Abstract
Responding to a recent symposium on Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik's 1964 article on the propriety of Christian-Jewish dialogue, this essay begins by assessing several arguments put forth by Soloveitchik. These include the incommensurability of religious faith, the risks interreligious dialogue presents to the Jewish minority, the dangers of syncretism, and the ability to separate neatly the sacred and the profane. The article then proceeds to discuss the nature of Catholic-Jewish today, and concludes with thoughts about the future of Christian and Jewish interaction.
Highlights
We recently passed the fortieth anniversary of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s magisterial essay on interreligious dialogue, Confrontation.[2]
Many in the orthodox community have viewed the essay as a legal decision or psak halacha[3] and some have referred to it as the “Soloveitchik Line.”[4]. Three years ago Rabbi Eugene Korn provided a probing reassessment of that essay in a symposium on the question of interfaith dialogue sponsored
Interreligious dialogue is not a debate to determine whose view of God is correct or “better.” Rather, it is an effort at understanding – understanding the “other” religion and its theological basis
Summary
Interreligious dialogue is not a debate to determine whose view of God is correct or “better.” Rather, it is an effort at understanding – understanding the “other” religion and its theological basis Such interconvictional dialogue, I would argue, can lead to “fruitful engagement in the meeting of diverse religious communities.”[36] But it is clear that “a prime element in fruitful encounter must be the location of actual belief differences.”[37]. This, I might add, will often require assisting Christians to understand that many of their historically enshrined stereotypes of Jewish law and theology do not reflect what Jews believe Such dialogue is far from an attempt to reconcile differences. Perhaps I would have worried that my coreligionists (or even I, myself) would have lost heart in the interreligious dialogue and passed over to the other “team.” But that was and this is
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