Christianity and Judaism

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

In the wake of the Holocaust, the Catholic Church put its relationship with the Jewish people on a new footing with the declaration Nostra Aetate, wherein the Church calls to mind "the bond that spiritually ties the people of the New Covenant to Abraham's stock." In this course we will explore the nature of this bond, and put into practice the call to dialogue that, according to Nostra Aetate, follows from it. The substantive goals of this course are two. First, we will study what Christians have thought, and what Christianity - especially Catholicism - has taught across the centuries about Jews and Judaism, and about the relationship between the Church and its Jewish roots. Second, we will learn about the teachings and practices of Judaism, from the early Christian centuries to today, and engage in theological comparison between Christian and Jewish theology.