-messianic Jesus and his teachings become meaningful within the context of the Jewish faith...
...Spiritual monism, non-pluralism, is a terminal disease tlat will destroy any faiih, I do not quarrel with Siegman and Greenberg so much as ask why the Jewish community has not pursued the implications of a positive turn toward Jesus and Christianity...
...It is Christianity that largely has mediated the vocabulary and spiritual message of Israel to the far corners of the earth...
...If so, what is the bond or connection...
...They will endorse nothing that potentially threatens Jewish survival, especially after the Shoah...
...Finally, a fear of Christian proselytizing also may explain the relative lack of Jewish interest in Christianity...
...Can they offer Jews a glimpse of divine reality that might legitimately be incorporated into their faith expression...
...Other reasons for Jewish reluctance, especially at a theological level, are less persuasive...
...But I think we Christians have at least begun this process...
...Then, too, the bitter history of Christian persecution of Jews throughout the centuries, a history frequently omitted from Christian textbooks, has left a deep scar on Jewish consciousness...
...For example, is it now time to reexamine the issue of inter-religious prayer experiences in light of the re-Judaization of Christianity...
...1 Henry Siegman, "A Decade of Jewish-Christian Relations," in Richard W. Rousseau, S.J., ed., Christianity And Judaism: The Deepening Dialogue (Scranton, Pa.: Ridge Row Press, 1983), p. 157...
...The sacramental system, with its admittedly stronger emphasis on the availability of the divine presence through grace, does, in the church's view, express the God-human relationship...
...I believe Jews need to go further in probing the implications of this partnership than Siegman has done...
...Jews need to ask whether Christianity can be, for them, a valid expression of faith alongside Judaism...
...Having said this, I am quite prepared to accept a gradual Jewish opening to Christian (and other) faith perspectives...
...Although some fear persists, Israelis have little concern about proselytism—or assimilation...
...Judaism, we are told, has never been as theological a religion as Christianity...
...Generally, Jews have opposed interreligious prayer experiences on the ground that Jews cannot ask Christians to suspend their Christological beliefs at prayer and Jews cannot in conscience offer prayers in Christ's name...
...But as soon as we step one notch above the popular level, the balance shifts...
...Perhaps less important, but still significant in explaining why Jews are less understanding of Christianity than Christians are of Judaism, is the Jewish claim that Judaism is less theological than Christianity...
...Some motives for Jewish reluctance to walk through this opening are, of course, the result of historical memory and cannot be removed by rational arguments...
...Generally, I have found Jews, including Jewish scholars, to have a shallow understanding of Christianity...
...Only, time and demonstrated repentance by Christianity through aggressive programming to eliminate anti-semitism will render them invalid...
...My view is that the former remains the primary obstacle...
...In several early essays, Greenberg argued that Jews had much to learn from the Christian faith in areas such as the sacraments (formal religious acts...
...the existence of a thriving Christianity does not pose for the Jew the question of truth...
...In this respect Christianity is similar to Greenberg's conception of rabbinic Judaism...
...A Christian affirmation is developing that the church shares in the original covenantal relationship between God and the people Israel on an equal basis with Jews, but it does not replace them...
...Judaism, in his view, is superior to Christianity because the latter retains an emphasis on the sacramental system that remains tied to the older, biblical form of religious expression.5 This new organic model carries risks for Jews because it posits the legitimacy of Christianity, including sacramental Christianity, as an authentic expression of biblical cov-enantal religion...
...Before Christians can expect Jews to probe such questions seriously Christians must first clearly affirm the continued validity of the Jewish covenant apart from what Christians may believe about the coming of Christ...
...5 Irving Greenberg, "Judaism and Christianity: A New Organic Model," in EugeneJ...
...In the Christian-Jewish dialogue, Jews, including Jewish educators, show little interest in deepening their knowledge of fundamental Christian beliefs...
...They will also need to confront the implications of recent Christian statements about the inherent bonding between the two faith communities at the basic level of their identities...
...If Christianity is bonded to Judaism, how is Judaism bonded to Christianity...
...A Jewish thinker who has explored the issue more extensively is Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL...
...Not only have they removed longstanding antisemitic stereotypes, they have also incorporated positive views of biblical, rabbinic and modern Jewish religious expression.' On the Jewish side, the situation is different...
...3 Sister Rose Thering, O.P., "Potential in Religious Textbooks for Developing a Realistic Self-Concept," unpublished doctoral dissertation (St...
...It is difficult for Jews, especially in the post-Shoah generation, to understand Christian beliefs and symbols in a positive way...
...In addition, Jews cannot continue critiquing the churches' theological approach to Judaism without an equal opportunity for Christians to do the same with a Jewish statement...
...Practically speaking, this means the termination of all organized efforts at proselytizing...
...This phase retained some continuity with the earlier biblical phase but moved beyond it in at least one critical way: God became more hidden and the community acquired a far greater responsibility for governing the earth...
...Siegman's analysis is one of several Jewish versions of what I would term a Christianity-as-Ju-daism-for-the-Gen tiles approach...
...Franz Rosen-zweig was the first modern Jewish thinker to give it a sophisticated formulation...
...It is also better than understanding Christianity as failed messianism...
...Louis University, 1961...
...Fisher, A. James Rudin and Marc H. Tanenbaum, eds., Twenty Years Of Jewish-Catholic Relations (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1986), pp...
...Christianity defines itself—and always has—in direct relation to the Jewish people and Jewish religious tradition...
...Or is it something internal, and therefore permanent, in the theological basis of Jewish faith...
...Therefore I reject all these reasons for Jewish reluctance to understand and appreciate Christianity's faith traditions...
...In Jewish textbooks, Christianity as a valid religious faith receives scant attention.2 [See the remarks of Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz in "As the Rabbi Said...," p. 8 —Ed.] Recendy I heard some Jewish leaders suggest that change is required, but so far nothing has happened...
...Many Jews in the Diaspora remain convinced that any positive opening to Christian tradition in their educational programs will render their students easier prey for Christian missionaries...
...Ultimately, the effort to understand the implications of the Christian re-Judaization process must come primarily from the Jewish side if this process is to have any lasting impact...
...This relative disparity is in some respects understandable...
...Judaism has emphasized mitzvot (commandments) far more than dogmas...
...Even Jewish centers of higher education, with the exception of the teaching of one or two isolated professors, offer their students little exposure to Christianity apart from the history of Christian antisemitism...
...Is it primarily because of the cumulative effect of centuries of Christian antisemitism that Jews ignore these questions...
...In short, Christians are far more interested in Judaism than Jews are in Christianity...
...More recently, he has developed a model for expressing a deeply organic relationship between Christianity and Judaism...
...Jews are less understanding ol Christianiti than Christians areoi Judaism, In this relationship between Judaism and Christianity, Judaism will naturally want to know how well Christianity is mediating the Jewish tradition to the nations...
...Neither Christians nor Jews can afford to ignore the opportunity...
...True, on a superficial level, Jews are better acquainted with certain public features of Christian life than Christians are with basic Jewish practices...
...I believe the time has also arrived for Jewish leaders to find some mechanism for bringing a representative group of Jewish thinkers to work on their joint statement on the meaning of Judaism's continued linkage to Christianity, even if such a statement would never play the same role within the Jewish community that corresponding declarations occupy in Christian denominations...
...This, I believe, oversimplifies the complex reality of Christianity...
...Cumulatively, these considerations act as a powerful bulwark against the development of an enhanced understanding of Christian traditions among Jews...
...They are much more self-assured in their Judaism than Diaspora Jews...
...Still Jews should not glibly maintain, as many do, that Christianity makes no difference for their own faith perspective...
...He recognizes that his organic model allows for more than one route to the same God, with Judaism and Christianity taking different paths...
...But I am also firmly convinced of the Israeli ecumenist philosopher David Hartman's contention that spiritual monism (non-pluralism) is a terminal disease that will destroy Judaism or any other faith—including mine—that adopts it...
...Our dialogue, begun only in the latter part of this century, has barely started to heal this wound...
...If this is true, leading Jewish thinkers must expand on their general positions about the theological necessity for Jewish dialogue with Christianity...
...From a Christian viewpoint, this approach is far superior to Jewish indifference to Christianity or outright hostility to the church's tradition...
...Recendy Rabbi Henry Siegman, executive director of the American Jewish Congress and a leadingjewish participant in the Christianjewish dialogue, put forth this perspective.4 Siegman describes the contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue as asymmetrical: Christians approach the exchange of ideas and opinions with strong theological interests, while the primary Jewish interest lies in historical considerations...
...I believe it is time to begin...
...2 Bernard D. Weinryb and Daniel Garnich, Summary of Findings, Dropsie College Study ofJewish Textbooks: Jewish School Textbooks and Intergroup Relations, (New York: American Jewish Committee, 1970...
...In a study of Catholic religious texts, researchers found that the Jews were the most frequently mentioned religious/racial out-group.3 Jews, on the other hand, have no concomitant need to include reference to Christianity in expressions of their identity as a religious community...
...In Siegman's own words, "There is nothing immanent in [Judaism's] nature or structure that requires a confrontation with Christianity...
...No doubt, Christianity's inherent dependence on Judaism is much more significant to Christians than Judaism's relationship to Christianity is to Jews...
...Greenberg considers this a more mature form of religious belief and expression than previously existed...
...The Jewish vocation, rooted in the biblical tradition, is to be an instrument for the redemption of all humankind...
...But if Christians are beginning to reappropriate the Jewish covenan-tal tradition and make use of the Hebrew Scriptures without direct Christological association, this seems to open up concrete possibilities for joint prayer centered on the Exodus covenant or the creational theme of Genesis...
...For this reason, Judaism can live in partnership with Christianity without wanting to draw Christians into the Jewish faith community, unlike the church, which generally seeks to bring Jews and other non-Christians into its fold...
...In the end, a Christian cannot really be satisfied with this model, however, despite its advocacy of a kind of partnership between Judaism and Christianity in the mystery of human redemption...
...Even so, I believe there are some fundamental cracks in Greenberg's structure...
...In some ways the sacramental system in Christianity is a recognition that God's presence is less immediate, more mediated through people and earthly symbols, than was the case in biblical times...
...In many important sections of Christianity, a rejudaization process has recently been underway...
...As a student of the history of Christian-Jewish relations, I understand and appreciate these considerations that militate against an increased study of Christianity by Jews...
...191-211...
...Interestingly, many Israeli textbooks contain far more positive statements about Jesus than their Diaspora counterparts...
...Greenberg is aware of this...
...Nonetheless, in my judgment it is vital for Jews to have some concrete experience in writing a consensus document of this kind, if only to appreciate the difficulties Christian groups face when they try to do so...
...Siegman recognizes a secondary but compelling reason for Jewish interest in Christianity based on Jewish theological self-identity...
...Christians can't speak about their faith without quickly talking about Judaism...
...Diaspora Jews, on the other hand, live as a minority community...
...Jews now need to weigh more seriously the implications of the church's redefinition of its relationship with the Jewish people...
...Because we are talking about theology, Jews cannot be expected to evince the same interest, so the claim runs, in Christianity as Christians clearly display in Judaism...
...This model revolves around his belief that, after the destruction of the Second Temple, Judaism entered a second phase...
...In saying this I am not suggesting the "Jews for Jesus" model nor endorsing the "messianic Judaism" movement, both of which involve wholesale transformation of the Jewish religious perspective and make Jesus a central reality...
...There are, of course, other, more immediate tensions that continue to plague our relationship—for example, the Auschwitz convent controversy (see "Perspective," February 1990)—but I believe we are living in an era with monumental possibilities for permanently reshaping the historic relationship between Jews and Christians, and paving the way for an outreach by both to peoples with other faiths...
...His model of Christianity is mired in an older biblical (that is, sacramental) mode of faith consciousness and expression in contrast to the more developed rabbinic mode dominant in Judaism...
Vol. 15 • August 1990 • No. 4
