Post-Holocaust Jewish–Christian Dialogue: After the Flood, Before the Rainbow

This volume sheds light on the transformed post-Holocaust relationship between Catholics and Jews. Once implacable theological foes, the two traditions have travelled a great distance in coming to view the other with respect and dignity. Responding to the horrors of Auschwitz, the Catholic Church has undergone a “reckoning of the soul,” beginning with its landmark document Nostra Aetate and embraced a positive theology of Judaism including the ongoing validity of the Jewish covenant. Jews have responded to this unprecedented outreach, especially in the document Dabru Emet. Together, these two Abrahamic traditions have begun seeking a repair of the world. The road has been rocky and certainly obstacles remain. Nevertheless, authentic interfaith dialogue remains a new and promising development in the search for a peace.

Table of Contents:
Introduction, Alan L. Berger Chapter 1: A Medication on Hope, Elie Weisel Chapter 2: A Positive Jewish Theology of Christianity, Irving Greenberg Chapter 3: Vatican II, The Passion of the Christ, and the Future of Catholic-Jewish Dialogue, Alan L. Berger Chapter 4: Though the Messiah May Tarry: A Reflection on Redemption in Our Time, David Patterson Chapter 5: Speaking of the Middle East: Jews and Christians in Dialogue and Dispute, Amy-Jill Levine Chapter 6: Christian-Muslim-Jew: The Necessary Trialogue, James Carroll Chapter 7: What Have You Done? Wrestling with the Sixth Commandment, John K. Roth Chapter 8: Redeeming Sacred Texts from their Sacrilegious Uses, Mary C. Boys Chapter 9: The Catholic Church and the Holocaust: Toward an Honest Assessment, John T. Pawlikowski Chapter 10: Human Dignity and Jewish-Christian Relations, Donald J. Dietrich

About the Author :
Alan L. Berger is Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair of Holocaust Studies, director of the Center for the Study of Values and Violence after Auschwitz, and professor of Jewish studies at Florida Atlantic University.

Review :
Ever since the Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate (1965), there has been a dramatic positive shift in Catholic perspectives of Jews, a shift nurtured by ecclesiastical declarations seeking common religious ground between the church and the synagogue. Likewise, mainstream Protestant denominations have taken a strong position against the 'teaching of contempt,' projected on Jews by Christians for two millennia, as errant scriptural reading and bad theology. Appreciating what was done, adjudicating what is being done, and conjecturing what must be done between two Abrahamic faith communities is the nexus of this collection. Berger brings together the first ten lectures delivered at FAU's Annual May Smith Lectures in Post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian Dialogue by Jewish and Christian scholars (Elie Wiesel, Irving Greenberg, Alan Berger, David Patterson, Amy-Jill Levine, James Carroll, John Roth, Mary Boys, John Pawlikowski, Donald Dietrich). Restoring shattered Jewish and Christian belief, behavior, and theology related to God, the Torah, people, and land is the challenge; shared dialogue in restoring the world (tikkun `olam) is the rainbow; and the hope of Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel is the mission. This is an engaging read. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. [The book includes] thoughtful lectures by intelligent and well meaning scholars. . . .This book is a valuable and an informative collection of essays that will enlighten the reader to the new spirit that is now beginning to be felt within both faiths. This is a book that leaves us with the most precious and the profoundest of all the religious affirmations in this time when despair is so easy and cynicism is so abundant. It leaves us with the gift of reason to hope. Berger's volume includes...a preface and excellent introduction by the editor summarizing the papers and their significance for the dialogue.... For Jews and Christians already involved in a dialogue, Levine's "Speaking of the Middle East" will spark a lively exchange.... [H]ighly recommended. Alan Berger has collected the most important voices in Jewish–Christian dialogue to present their views in an accessible and exciting fashion. This is the book to read to understand the past and future of interreligious dialogue. Provocative, troubling, but ultimately filled with a difficult hope, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in Jewish–Christian dialogue or, more broadly, contemporary religious pluralism. This volume makes available eye-opening essays by some of the most prominent American thinkers and researchers on relations between Christians and Jews in the aftermath of the Shoah. Their reflections admirably span numerous disciplines and topics, including history, ethics, biblical studies, theology, Christian attitudes toward the State of Israel, and hopes for the future. All readers will better appreciate both the complexity of the Jewish and Christian relationship and also the unfinished work of rapprochement that lies ahead.