The People in the Room: Rabbis, Nuns, Pastors, Popes, and Presidents by James Rudin

Abstract

Reviewed by: The People in the Room: Rabbis, Nuns, Pastors, Popes, and Presidents by James Rudin Eugene J. Fisher James Rudin, The People in the Room: Rabbis, Nuns, Pastors, Popes, and Presidents. Mesa, AZ iPub Global Connection, 2022. Pp. 290. $25.97, paper ($9.99, in electronic formats). This excellent memoir is a must-read for all persons interested in Christian-Jewish and ecumenical relations leading up to the Second Vatican Council and what has happened since. Rudin takes us from his birthplace in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Alexandria, Virginia, which he notes was Robert E. Lee's hometown. There, as a member of the small Jewish minority, he learned how to befriend his Protestant, mainly Baptist, classmates and those of the small Catholic minority in the then very Southern city. Attending college, Rudin was [End Page 323] drawn to the rabbinate. After ordination he was required to serve as a chaplain, in his case in the Air Force, where he served in Japan and Korea. During this time, he engaged in close relations and conversations with his fellow chaplains and service members, people from a variety of Christian denominations, becoming very adept at interreligious, especially Jewish-Christian, dialogue. Rudin narrates how he joined the American Jewish Committee in charge of interreligious relations, as well as his marriage to his wife, Marcia. He goes into detail speaking of Catholic-Jewish relations and how the two communities had been discriminated against in American society, which brought them together in a number of ways. He follows this with a detailed account, set in the history of both Europe and the United States, and of the Auschwitz convent controversy, when a group of nuns set up a prayer community in a building at Auschwitz, a controversy finally resolved by Pope John Paul II, who asked the nuns to relocate to a new building built outside the camp that became a center where visitors to the camp could come and learn its history and that of the Shoah. He analyzes the 1998 Vatican statement, "We Remember, A Reflection on the Shoah," and a 2000 Jewish statement, "Dabru Emet." He finds both helpful but needing to go further to clarify what they had in mind. He then goes into detail, again giving the historical background and context, regarding Jewish dialogical relations with mainline Protestants, Black churches, and Evangelicals. Rudin speaks of two controversial situations in which he was personally involved, rendering the stained-glass windows at the presidential retreat, Camp David, to reflect the general views of our multireligious, multiethnic society, and working to see that the Oberammergau Passion Play (and others) would not blame the Jews for the death of Jesus or for other social ills throughout history. He, along with a number of supportive Christians (including myself) was successful in these endeavors. He concludes this section with an in-depth narrative of the interreligious efforts to free Soviet Jewry, helped in this effort especially by a Catholic nun, Sr. Ann Gillen. Chapter 18 deals with "special assignments," such as destructive so-called "Christian" cults, the 1985 farm crisis, Biafra Relief, the selection of music for a Vatican concert commemorating the Shoah, and attending Good Friday services. This last is of particular importance because, as the author notes, over the centuries Christians would storm out of their churches on Good Friday and attack the local Jewish communities, robbing them, raping the women, and often committing murder. This was because the lectionary readings and the homilies given would posit blame on the Jews for the death of Jesus, ignoring the fact that [End Page 324] Pilate alone had the authority to order a crucifixion. As the Christian Creed states, Jesus "suffered and died under Pontius Pilate." Rudin concludes with reflections on the future of Christian-Jewish relations, where they are likely to go and where they should go, titled "Ten Personal Interreligious Commandments" (which we should all carefully observe), and a list of questions that dialogue groups (which he carefully defines) should ask themselves and each other. This excellent volume has a foreword by Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee and an afterword by Dr. Mary C. Boys, SNJM. Again, I highly recommend this...