Marie‐HélèneRobert, Israël dans la mission chrétienne: Lectures de Romains 9–11, Lectio Divina, Volume 239, Paris, Cerf, 2010, 316 pages

Abstract

Marie-Helene Robert, Israel dans la mission chretienne: Lectures de Romains 9-11, Lectio Divina, Volume 239, Paris, Cerf, 2010, 316 pages Sister Marie-Helene Robert is a member of the missionary institute Notre-Dame des Apotres (Our Lady of the Apostles) in Sainte-Foy les Lyon, France, a lecturer at the Faculty of Theology at the Catholic University in Lyon, as well as the vice-chair of the Association Francophone CEcumenique de Missiologie (AFOM), the Francophone ecumenical association for mission study. She has also been actively engaged in the Jewish-Christian dialogue in France. This book is the publication of the doctoral dissertation she submitted in 2009 to the Catholic University in Lyons. Her research takes us on a challenging journey between biblical and historical theology, where she explores the missiological and ecumenical significance of the Pauline discourse on Israel in his Letter to the Romans, particularly in chapters 9 to 11. Part one examines the call to unity found in the Epistle to the Romans, with particular attention given to some of Paul's terminology, such as Jews and Gentiles, rest and people, circumcised and uncircumcised, and strong and weak, as well as some key identity issues (e.g., fulfilment and integration). It also studies the Christian mission lived and understood (by Jews and Gentiles) in for the sake of unity in a mixed community. Part two provides a selective overview of the reception of the Letter to the Romans--more specifically the Israel/nations motif--throughout church history, moving from the often reluctant (if not overtly anti-Jewish!) church fathers to the ground-breaking Puritan heirs of the Protestant Reformation, who enthusiastically embraced Israel for the sake of converting it. A particular chapter is dedicated to Thomas Aquinas and discusses the treatment of grace and mission in his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Part three finally looks at Israel and the nations in today's Christian missionary conscience, first through the lenses of Karl Barth's Romerbrief (Letter to the Romans) and his plea for solidarity between Israel and the church. This is followed by more recent perspectives on Israel in the Catholic mission to the nations, with a special focus on the fulfilled/unfulfilled motif in Israel's mission. The research done by Robert allows the reader to develop a fresh approach to a long neglected subject (no overstatement possible) and will hopefully help lay the ground for new and constructive relationships between Jews and Christians. For centuries, a Gentile-dominated Christian church had left aside Israel, relegating to it to its role in salvation history, and as much as possible had Christianized the Jewish scriptures with the help of allegory and typology. Only when looking at the future, if at all, were Gentile believers able to positively view the salvation of the Jews as a particular dimension of Christian eschatology. Judaism and Christianity have typically been understood to be separated at one point in history by an unavoidable rupture. While assimilation (of Jews by Christians) has been the preferred option during most of church history, in a post-Shoah era, a more pacific and respectful coexistence has replaced confrontation. According to Robert, however, this does not go far enough or reflect accurately the testimony of scriptures in general and Paul's attitude toward Israel and the nations in particular. She believes that Israel's mission is not just a past reality, but a present certainty due to God's election. Therefore, one ought to speak today about transcendental complementarity (p. 229) between the mission of Israel and the mission of the church. Though not identical, both are the expression of a divine and irrevocable calling (p. 96), the latter being most obviously rooted in the former (pp. 272-273). She claims that the theological concept of inculturation in scripture would greatly benefit from being worked out of Judaism, a rather provocative thought when one realizes that, for centuries, Judaism has not been considered as Christianity's culture of reference. …