Judaeo-Christian Studies Books on Reserve

Bridges: Documents of the Christian-Jewish Dialogue is a comprehensive collection of statements on Christian-Jewish relations issued by churches and interfaith organizations around the world since the end of World War II. Vol. 1 contains such groundbreaking documents as the World Council of Churches' statement "The Christian Approach to the Jewish People" issued at its founding assembly in 1948; the Episcopal Church's "Deicide and the Jews"; the Second Vatican Council's historic declaration Nostra Aetate (1965), addresses by Popes Paul VI and John Paul II and other Roman Catholic documents; and official statements by Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, and other Protestant denominations, as well as ecumenical bodies. Joint Christian-Jewish documents include the famous "Ten Points of Seelisberg" and other statements from national and international interfaith organizations.
All of these documents show the Christian churches in a posture of radical repentance for the hostility towards Jews and Judaism that has often marred their teachings, as well as an eager desire to engage contemporary Judaism in dialogue and to learn from its spiritual richness. The book is edited by Franklin Sherman, a longtime participant in and interpreter of the Christian-Jewish dialogue, and introduced by three eminent scholars in the field, each writing from a particular perspective: Alice L. Eckardt (Protestant), Philip A. Cunningham (Catholic), and Michael S. Kogan (Jewish). The volume concludes with pivotal essays on the possibilities and limits of interfaith dialogue by the eminent Jewish scholars Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. All documents are presented unabridged. Several statements by European church bodies are presented in English translation for the first time.

Many studies written about the Jewish-Christian relationship are primarily historical overviews that focus on the Jewish background of Christianity, the separation of Christianity from Judiasm, or the medieval disputations between the two faiths. This book is one of the first studies to examine the relationship from a philosophical and theological viewpoint. Carefully drawing on Jewish classical sources, Novak argues that there is actual justification for the new relationship between Judaism and Christianity from within Jewish religious tradition. He demonstrates that this new relationship is possible between religiously committed Jews and Christians without the two major impediments to dialogue: triumphalism and relativism. One of the very few books on this topic written by a Jewish theologian who speaks specifically to modern Christian concerns, it will provide the groundwork for a more serious development of Jewish-Christian dialogue in our day.

Based on papers and discussions of a private symposium held in Philadelphia, May, 1987. One paper in Italian with English translation.

Hargrove, has gathered the most important articles, written by world leaders in Jewish-Christian dialogue, and previously published in the journal SIDIC.

A collection of essays and lectures marking the twentieth anniversary of the "Nostra Aetate" declaration. Several essays trace changes in the Church which preceded the declaration and describe the personalities and events of Vatican Council II in which the author was involved. Pp. 237-267 discuss hostile reactions to the declaration (especially the theses clearing Jews of the charge of deicide) by Arabs and by theological conservatives who tried to prevent its promulgation. Reprints a number of lectures and sermons dealing with the author's interpretation of the declaration, his demand for recognition of Christianity's Jewish heritage, and the eradication of antisemitism. See especially pp. 375-393, "Deicide under the Microscope, " and pp. 394-402, "Season of Love." (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism).

"The complete texts on Jews, Judaism and the State of Israel, 1979-2005" [cover].
"The present volume includes texts contained in Spiritual Pilgrimage: Texts on Jews and Judaism 1979-1995, ed. by Eugene J. Fisher and Leon Klenicki (New York, Anti-Defamation League, 1995)."

Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Postconciliar Documents is now available in the widely used study edition translated by Irish Dominican Austin Flannery (+October 21, 2008). This is the translation chosen for inclusion in The Catechism of the Catholic Churchand the text that both students of the Council and students of the Catechismwill want. It contains all sixteen documents of the Second Vatican Council plus the forty-nine later documents from popes and Vatican congregations that implement the details of the Council's decisions. Special features of this study edition: ·         Larger page size, with larger print and more generous margins ·         Focus questions after each Council document help the reader comprehend the main points ·         Creative questions assist the reader in applying the content of the Council documents to personal experience or to future development in the Church