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. And we will do so in a place uniquely suited to these tasks: the Jerusalem Global Gateway. The substantive goals of this course are three. 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 comparison between Christian and Jewish theology. Third, we will meet with Jewish and Christian thinkers and leaders in Israel and Palestine to learn about Jewish life and Jewish-Christian dialogue today.