Jewish-Christian Disputations to Dialogue

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course explores difficult theological questions attending the evolution of Jewish-Christian encounter from the adversarial disputations of the Middle Ages to the dynamic dialogues of the present day. How did medieval Christians understand Judaism, and the prophetic roots of the Church in the Old Testament? What doctrines and prophecies proved divisive for Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages? How did scripture and the Talmud mediate those disputes? Why did Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages resort to contemptuous theologies of the other? Did Christian anti-Jewish preaching contribute to modern antisemitism? What theological pathways to Jewish-Christian reconciliation have opened since the twentieth century? What remains in dispute? What conditions can promote authentic conversations about God between the two religions? These questions will help to assess the progress achieved by the theological dialogues between Jews and Christian since the Holocaust and Vatican II.