Jewish-Christian Disputations to Dialogue

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Students will explore 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 ancient and medieval Christians perceive Jews, Judaism, and the prophetic roots of the Church in the Hebrew Scriptures? What doctrines and prophecies proved divisive for Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages? What role did the Bible and the Talmud play in mediating those disputes? Why did Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages resort to contemptuous theologies of the other? Did the preaching of contempt for the Jews contribute to modern antisemitism? What opportunities for dialogue have opened since the twentieth century? These questions guide students in examining documents related to the emergence of Jewish-Christian dialogue since the Holocaust and Vatican II—and its long prehistory. (Left: Ecclesia et Synagoga, Strasbourg Cathedral). The course scrutinizes a topic that can yield emotional reactions as it investigates a dynamic inter-religious relationship that is nonetheless saddled with conflict. Looking to a horizon of mutual understanding and respect, the course seeks to impart an historically and theologically informed capacity for reflection on the Jewish-Christian relationship, culminating in a student-led colloquium on the future of inter-religious dialogue.