Jewish-Christian Relations Research Articles

The Expulsion of Hagar

Abstract Although many other scenes from the book of Genesis have been represented visually over the centuries, Hagar’s expulsion has been largely overlooked. This article examines the history of those works devoted to the subject, focusing in particular on the planes on which Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar are placed, the effects of narrative and story-telling upon visual art, the influence of theological stances and their developments upon the understanding of the episode, its reflection of early and medieval Jewish-Christian relations, and feminist/gender biblical interpretation.

Historical Engagements and Interreligious Encounters - Jews and Christians in Premodern and Early Modern Asia and Africa

The essays in this special issue are based on the proceedings of the workshop Eastern Jews and Christians in Interaction and Exchange in the Islamic World and Beyond: A Comparative View held in Jerusalem and Raʿanana in June 2016. Accordingly, the essays address interreligious encounters in the Islamic world and beyond, examining social and religious attitudes towards religious Others in a wide range of disciplinary approaches. What binds these essays together is an attempt to shed light on a little-known history of Jewish-Christian relations in premodern Asia and Africa, a subject that stands at the heart of the research project Jews and Christians in the East: Strategies and Interactions between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.

De-Judaizing the Shoah in Polish comic books

ABSTRACTThis article analyses a selection of graphic narratives from Poland spanning the period from the 1940s to the 2000s. First, it shows that while the atrocity was far from being considered “unmentionable” by comic book artists, for much of the Communist period, the Jewish victims were, leading to a peculiar de-Judaization of the Holocaust. Second, it argues that despite the liberalization of memory after 1989 and the ensuing “Jewish turn,” which brought about a mass revival of interest in Jewish culture and heritage, this tendency largely persists. Analysing a selection of newspaper cartoons, graphic novellas and educational comic books, not only does this paper show how the genre has been subservient to ideological causes but also how its roles and functions changed throughout decades, from light-hearted stories addressed to a mass readership to educational narratives produced with school children in mind. This paper also shows how the graphic narratives in Poland reflect wider public debates, such as those on the Polish national identity, Christian–Jewish relations and the formation of collective memory.

Liberal Whispers and Propaganda Fears

This article examines the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) engagement with Israel regarding the state’s Palestinian-Arab minority. It focuses on the period of military government (1948–1966), when the rights of most Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel were curtailed under military rule. In the mid-1950s, AJC leaders became interested in examining and alleviating the plight of the Arab minority. Rather than publicly confronting Israel, the AJC privately lobbied Israeli officials on the matter and later attempted to educate Israelis about liberalism using ideas more closely associated with its work in America than its human rights advocacy abroad. To understand the AJC’s motives, the article points toward AJC’s domestic civil rights and ‘human relations’ activity, its distinct form of pro-Israel non-Zionism, and its concerns about ‘Arab propaganda’, anti-Semitism, and Jewish-Christian relations in America.

Righting Relations after the Holocaust and Vatican II: Essays in Honor of John T. Pawlikowski, OSM ed. by Elena G. Procario-Foley and Robert A. Cathey

Reviewed by: Righting Relations after the Holocaust and Vatican II: Essays in Honor of John T. Pawlikowski, OSM ed. by Elena G. Procario-Foley and Robert A. Cathey Eugene J. Fisher Elena G. Procario-Foley and Robert A. Cathey, eds., Righting Relations after the Holocaust and Vatican II: Essays in Honor of John T. Pawlikowski, OSM. A Stimulus Book. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2018. Pp. 334. $34.95, paper. The essays in this excellent volume are written by scholars from the Americas and Europe—Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims—reflecting the globalization of interreligious dialogue in our time. Aptly titled, it honors one of the great theologians of social ethics and pioneers of Catholic-Jewish relations. The book opens with a foreword by another great pioneer in Jewish-Christian relations, Judith H. Banki. Procario-Foley of Iona College deftly introduces the book, which summarizes the work leading to Nostra aetate and advances since the Council. The book is divided into three parts: Ethics and Theology, Holocaust Studies, and Interreligious Studies. In the first part, Mary Doak compares the works of Reinhold Niebuhr and Pawlikowski on social ethics. Cathey summarizes Pawlikowski's Christology and its challenges for rethinking Protestant theology. Edward Kessler of England formulates a theology of dialogue. Martin M. Lintner, OSM, probes the meaning of love of neighbor (Lev. 19:18) in the Bible and in the thought of Jewish philosophers Emmanuel Levinas and Martin Buber. Michael S. Kogan commits a small error in interpreting Galatians as "replacement theology," since Paul's argument was not against Judaism as such but an argument that gentile converts to Christianity need not observe the whole of the law/Torah but only the Noahide covenant (p. 74). Kogan discusses the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation from a Jewish point of view, which can be the basis for deepening Jewish-Christian dialogue. Jon Nilson concentrates on pedagogical and pastoral implications of Catholic scholars Pawlikowski, Karl Rahner, David Tracy, and Philip Cunningham. [End Page 451] In the section on Holocaust studies, John K. Roth explores the experiences of Jewish survivors of the Shoah, such as Albert Camus and Primo Levi. Stephen Jacobs describes the "righteous gentiles" who saved Jews from the Nazis, asking the reader, "What would you do?" Victoria Barnett of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum traces the work since World War II to remove anti-Judaism from Christian thought. Menhaz Afridi, a Muslim, discusses how we can understand the "others" as they understand themselves. Katherina von Kellenbach considers how we can learn to understand historical and present interreligious relations. Carol Rittner, RSM, examines challenges for Christian classrooms and sermons. In "Interreligious Studies," Susannah Heschel, daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel, describes her father's involvement in the development of Nostra aetate. Amy-Jill Levine summarizes the progress since Nostra aetate, carefully critiquing traditional anti-Jewish readings of the Gospels and typological readings of the Hebrew Scriptures. Ruth Langer shows how Jews can in the future present a fair understanding of Christianity in Jewish liturgy. Carmen M. Nanko-Fernandez and Jean-Pierre Ruiz describe the history and present reality of Latino/a Catholic-Jewish relations, convivencia. Mary C. Boys traces the trajectory of Nostra aetate from World War II to its declaration in and since 1965. Yehezkel Landau of Israel, who has long worked there for Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations and Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding, provides a moving tribute to Pawlikowski the man and to his work. James Carroll of Harvard provides an afterword drawing on his own experiences in Boston. [End Page 452] Eugene J. Fisher Saint Leo University, St. Leo, FL Copyright © 2018 Journal of Ecumenical Studies

Violent Sensations: Sex, Crime, and Utopia in Vienna and Berlin, 1860–1914 by Scott Spector

Reviewed by: Violent Sensations: Sex, Crime, and Utopia in Vienna and Berlin, 1860–1914 by Scott Spector Kerry Wallach Violent Sensations: Sex, Crime, and Utopia in Vienna and Berlin, 1860–1914. By Scott Spector. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016. Pp. 296. Paper $25.00. ISBN 978-0226196787. The question “who is the murderer?” remains at the heart of countless media scandals today, just as over a century ago; many rely on graphic images of violence, brutality, and criminal activity. Scott Spector’s long-awaited book eloquently demonstrates that the fascination with such spectacles dates back to the 1860s, with the rise of media scandals about sexual practices (especially between men) and their potential connections to violent criminal acts. Ritual murder accusations that gained momentum in the 1880s made for Central European versions of the Dreyfus Affair, which strained Christian-Jewish relations and put allegedly treacherous Jews on trial. The fin-de-siècle, when killers similar to London’s Jack the Ripper and other marginal or degenerate figures came to signify urban modernity, marks a further turning point in this history. It was also around 1900 when new sensationalist texts about the criminality of the metropolis proliferated. Violent figures associated with the city became the subjects of modern scientific studies, legal investigations, and medical diagnoses. Yet in some cases they also emerged as subjects on their own terms. In rejecting the sufficiency of the “marginalization thesis” embraced by Richard Evans and others (namely that marginal figures merely validated more centered identities), Spector shifts the conversation toward a dialectical analytic that brings together “enlightened” and “decadent” discourses (2–3). Scientific, legal, and medical texts constitute the enlightened sources; [End Page 178] newspaper articles and popular books make up the decadent. Although Vienna and Berlin are the primary focus of this study, which innovatively explores cultural phenomena across national borders, noteworthy events elsewhere in Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also receive attention. One of the book’s major claims makes it required reading for historians and German studies scholars alike: it was not after World War I, but rather in the decades prior to the war, when violent fantasies emerged on a mass scale. By positioning World War I “not as a cause but as a symptom” (14), Spector suggests that Weimar scholarship—on Lustmord, criminality, and sexuality, among other topics—must look to earlier decades for the origins of interwar-era incarnations (170, 196). The fin-de-siècle represents an especially key moment: Otto Weininger, Robert Musil, and, to a lesser degree, Sigmund Freud factor into Spector’s portrait of this time. In addition to its in-depth look at individual texts and criminal cases, the book also offers an early history of the fields of criminology, criminal psychology, and forensics. For Spector, Austrian Hanns Gross serves as a real-life Sherlock Holmes (56). German responses to the early criminal anthropological work of Cesare Lombroso, which privileged physical signs of degeneration ranging from forehead shape to tattoos, lead to a fascinating discussion of criminal accountability (Zurechnungsfähigkeit). Here we see the growing authority of expert witnesses and their knowledge, a trope that runs throughout the book. Spector makes the powerful argument that the fixation on “twilight conditions” or border states (Dämmerzustände) including epilepsy, somnambulism, alcoholism, and religious fanaticism, points to a rejection of will and a privileging of innate characteristics as explanations for crime or violence (252). Sexuality is at the core of several chapters on homosexuality and Lustmord, and scholars of gender and sexuality will find this history indispensable to understanding work on later developments in sexology. In weaving together various theories of homosexuality, Spector emphasizes the early conflation of same-sex and violent sexual practices, as well as the crime scandals that brought many alleged homosexuals into the limelight. The coinage of such terms as Urning (same-sex attraction) by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and homosexual by Karóly Kertbeny (Karl-Maria Benkert) predates and informs the important work of Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Magnus Hirschfeld. One scandalous court case from 1889 led Krafft-Ebing to write the first article on lesbianism (Gynandrie); the story of Sándor (Sarolta) Vay here leads us to...

Editor's Introduction

Editor’s Introduction Catherine Chatterley, Founding Editor-in-Chief In this, our third consecutive, issue we turn our attention to three countries in east central Europe—Slovakia, Latvia, and Hungary—to investigate contemporary forms of antisemitism. Which attitudes continue to linger in these complex post-Soviet societies, and what new forms of anti-Jewish hostility, if any, exist today? How is antisemitism affected by Europe’s migrant crisis, for example? Has the upsurge in ethno-nationalism made Jews into targets once again? In all three countries, the Jewish population is a tiny fraction of what it was before World War II, and those same communities were reduced again after the fall of the Soviet Union. Despite small numbers of Jews, however, antisemitism persists and is recognizable by its familiar themes. Blaming Jews for the crimes of Soviet communism is a recurrent trope among antisemites but the general assumption of a close association between Jews and communism in this part of the world is perhaps even more common than most people assume. So much so, that this accusation, summed up by the compound phrase “Judeo-Bolshevism,” requires further study and analysis by scholars. Also present, and sometimes connected to this accusation, is the relationship to the Holocaust and the resentment it provokes, especially given the fact that EU membership for former Soviet states was dependent upon implementing Holocaust memorialization and educational programming designed to Western standards. The fact of the matter remains that in many countries in central and eastern Europe, to celebrate those who defended the nation and the goal of independence—positive and respectable actions by definition—is to also celebrate those who allied themselves with Nazi Germany (against the Soviet Union) and who participated in antisemitic activities, and even in the perpetration of genocide. This paradox, unique to this region of Europe, [End Page 1] continues to divide these societies internally and to isolate parts of the population from mainstream opinion. This is also a part of the world untouched by Vatican II (1961–1965) and the changes it dictated with regard to the Jewish people and how they are to be understood and represented by the Catholic Church after the Holocaust. The suppression of religion in the Soviet Union and its powerful reappearance in many places after the collapse of communism created a very different reality for Jewish-Christian relations in the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic worlds than that of the Roman Catholic and Protestant communities of the West. The Internet is the most powerful vehicle for the transmission and dissemination of antisemitism across the planet, and this is also true in east central Europe. The anonymity of the Web allows people to express honest feelings of hatred and to connect with others who share the same sentiments, emboldening groups of people who had previously been isolated in their silence. Hatred for Jews, homosexuality, and Muslims have formed a new triad against which traditional ethno-nationalists feel the need to organize and defend themselves. In a classic antisemitic framework, Jews are sometimes depicted as orchestrating the migrant crisis and the “homosexual agenda” to undermine traditional societies and to perpetrate a so-called “white genocide.” What is astonishing at this late date is to know how long Jews have been residents of Europe and to see that in so many ways they are still thought to be outsiders and not members of these nations. They are still Jews rather than Slovaks, Latvians, and Hungarians, and they are not even offered the option of a hyphenated identity. In this issue, Nina Paulovičová provides a valuable overview of Slovakia’s history from the Nazi period to the present day, focusing on the nation’s changing relationship to the Holocaust under communism and after independence. A masterful analysis of the complex layers of Latvian society is provided by Matthew Kott, who explains the changing position of Jews in the Latvian imagination and how the Holocaust—and the memory of the Rumbula Massacre in particular—impacts current thinking. Contemporary [End Page 2] Hungary is examined by Ferenc Laczó, who uses three case studies to analyze current attitudes toward Jews in a cultural and political context of growing ethnic nationalism. All three...

Live and Die in the Village. Relations Between Jews and Peasants in the Eastern Part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th Century

The article is devoted to the social and legal status of PolishLithianian Jews in rural areas and their relations with peasants or Christian population during the 17th century. The author discusses both legal and social problems, as well as the role of religion in the interfaith relations and its contribution to economic developement. The penetration of Jews into the village and their appearance in local markets indicate their active role in the country's economy. The life of Jews in rural areas has also opened up new opportunities for Jewish-Christian relations in the socio-cultural sphere.

The Sting of Satire: The Jesus Figure in Immanuel of Rome's Hell

This article explores Jewish-Christian relations in Italy from a new vantage point: the poetic Hebrew literature composed by Immanuel of Rome in the fourteenth century. By focusing on a particular sinner in Immanuel's hell, the Jesus figure, the article illuminates the ways in which Immanuel marshaled polemical imagery from Ashkenazic and Sephardic sources as well as the Talmud and biblical exegesis. It also explores the ways in which Immanuel subverted his model text, Dante's Comedy, to insult Christianity and its holiest figure. This examination sheds light on Immanuel's textual and glossatorial practices, as well as his engagement with anti-Christian invective that was developing throughout thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Europe.

Interpretations of Daniel 12:1 and Perceptions of the Christian »Other«

This paper analyses perceptions of the Christian ‘other’ in rabbinic and apocalyptic traditions in the period from Constantine to the emergence of Islam. The focus is on the reception of Daniel and particularly on traditions that utilise interpretations of Dan 12:1. The essay asks to what extent these traditions present reflections on Christian rule, and/or perceptions of Christian beliefs. The article examines traditions found in Ruth Rabbah, Pirqe Mashiaḥ and Otot ha-Mashiaḥ, which all utilise Dan 12:1 to outline concepts of Israel’s history in terms of religious status and election in relation to the ‘other’, and in different ways reveal perspectives on Christian Byzantine society in Late Antiquity. The different emphases of the exegetical traditions reflect historical change, especially with regard to the changing religio-political circumstances of the seventh century and an environment of increasing religious competition. In this way, one aspect of the reception of the Book of Daniel is explored to highlight an approach to Jewish-Christian relations after Constantine.

Prayer “Birkat ha-Minim” (“Blessing of heretics”) and the Ban on Participation in the Synagogue Liturgy

The Jewish prayer “Birkat ha-Minim” (“Blessing on the heretics”), 12th benediction of Amida, attracts attention not only of Jewish Liturgy researchers, but it is also an important plot in the history of Jewish-Christian relations in ancient period. Throughout the 20th century “Birkat ha-Minim” was read in the context of anti-Judean passages of the New Testament’s books and early Christian polemic treatises. Such works often include New Testament references to the excommunication of the Christ’s followers from the synagogue (John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2). On the other side, for 2nd–3rd centuries’ Christian authors “Blessing” was one of the reasons for the emergence of anti-Jewish sentiments in the Christians’ environment. However, in recent times, a number of scholars, after more than a hundred years break, conducted a paleographic and textual analysis of the most currently known manuscripts, containing the text of the prayer, and published number of its versions, accompanied by a new critical apparatus. These publications have radically changed the understanding of this blessing. For this reason, all previous works either require rethinking or completely outdated. Although recent research allows us more accurately determine the time and place of the creation of manuscripts containing prayer, there is still no consensus on what purpose it was created and who should be understood by the term “Minim”. In addition, to what extent we can link “Birkat ha-minim” with the New Testament passages about excommunication Christ’s followers from the synagogue.

Christians Preparing for Conversation: Jewish–Christian Relations

This article suggests that Christians need to prepare for Jewish–Christian conversation by cultivating a better knowledge of Jewish traditions and by critically examining Christian doctrine and biblical interpretation to rid Christian language and attitudes of anti-Judaism. To do the latter, Christians do not have to give up core beliefs of the Christian faith.

60-Minute Conversations with Jesuit History Series

In October 2016, Rev. David Neuhaus, S.J. delivered at the Boston College Center for Christian-Jewish Learning’s Fifth Annual John Paul ii Lecture in Christian-Jewish Relations. He is the patriarchal vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel. He is also the coordinator of the pastoral care for migrant workers and asylum seekers. At the occasion, Robert A. Maryks, the editor of this journal, interviewed David about his Jesuit and scholarly career. This is the second of a series of 60-Minute Conversations with Jesuit History. What follows is an edited transcription of the interview that was videotaped at Boston College in October 2016 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFcIq38m9MI).

Trajectories and future avenues in Pauline Studies and Jewish–Christian relations: the relevance of William S. Campbell’s approach to Paul

William S. Campbell’s research on the apostle Paul has been at the forefront of overcoming anti-Jewish interpretations. His career has been characterised by academic rigour and social and interfaith engagement. His interpretive approach is committed to formulating Christian identity in positive relation to others and thus contributes to provide a vital basis for Jewish-Christian and Interfaith relations in general for the future.

The Protestant Reformers and the Jews: Excavating Contexts, Unearthing Logic

This article highlights the important initial tasks of excavating the pertinent contexts of the sixteenth-century Protestant reformers and discerning what is at stake for them (i.e., “unearthing logic”) in order to analyze their views of and teachings about Jews and Judaism. Pertinent contexts include the immediate contexts to which Luther and Calvin responded (e.g., Jewish “blasphemy” and/or Christian Hebraism), as well as attending to the significant theological frameworks in which they each operated. Equally important is activity of sifting through the discrepancies in the secondary literature’s depictions of Luther and Calvin’s place in the history of Christian-Jewish relations. The article highlights biblical interpretation—particularly the defense of Scripture’s perspicuity—as the distinctive locus of the reformers’ angst concerning Jews and Judaism. In conclusion, the author offers some lessons from church history for discerning what Christian faithfulness might look like in response to this troubling history.

Jewish-Christian Relations: The First Centuries by Abel Mordecai Bibliowicz, and: Jesus Reclaimed: Jewish Perspectives on the Nazarene by Walter Homolka

Reviewed by: Jewish-Christian Relations: The First Centuries by Abel Mordecai Bibliowicz, and: Jesus Reclaimed: Jewish Perspectives on the Nazarene by Walter Homolka Eugene J. Fisher Abel Mordecai Bibliowicz, Jewish-Christian Relations: The First Centuries. Columbus, OH: Biblio Publishing, 2016. Pp. 485. N.p., paper. Walter Homolka, Jesus Reclaimed: Jewish Perspectives on the Nazarene. Translated by Ingrid Shafer. Brooklyn, NY, and Oxford, U.K.: Berghahn, 2015 (orig.: Jesus von Nazareth im Spiegel jüdischer Forschung [Berlin: Hentrich & Hentrich, 2009–11]). Pp. 144. $39.95. The authors of both of these books are Jews active in dialogue with Christians. Homolka's short and very readable book surveys the scholarship over the past two centuries of the quest for the historical Jesus and the involvement of Jewish scholars in that quest. Bibliowicz meticulously goes through the New Testament (NT) and the works of some of the Fathers of the church on Jews and Judaism, challenging scholars in the field to rethink ideas with regard to the interpretation of the NT and the development of the ancient Christian teaching of contempt for Jews and Judaism. I highly recommend both books for anyone interested in the Jewish-Christian dialogue today. Jesus Reclaimed focuses especially on German and Jewish scholarship. There is an excellent foreword by Leonard Swidler and preface by Ingrid Shafer. After a brief look in the Introduction at the historical sources for recreating the life and death of Jesus, Homolka discusses Jesus as presented in the Mishnah and the Talmud and in the Jewish apologetical/polemical work, Toledoth Yeshu, which argues, among other things, that the disciples stole and hid the body of Jesus so that they could falsely claim that he had been raised from the dead. Toledoth Yeshu, Homolka correctly states, is "evidence of the suffering of the Jews in the Middle Ages" and quotes Jewish historian Heinrich Graetz that "The Christians shed our blood, we merely shed ink" (p. 18). There is a brief survey of rabbinic polemics directed at Jesus and Christian belief in the Incarnation and with Christian (mis)reading and censorship of the Talmud. Chapter 2 summarizes the scholarly "quest for the historical Jesus" and the debates and controversies that occurred between leading Christian and Jewish scholars in the field. [End Page 349] In Chapter 3 Homolka takes an extended look at the presentation of Jesus in the work of his fellow German scholar, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), criticizing Ratzinger for viewing Jesus solely through the lens of Christian doctrine, especially the doctrine of the Incarnation, and thus, in essence, missing the point of the life and teachings of Jesus, who was a pious Jew of his time. I underscore Homolka's point that Jesus and the apostles were not Christians, but Jews steeped in the Bible of their Jewish people. He concludes by noting that Jesus has been integrated into Jewish literature (and, I would add, art, e.g., Chagall); despite the differences in their theological understandings of Jesus, there is much that can be used in Jewish-Christian dialogue now and in the future. The book includes an extensive and very useful bibliography (pp. 117–134). While Jesus Reclaimed is a brief and very helpful summary of a large body of scholarly work, Jewish-Christian Relations, which makes use of that scholarship, re-visits each book of the NT, seeking in them the source of the negative (and false) portrayals of Jews and Judaism that developed in the early centuries of the church. The book has excellent forewords by two leading scholars in the field, Norman A. Beck and Clark M. Williamson. Much of what has been taken as anti-Jewish polemic in the NT, Bibliowicz argues, is a reflection of the rivalry between the original Jewish followers of Jesus and the gentile followers (and their Jewish supporters) brought into the church under the rubric of Paul, who convinced the early church Fathers that gentiles could become Christians by taking the Jewish mikvah, ritual bath. Rabbinic Judaism does require the mikvah for conversion to Judaism. We Christians call it "baptism." But, when they have become Christians, Paul argued successfully, they do not need to observe the whole of the Law but only the...

Popes and Jews: 1095–1291 by Rebecca Rist

Reviewed by: Popes and Jews: 1095–1291 by Rebecca Rist Marie-Thérèse Champagne Popes and Jews: 1095–1291. By Rebecca Rist. (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2016. Pp. xxi, 336. $110.00. ISBN 978-0-19-871798-0.) Rebecca Rist has produced a valuable addition to current research on the relationship between the papacy and the Jews in the High Middle Ages (Popes and Jews: 1095–1291). Her previous publications have explored crusading, the medieval papacy, and papal-Jewish relations in narrower contexts; however, this time she delves deeply into the complexity of the relationship between the papacy, in particular, and the Jews, and the paradox of protection (particularly in Rome) and toleration, while also restricting Jewish life. The two-century period on which she focuses spanned a transformational era for European Jews of increasing suspicion, false accusations, and horrific persecution of individuals and whole communities. In exploring the papal-Jewish relationship, Rist builds on seminal works from the explosion of research by prominent scholars since the 1960s into Christian-Jewish relations in the Middle Ages. Scholars such as Kenneth Stow have written numerous articles and books exploring that relationship from the Jewish perspective. Rist's aim, as stated in the appendix, is "to re-focus . . . often neglected themes . . . with regard to specifically papal-Jewish relations" (p. 271). This volume seeks to offer a more comprehensive analysis of many aspects of that particular relationship through the use of an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources. [End Page 334] The chapters in this volume are each dedicated to different aspects of papal-Jewish interaction, including: papal protection of the Jews, the effect of the Crusades on the Jews, papal claims to authority over the Jews, the papacy and the Roman Jewish community, the Jews and money, and the impact of the crusades on Jews and Jewish communities; however, of special note are the sections devoted to Jewish ideas about the papacy, gleaned from numerous Hebrew sources. Using Hebrew, papal, and other Christian texts results in an examination of both perspectives in the same volume, and supplies a much more nuanced and complete picture. Rist's pragmatic analysis of events within their historical contexts leads to interesting perspectives and suggestions for papal motivations. Coming from a Jewish and Christian background, Rist strives to analyze and communicate both perspectives, which makes this study particularly worthwhile. She also explores the legal and theological underpinnings to treatment of the Jews within Christian society in specific situations, which suggests why individual popes' actions were not uniform. Her research reveals the truly limited protective power popes had, despite their attempts, particularly in the twelfth century in Rome; however, she also points out papal decisions that led to dreadful consequences for Jewish communities. Rist effectively sets each situation within its historical context, and rightly warns against "post-enlightenment distinctions" when exploring papal decrees (p. 4). Popes and Jews, 1095–1291 will be valuable for university students and academics because of its extensive bibliography and because it addresses multiple aspects of the papal-Jewish relationship within a limited time frame and in the same volume. She clearly demonstrates her skill at utilizing a vast collection of sources to tell this multifaceted story. At times, however, perhaps because the same sources apply to different topics, some sections from different chapters seem repetitive, and perhaps could have been consolidated for a smoother read; nevertheless, managing such a mountain of detail reveals a mastery of the sources. Marie-Thérèse Champagne University of West Florida Copyright © 2017 The Catholic University of America Press

La coexistence confessionelle en France et en Europe germanique et orientale. Du Moyen Âge à nos jours eds. by Catherine Maurer and Catherine Vincent

La coexistence confessionelle en France et en Europe germanique et orientale. Du Moyen Âge a nos jours. Edited by Catherine Maurer and Catherine Vincent. [Chretiens et societes. Documents et Memoires, no. 27.] (Lyon, 2015. Pp. 360. €25,00 paperback. ISBN 979-10-91592-12-3.)This collection of articles dates back to a 2012 conference held in Strasbourg. The articles cover a broad sweep of history, from the early Middle Ages into the twentieth century. Most focus on German-speaking lands, with a particular focus on Alsace, but there are articles about France, Lithuania, Geneva, Poland, and the Netherlands. As always in such collections, the quality is mixed, a situation that is further exacerbated by the fact that many of the articles appear to be only lightly edited since being delivered orally.The theme of the conference, is understood broadly here. While the focus of the collection is on relations between the Christian confessions, articles also engage the experience of Jews, heretics, Muslims, and pagans. This broadening of subject matter is of course a reflection of current concerns with religious coexistence in an increasingly diverse Europe, but the concept loses some of its meaning when used in this broad way.The largest group of articles focuses on confessional relations in the Holy Roman Empire and Switzerland in the early modern period. As Catherine Maurer points out in her concise but excellent introduction, confessional relations in this period were characterized by coexistence, often contested but also defended and supported. This coexistence was not the same as tolerance and was usually based on legal and constitutional safeguards for all parties. Furthermore, this coexistence varied in character depending on the locality, and it evolved over time. Finally, Maurer points out that coexistence in the early modern period had antecedents in the medieval period, in Christian-Jewish relations and in relations with heretics like the Cathars. Unfortunately, there is no discussion of the convivencia in medieval Spain, where Jews, Muslims, and Christians coexisted for centuries.Most of the contributions emphasize a kind of pragmatic relationship between religions. Laurent Jalabert's discussion of some of the western territories of the Holy Roman Empire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries shows how political and jurisdictional fragmentation let to a bewildering mix of confessions, even within villages. In this setting, members of religious minorities were willing to appeal for protection to princes and noblemen, and few majority groups could or even tried to suppress confessional opponents. Christophe Duhamelle's presents an interesting analysis of the Two Easters of 1724. In this year, Easter fell a week later for Protestants than Catholics, despite the fact that Protestants had moved to a calendar that coincided in most ways with Gregorian calendar used by the Catholics. The dispute, Duhamelle argues, was carried out first by astronomers and then by the states, particularly Prussia on the Protestant side, as an assertion of confessional rights. In the local context, however, there were few problems, as Catholics celebrated a week earlier and local people, including the clergy, stayed out of each other's way. …

History of the World Christian Movement by Dale T. Irvin, Scott W. Sunquist, and: Faith and Order in the U.S.A.: A Brief History of Studies and Relationships by William A. Norgren

Reviewed by: History of the World Christian Movement by Dale T. Irvin, Scott W. Sunquist, and: Faith and Order in the U.S.A.: A Brief History of Studies and Relationships by William A. Norgren Timothy T. N. Lim Dale T. Irvin and Scott W. Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement. Vol. 2, Modern Christianity from 1454 to 1800. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2012. Pp. 503. $40.00, paper. William A. Norgren, Faith and Order in the U.S.A.: A Brief History of Studies and Relationships. Grand Rapids, MI, and Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2011. Pp. 97. $20.00, paper. Norgren provides a remarkably short and informative booklet on the origins and development of Faith and Order in North America (F&O, U.S.A.) by the first executive director of the National Council of Churches’ Commission on Faith and Order, and not found in The Faith and Order Commission Handbook (National Council of the Churches of Christ U.S.A., 2005). In three chapters, he registers the accomplishments and trajectories of F&O, U.S.A., with the corresponding world-level initiatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC) as its backdrop. He locates historic and mainline Protestant churches’ growth toward ecumenism, union, and mutual recognition between churches in American and Europe. Though I did not expect a carefully accounted progress of ecumenicity in Congregationalist ecclesial communions such as Quakers, Brethren, Mennonites, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Holiness, and Adventist churches in periods when these groups have not yet appeared on ecumenical radar screens, I was pleasantly surprised that the book discusses nondenominational Protestant agencies, the Roman Catholic Church’s ecumenical contributions, and Orthodox ecumenical participation. It did, as I anticipated, review some of the Faith and Order (both WCC and National levels) and WCC’s milestone-efforts in combating racism, ethnic discrimination, and sociopolitical tyrannies, even as this ecumenical body engages theological loci, spirituality, gender, sexuality, bioethics, justice, peacekeeping, ecology, religious pluralism, and Muslim-Christian and Jewish-Christian relations. The appendix [End Page 197] on a 1969 finding of the National Faith and Order Colloquium on “Salvation and Life” conceptions between communions remains helpful as ecumenical officers build on recent decades of development, including Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (WCC, 1982), The Church (WCC, 2013), convergences on justification between communions, and From Conflict to Communion (LWF-PCPCU, 2013). The Irvin and Sunquist volume is a sequel to a groundbreaking history (Orbis, 2001; 8th repr., 2007). Together, both volumes differ from the multi-authored A World History of Christianity edited by Adrian Hastings (Eerdmans, 1999). Irvin, president and professor at New York Theological Seminary, and Sunquist, dean for intercultural studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, are ordained ministers in American Baptist Churches U.S.A. and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) respectively. The text contains six chapters in Part I’s major transformations in 1454–1600, seven chapters in Part II’s global religious and secular encounters of the seventeenth century, and six chapters in Part III’s independence, liberation, and awakenings of the eighteenth century. Here is finally a volume on global Christian history, covering Africa, America (North America, the Caribbean, and South America), Asia (Eastern Asia, South Asia), and Europe, which engages topics of church reforms and renewal (Catholics, Protestants, Congregationalists), and denominationalism, empire, enlightenment, and politics in the period 1454–1800. The authors acknowledge that their undertakings could not be possible without support from innumerable local and international colleagues they have consulted for over a decade. Timothy T. N. Lim London School of Theology, London, U.K.; and King’s Evangelical Divinity School, Broadstairs, U.K. Copyright © 2017 Journal of Ecumenical Studies

Vladimir Solovyov’s “Sins of Russia,” “Protest,” and “Obituary for Joseph Rabinovich”: Historical (and often neglected) texts in the Catholic intellectual tradition with contemporary comment and reflection

Vladimir Solovyov’s “Sins of Russia,” “Protest,” and “Obituary for Joseph Rabinovich”Historical (and often neglected) texts in the Catholic intellectual tradition with contemporary comment and reflection Gregory Yuri Glazov (bio) Vladimir Solovyov, Russia’s analogue to St. Thomas Aquinas and Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman, also emerged in the early 1880s as the leading voice in defense of Judaism and Jewish civil rights. The present article serves to introduce some of Solovyov’s lesser-known works on Jewish-Christian relations and to encourage the reader to delve more deeply into this part of his oeuvre.1 Family and friends traced Solovyov’s affection for Jews to his contemplation of Christ as a Jew and to his early disgust for Jew- hatred as un-Christian. His father, one of Russia’s greatest historians, also bequeathed to him a universal worldview that freed him from the judeophobia afflicting many of his contemporary Russian patriots, [End Page 132] influenced as they were by Pan-Slavism, an ideology of action and politics, popularized by Nikolai Danilevsky (1822–85). Danilevsky’s book Russia and Europe proposed that the Slavic peoples were in the process of forging history’s eleventh civilization thanks to their multifaceted, all-assimilating universal humanity. Solovyov satirizes Dostoevsky’s praise for the book as the “future coffee-table book of every Russian,” by calling it “the Koran of all scoundrels and fools.” He further intimates the key difference between his own patriotism and that of the Pan-Slavists in a telling criticism addressed to Strakhov, Danilevsky’s chief exponent in the 1880s: “You regard history as a Chinese Buddhist, and for you there is no sense in my Jewish-Christian question: is the present intellectual climate beneficial or harmful for the divine-human task on earth, in the present historical moment? And by the way, how can Danilevsky’s theory explain that the pure Russian (since it is Orthodox) national culture which we share does not prevent you from being Chinese, and me a Jew?” The italicized words in this excerpt highlight that, for Solovyov, history presents people, individuals, and nations alike, all with divine callings that sanctify not just a life span or an age, but the present moment. In the final question, more difficult to understand, Solovyov emphasizes the failure of Danilevsky’s nationalist determinism to explain how Strakhov and Solovyov can both be Russian Orthodox but subscribe to such different philosophies—Strakhov to what Solovyov deemed a synthesis of Western decadent mechanism and Buddhist passivism, and Solovyov to a biblically rooted belief in the human need to discern a divine calling at every present moment and cooperate with it.2 Solovyov’s conception of the nations and their histories was rooted in the biblical tenet that the peoples of the world are a family of nations for each of whom, he said, adapting Gen 2:18, “it is not good to be alone.” Guided further by his Christian understanding of God as Trinity and Love, Solovyov held that national vocations necessitate fraternal cooperation and love of the other—the other who, being a brother, is necessarily a rival and potentially difficult to live with. [End Page 133] But just as the prophet Isaiah envisioned that the divine task of blessing the earth would be fulfilled through Israel’s cooperation with its traditional enemies Egypt and Assyria (Is 19:24), so Solovyov argued that Russia, as a Gentile Orthodox nation, should develop its messianic vocation by cooperating with Israel, God’s chosen people, and with her Western Catholic brothers, represented by Poland. Only such cooperation, he said, would enable each of these to fulfill their messianic mission to heal the schism between East and West, between spirit and flesh, between the universal and the particular. Consequently, as also explained by Nikolai Bakst, chemist, rabbi, and member of the Pahlen Commission, Solovyov’s wonder about Israel’s perennial cultural receptivity was rooted in his “active and living, rather than abstract and formal, Christian faith which did not permit him to fail to respect other confessions which grew on the same foundations.” Solovyov’s friend Rabbi Faivel Getz also confirmed this evaluation in recalling that Solovyov often characterized Jewish...