Sunday, 10 January 2016

Seeing Judaism Anew: Christianity's Sacred Obligation,
Ed. Mary C. Boys, Rowman and Littlefield, 2002, page xiv-xvii

In 2002 the Christian Scholars Group - a group of American scholas who have meeting since 1969 to work of Christian-Jewish rekations - published a response the the 2000 statement 'Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity.' The Jewish side published the book "Christianity in Jewish Terms" explaining their points in more detail in 2000, and "Seeing Judaism Anew" is a response from Christian scholars.

Like the Jewish volume, this book is based on ten principles:

1. G-d's covenant with the Jewish people endures forever.
   
2. Jesus of Nazareth lived and died as a faithful Jew.
   
3. Ancient rivalries must not define Christian-Jewish relations today.
   
4. Judaism is a living faith, enriched by many centuries of development.
   
5. The Bible both connects and separates Jews and Christians.
   
6. Affirming G-d's enduring covenant with the Jewush people has consequences for Christian understandings of salvation.
   
7. Christians should not target Jews for conversion.
   
8. Christian worship that teaches contempt for Judiasm dishonours G-d.
   
9. We affirm the importance of the land of Israel for the life of the Jewish people.
   
10. Christians should work with Jws for the healing of the world.

We'll look at each of these in more detail in the coming days.