Nostra Aetate Research Articles

The Increasing Social Relevance of the Catholic Liturgical and Theological Reform Regarding Judaism (Nostra aetate 4): an Orthodox Point of View

Abstract One of the smallest and most influential documents of Vatican II is the Nostra aetate (declaration. The dynamic of the discussions as it was formulated and the subsequent arduous process of and reception application on local church level proved that the reconsideration of the attitude of the Roman-Catholic Church towards Judaism was concealing unforeseen consequences at the moment of the promulgation. Not only that Nostra aetate has been a turning point for the relationships between Catholicism and Judaism, but it has opened and encouraged – of course, along other documents of the council – a whole new perception of one another and of the ecumenical dialogue. The Jewish response to the 50 years Jubilee of Vatican II confirms the ultimately social relevance of the possible collaboration between Christians and Jews in ethical issues. This paper puts at the fore the Nostra aetate as example for the Orthodox Church as well, and draws attention to the many benefits that may follow such responses.

Monstrosities: Religion, Identity and Belief

In the summer of 1816, a young woman of nineteen eloped with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley to Geneva, Switzerland.[...]

“Gifts and Calling”: The Fruits of Coming to Know Living Jews

In the process of implementing Nostra Aetate’s teachings about Jews and Judaism, the Catholic Church came to realize that its leaders and laity needed to come to know Jews. This process has deeply transformed Catholic-Jewish relations, as is evident in the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews newest document “‘The Gifts and Calling of God are Irrevocable’ (Rom 11:29): A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic-Jewish Relations on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate (No. 4).” This essay will first trace the emergence of this living engagement and then turn to an analysis of how it has shaped this new document.

Covenant, Universal Mission, and Fulfillment

This article examines the theological relationship between Judaism and Christianity, as articulated in the 2015 document from the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, entitled “The Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable.” On one hand, the Vatican document re-affirms the positive estimation of Judaism expressed in the Second Vatican Council’s Nostra aetate (1965), and it rejects Christian replacement theology. On the other, it reiterates Pope Benedict XVI’s single-covenant understanding of the Jewish-Christian relationship, and it affirms a theology of fulfillment. Although a theology of fulfillment tends in the direction of supersessionism, the Vatican document contains resources for avoiding a re-lapse into supersessionism by using sibling language to describe the relationship and by emphasizing the uniqueness of each tradition.

Christ, Torah, and the Faithfulness of God: The Concept of Supersessionism in “The Gifts and the Calling”

This article analyzes usage of the term “supersessionism,” in the December 2015 document authored by the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, and entitled, “The Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable: A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic-Jewish Relations on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate” (No.4). After setting the document in the context of postconcilar Catholic reflection on Jews and Judaism, the article argues that while “Gifts and the Calling” provides important guidance for theological reflection, the document does not identify supersessionism with necessary precision. Drawing upon the thought of the French-Jewish historian Jules Isaac, and the Methodist theologian R. Kendall Soulen, the article demonstrates how their critical remarks about a particular Christian teaching regarding Christ’s fulfillment of Jewish law greatly clarifies the language of supersessionism for the Catholic-Jewish dialogue.

The Sources behind “The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable” (Rom 11:29): A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic-Jewish Relations on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate (No. 4)

The 2015 Vatican statement, "The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable" frequently draws upon or alludes to phrases and formulations found in earlier texts from Catholic ecclesiastical offices and officials without always directly citing them. By means of extensive footnotes, this version of "Gifts and Calling" provides the original wordings behind many of these allusions and references.

One Text, Two Declarations: Theological Trajectories from Nostra Aetate

Nostra Aetate inaugurated a new era of interreligious dialogue in the Catholic Church, but the theological foundation it provided for such dialogue is complex. This article traces two different heuristic trajectories: a universalist trajectory revealed in Nostra Aetate 1–2 and reflected in the work of Bernard Lonergan, and a particularist trajectory in Nostra Aetate 4 and the work of Gregory Baum. Once distinguished, these two trajectories reveal a fruitful tension at the heart of the church’s new engagement with other religious paths.

A Quest to Revitalize Nostra Aetate for an Emerging World Church

This paper reflects on Philip Jenkins’s three-part work, The Next Christendom, The New Faces of Christianity, and Europe’s Religious Crisis and brings Jenkins into conversation with the Vatican II document, Nostra Aetate, with a view to mapping out new and meaningful ways of engaging Islam in dialogue as Christianity continues to make its inexorable movement southward. Using Jenkins’s work as an entry point for a new way of being Church in a contemporary global context, the paper argues that the new Christian expansion should be understood along the lines of Bernard Lonergan’s ‘achievement of common meaning.’ Because the transformation has been realized by the collaborative efforts of individuals and communities, what is needed is for the believing Christians to appropriate and engage Nostra Aetate in a way that meets the changing needs of our time.

In Our Time: Nostra Aetate—How Catholics and Jews Built a New Relationship by James M. Barrens, and: Post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian Dialogue: After the Flood, before the Rainbow ed. by Alan L. Berger, and: Seeking Shalom: The Journey to Right Relationship between Catholics and Jews by Philip A. Cunningham, and: The Holocaust and Nostra Aetate: Toward a Greater Understanding ed. by Carol

Reviewed by: In Our Time: Nostra Aetate—How Catholics and Jews Built a New Relationshipby James M. Barrens, and: Post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian Dialogue: After the Flood, before the Rainbowed. by Alan L. Berger, and: Seeking Shalom: The Journey to Right Relationship between Catholics and Jewsby Philip A. Cunningham, and: The Holocaust and Nostra Aetate: Toward a Greater Understandinged. by Carol Rittner Eugene J. Fisher James M. Barrens, In Our Time: Nostra Aetate—How Catholics and Jews Built a New Relationship. St. Petersburg, FL: Mr. Media Books, 2015. Pp. 114. $5.99, paper. Post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian Dialogue: After the Flood, before the Rainbow. Edited by Alan L. Berger. Lanham, MD, and London: Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield), 2015. Pp. 162. $39.99, paper. Philip A. Cunningham, Seeking Shalom: The Journey to Right Relationship between Catholics and Jews. Grand Rapids, MI, and Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2015. Pp. 268. $30.00, paper. The Holocaust and Nostra Aetate: Toward a Greater Understanding. Edited by Carol Rittner. Greensburg, PA: National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, Seton Hill University, 2017. Pp. 239. $15.00, paper. These four books celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of what was has been called the most revolutionary document of our times, Nostra aetate( NA), promulgated by the Second Vatican Council on October 28, 1965. Barrens's In Our Timesuccinctly summarizes for the general reader the significance of the document, especially its fourth section on Jews and Judaism, and subsequent Catholic Church documents expanding its implications. NArejected two millennia of Christian teaching of contempt against Jews and Judaism in favor of acknowledging the ongoing validity of God's covenant with the Jews as the People of God. Barrens summarizes the tragic history of accusing the Jews collectively of killing Jesus and of claiming that Judaism (the revelation by God to the Jewish People in the Hebrew Scriptures [HS]) had been superseded or replaced by Christianity. The teaching of contempt led to persecution and massacres of Jews, to their marginalization and being forced into ghettos, and to blood-libel charges and expulsion from numerous European countries beginning with England in the twelfth century. The teaching of contempt laid the groundwork for the development of modern racial Antisemitism and the Holocaust/ Shoah, the founding of the State of Israel as a refuge for Jewish survivors, and the Catholic examination of conscience led by such figures as Saints John XXIII and John Paul II, French Jewish historian Jules Isaac, Cardinal Augustin Bea S.J., and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Barrens presents the teachings of NAand the fruits of Catholic-Jewish dialogue since the Council, concluding with Pope Francis and the future of the relationship. Appended are key texts and a short bibliography. It is an excellent book for beginners in the field and for local parish/synagogue dialogue groups. [End Page 352] Cunningham's lengthier study will be richly rewarding for those who wish to delve more deeply into the re-thinking of Catholic understandings of the HS and the New Testament (NT), as well as the new theological understandings and insights precipitated by NAand subsequent Catholic-Jewish dialogue, with regard to both Judaism and our understanding of the nature of the church and of many of the central elements of our faith. He makes full use of the relevant Catholic documents, both of the Holy See and the U.S. Catholic Bishops, especially God's Mercy Endures Forever: Guidelines on the Presentation of Jews and Judaism in Catholic Preaching(Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy, 1988). Cunningham surveys biblical scholarship, in which Catholic scholars were allowed to engage by Pope Pius XII's classic encyclical, Divino afflante Spiritu(1943), how historical-critical biblical scholarship laid the groundwork for NA, and how NAaltered our understanding of the Bible in general and of the NT—especially the epistles of St. Paul, the Gospels' presentation of Judaism, the passion narratives, and Christology. Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism are seen as intertwining branches from the root of Second Temple Judaism (see Romans 9–11). NAand subsequent official documents, which in turn have been based upon the best of Catholic biblical and theological scholarship developed in...

Searching Her Own Mystery: Nostra Aetate, the Jewish People, and the Identity of the Church by Mark S. Kinzer

Reviewed by: Searching Her Own Mystery: Nostra Aetate, the Jewish People, and the Identity of the Church by Mark S. Kinzer Gavin D’Costa Searching Her Own Mystery: Nostra Aetate, the Jewish People, and the Identity of the Church by Mark S. Kinzer (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2015), 262 pp. MARK S. KINZER HAS a long and intimate experience of Catholicism. He is currently Rabbi of Congregation Zera Avraham in Michigan and President Emeritus of the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute. He authored Postmissionary Messianic Judaism (2005) and Israel’s Messiah and the People of God (2011). Searching Her Own Mystery develops his vision. He boldly challenges Catholics to rethink their ecclesiology and their relationship to the Jewish people. Kinzer’s strength is lucid prose and penetrating biblical exegesis, making his a voice in the wilderness that is as unsettling as it is insightful. His book is strategically aimed at Messianic Jews and Roman Catholics. Kinzer’s excellent autobiographical second chapter makes the book particularly engaging, but without hubris. It also helps to place Kinzer on a very complex map in relation to other Jewish groups who follow Jesus the Messiah, all of whom resist assimilation into gentile groups that follow the same Messiah (i.e, Christian churches). Kinzer’s novelty is in challenging both Catholics and Messianic Jews to take each other more seriously, as each, he argues, is central to the self-identity of the other. Catholics are called into this partnership by the advances of the Second Vatican Council. Kinzer draws on many Christian sources, including three cardinals and a Pope (Lustiger, Cottier, Schönborn, and St John Paul II). Catholics need to listen. Kinzer’s begins with the Second Vatican Council and its two key documents Nostra Aetate (NA) and Lumen Gentium (LG). Kinzer argues that the Council was a turning point for Catholic perception of the Jewish people. After thousands of years of persecution under-written by supersessionist theologies (the covenant with Christ meant [End Page 941] that the Jewish covenant was invalid), theological invalidity led to socio-racial liquidation. The Council fathers lived in the shadow of such supersessionism—the Holocaust. In NA, Catholicism revoked the teaching of deicide and the guilt of the Jewish people for this alleged crime. For Kinzer, it went further: it affirmed the Jewishness of Jesus, his disciples, his mother, and the deep roots of Judaism onto which the gentile Church itself is grafted. The use of Pauline citations in the Council documents are read by Kinzer as: (a) affirming the validity of the Israel’s covenant, which God never goes back on, and (b) affirming the enduring covenant that Israel of the flesh continues to enjoy. This clearly repudiates supersessionism. Kinzer argues that the Council teachings began to push open a door that was boldly walked through by Saint Pope John Paul II. He possibly took the further step of affirming the “validity” of present day Judaism as part of God’s covenant without renouncing the idea that the fulfilment of that covenant lies in Jesus Christ. Fulfilment indicates deep continuity with and affirmation of the validity of Israel, whose telos is its Messiah and his messianic rule. Kinzer argues that LG §16 failed to take the steps that Nostra Aetate managed because it externalised genealogical Israel rather than seeing it as part of the Church’s “own mystery” (NA §4). It did this despite using key terms such as “People of God,” of the Church, and “priest,” “prophet,” and “king” of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, all of which belong to Israel’s history. LG used the terms as if Israel was discontinuous with the new People of God. It thus echoes a super-sessionism revoked in NA. NA, and later John Paul II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (§§63, 839-40, 528), pushed in another direction: the Jewish role in the salvation of the world. Kinzer argues that God is faithful to his covenanted peoples, both gentile followers of the Messiah (the gentile ecclesia) and Jewish followers of the Messiah (the ecclesia of the circumcision). Both groups existed in harmony in the early Church, but the Jewish ecclesia was slowly written out of the narrative once...

Thomas Merton's Unfinished Journey in Dialogue with Buddhism

Thomas Merton's Unfinished Journey in Dialogue with Buddhism John P. Keenan Thomas Merton was many things—literary critic, poet, author of immensely popular spiritual books, social critic, proponent of dialogue with Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Jews. But throughout, he remained a Cistercian monk who longed to reform monastic life, aspired somehow to be a public hermit, and focused unwaveringly on the central importance of contemplative prayer and renewal. Because he was so multifaceted and so widely known and admired, Merton still attracts attention and praise—even the very public praise of Pope Francis speaking before the US Congress in September 2015. And because Merton was so malleable, he has been portrayed by others in many different ways: as an exemplar, a heretic, a confused man, a deeply committed monk, and a representative of all that was beginning to happen in the wake of Vatican II.1 And because, more than most humans, he lived in so many dimensions, it is difficult to write about him. The views and values—even the life experiences—of anyone who attempts to evaluate the contributions of Thomas Merton soon become apparent. Thus it is with some hesitation that I offer here my reading of Merton's dialogic engagement with Buddhism. I speak from the perspective of a Christian who has long been committed to that endeavor and who, through the convergence of many causes and conditions, has become schooled in the history and doctrine of Buddhism. When asked, I often identify myself as a Mahāyāna Christian. By that I mean that I live and think my Gospel faith in terms of Mahāyāna philosophy rather than the archaic metaphysical patterns of Greek theology, and as a result I have come to what I believe is a more modest and contextual theology of faith. Through my years of study and work in Japan and the United States, my perspective has been honed and enriched through lively and wide-ranging discussions with Buddhist scholars and practitioners, and indeed with mentors and colleagues of many persuasions. By the karmic happenstance of now residing in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, I am not presently in direct, personal dialogue with Buddhists; my engagement today is primarily with Buddhist texts and philosophies and my own ponderings on how those may aid us in the tasks of enunciating the Christian faith. When I pray, I do so in the name of Jesus. Beginning with the 1948 publication of his bestselling autobiographical work The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton inspired countless people through his [End Page 103] numerous theologically astute books on spiritual practice.2 As a widely read and admired author, he exercised immense influence in the turbulent world of Catholic thinking in the 1960s. Others had begun to write about Zen Buddhism in those years: in 1963 Dom Aelred Graham, a Benedictine monk of Portsmouth Abbey, published a book titled Zen Catholicism in which he recommended that Zen be embraced within Catholic spiritual traditions. Graham's book was well received but quietly read and set aside, and it was instead the better-known Merton who did the most to popularize Zen among Catholics and other Christians. Indeed, it was Thomas Merton's writings, together with those of Zen thinkers like D. T. Suzuki and Alan Watts, that introduced me to Buddhism during my years as a Roman Catholic seminarian and later curate in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Merton was certainly not the first Westerner, or the first Christian, to have been drawn to a great Asian religious tradition. Many Christians were already engaged in reconceptualizing the Gospel vis-à-vis Buddhist and Hindu religious thought. After Nostra aetate—the Vatican Council's declaration that non-Christian religions enjoy both grace and truth—numbers of Catholic theologians and missionaries around the world began to move from trying to convert benighted pagans to engaging in respectful dialogue with other ancient world traditions. Benedictines Bede Griffiths and Henri Le Saux (Abhishiktananda) were deeply immersed in Hindu meditation and lived in their own ashrams in India, attracting students, teaching contemplative practice grounded both in the Gospel and the Upanishads, and envisioning a new Christian theology informed by Hindu teachings. In...

Supersessionism: Harsh, Mild or Gone for Good?

This article contains critically constructive reflections on the document, ‘“The Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29). A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic-Jewish Relations on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of “Nostra Aetate” (no. 4)’. The author argues that a certain type of supersessionism (mild, as opposed to harsh, using categories employed by Levering and Novak) is inevitable and even necessary to Christian discourse. The document fails to define different types of supersessionism and their various relationships to the concept of fulfilment. The latter concept is advocated by the document. The author also raises questions about the justification of the document’s statements on mission, suggesting a theological approach by which these teachings could be better understood. However, this new understanding raises even more difficulties for Catholics and Jews than it perhaps resolves.

Abating Antisemitism in the Wake of the Holocaust: Recent Efforts by the Catholic Church

During the years of the Holocaust, Angelo G. Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII, learned about the unfolding mass murder and tried to support rescue efforts. Upon becoming pope, he initiated the Second Vatican Council, which resulted in the "Jewish Document," or Nostra Aetate ("In Our Time"), which exonerated the Jewish people from the collective charge of deicide, reinstated God's covenant with the children of Israel, and denounced antisemitism. Since then a number of papal documents have followed, all imbued with the same wish to foster a brotherly dialogue with the Jewish people after the Holocaust, calling for mutual respect, depicting Jews as the beloved elderly brothers of Christians, and denouncing antisemitism. This process culminated in a long address issued by Pope Francis on December 10, 2015 in which he emphatically declared that a Christian cannot be an antisemite because Judaism is the source of Christianity. This ongoing process of rapprochement between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people is important and is not as well-known as it should be among both Jews and Christians.

Cherishing and Clarifying Difference

This text introduces the section of articles resulting from a panel discussion of the Roman Catholic text ‘“The Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable (Rom 11. 29)”: A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic-Jewish Relations on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of “Nostra Aetate” at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, in January 2016.

Meryem Ana Evi, Marian Devotion and the Making of Nostra aetate 3

The Vatican II document Nostra aetate calls devotion to Mary a key point of Christian-Muslim encounter. But this statement is not footnoted, so one might wonder about its basis in history and tradition. How did Marian devotion make it into the document's brief list of connections between Islam and Christianity, along with one God, judgment day, resurrection of the body, and Abraham? This article suggests that the Council Fathers' knowledge of popular devotion to Mary at shared shrines like Turkey's Meryem Ana Evi played a role in its inclusion.

Divine sparks and Abraham: a major difference

Gavin'D'Costa defends the continuity of Nostra Aetate with centuries of ecclesiastical teaching. This may be true but any religion will emphasize continuity when it comes to authoritative documents. The genuine renewal of Nostra Aetate regarding the dialogue with Judaism and Islam tends to be ignored by considering these religions merely as divine sparks.

Die Bedeutung der Konzilserklärung »Nostra Aetate« für die Beziehungen zwischen der katholischen Kirche und dem Judentum in Russland, Weißrussland und der Ukraine

Summary The 50 year anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the attitude of the Church towards non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate (NA) dated 28 October, 1965, offered an opportunity for remembrance and examination regarding the Christian-Jewish relationship in Europe. What insight comes then from a look at the East Slavic countries that had previously been a part of the Soviet Union: Russia, Belarus and Ukraine? Reception of the NA was markedly delayed in these countries. Their churches »missed« the Council; to a large extent, they lacked a regular hierarchy and command structure at the time of the Council. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were faced with a (re)building of all church structures. It would be years before they were ready to appreciate the reality of the Council and its Declaration NA, and years before the relationship with the Jewish community could be examined. NA was not available in the form of official translations until relatively late in this period: 1996 in Ukrainian translation, 1998 in Russian, and 2009 in Belarusian translation. In conjunction with this new accessibility of NA came an institutional anchoring of efforts with regards to its reception, as well as dealing with the Christian-Jewish relationship. In summary, it can be said that the delayed reception of NA nevertheless created great potential in the three countries, offering the Christian-Jewish relationship unique perspectives into the future.

Fifty Years and Learning: Developments in the Roman Catholic Church's Encounter with Religions

In this article the author argues that the Roman Catholic Church does not have a firm theological position on other religions, as its engagement with them as partners in dialogue has emerged only since the Second Vatican Council. The article provides an overview of the Roman Catholic Church's theology and teachings on non-Christian religions, beginning with the council's shortest, but by no means least-significant, document, Nostra aetate. The author claims that an examination of Nostra aetate's redaction history, the text itself, and the text in relation to other conciliar texts, reveals an optimistic view of salvation and other religions. The author then traces further doctrinal developments in the magisterium of John Paul ii. The length of his papacy, coupled with his personal commitment to dialogue, resulted in significant developments and milestones. The teachings of Benedict xvi and Francis are briefly surveyed. A last section explores ever-evolving theologies and practices that shape the church's approach to other religions today: comparative theology, theologies of dialogue, and theologies of religion.

The Reception of Nostra Aetate and Christian Jewish Relations in Poland

Summary The author examines the question of when and under what circumstances the Conciliar Declaration actually became tangible in Poland. The Declaration was intended to lead to a redefining of relations between Judaism and the Roman Catholic Church. Krajewski sifts through the conflict-ridden developments affecting the Catholic Church in the era of Communist rule in Poland, and in the subsequent period of transformation. Concrete steps in and implementation of Jewish-Christian dialogue can really only be established from the 1990s, in a time when the pontificate of John Paul II played a contributory role. This article also looks into current societal trends, which are once again straining relations between the churches and Judaism, and posing new challenges on the implementation of dialogue between the parties.

Journey to Dialogue: Sisters of Our Lady of Sion and the Writing of Nostra Aetate

Scholars have recently examined the work of several groups engaged in the intellectual projects that provided the foundation of Nostra Aetate and, in some cases participated in the writing process. The Sisters of Our Lady of Sion are one of these groups. They are an international women's religious congregation, originally founded with a perspective of conversion that, over the course of a century, developed a commitment to encounter, dialogue and friendship. This article looks at their work in the years preceding the Second Vatican Council, as well as the period of the Council. It then looks at four critical elements that, over the course of several decades allowed the Sisters to make the journey from conversion to dialogue: philosemitism, ressourcement, the Shoah, and the Affaire Finaly. Using administrative documents, it then traces the actual development of thinking from 1946 to 1964. This exploration shows the Sisters' work as being part of a larger context in which women and men, lay people and clergy, scholars and pastoral workers underwent a transformation in the ways in which they understood the relationship of Jews and Christians and made possible a similar transformation in the Church's self-understanding.