Selections from the Fathers of the Church Outside the New Testament, our earliest complete witness to Christian apologetic against the Jews remains the Dialogue with Trypho, written by Justin Martyr (d. ca. 165), a convert to Christianity from traditional Greek religion. The Dialogue purports to be a two-day dialogue that took place in Asia Minor between Justin and Trypho, a Hellenized Jew. Justin argues extensively on the basis of lengthy Old Testament quotations that Christ is the Messiah and God incarnate, and that the Christian community is the new Israel. In the beginning of the work Justin recounts how he converted to Christianity. The Dialogue remains of great, and varying, interest. It has important information on the development of Jewish-Christian relations, on the development of the text of the Old Testament, and on the existence and character of the early Jewish Christian community: Justin's story of how he became a Christian is one of our earliest conversion accounts. The Dialogue is an ideal textbook for classes investigating the development of religion in Late Antiquity since it touches on many aspects of religion in the Roman Empire. This edition of the Dialogue with Trypho is a revision of Thomas B. Falls's translation, which appeared in Fathers of the Church, vol. 6. Thomas P. Halton has emended the translation in light of the 1997 critical edition by Miroslav Marcovich, and he has provided extensive annotation to recent scholarship on the Dialogue. Michael Slusser has edited the volume to bring it into conformity with the new Selections from the Fathers of the Church series.

Der Theologe Adolf Keller war einer der Pioniere der okumenischen Bewegung fur Praktisches Christentum und wahrend 20 Jahren pragend fur den Evangelischen Kirchenbund der Schweiz. Nach dem 1. Weltkrieg vermittelte er die Kontakte zwischen den Kirchen Nordamerikas und Europas. 1925 wurde er Zweiter Generalsekretar der Bewegung fur Praktisches Christentum und damit Leiter des Internationalen Sozialwissenschaftlichen Instituts. 1934 grundete er das Okumenische Seminar, Vorlaufer des Institut oecumenique de Bossey, das er auch leitete. Auf seinen Anstoss war 1922 die Europaische Zentralstelle fur kirchliche Hilfsaktionen (Inter-Church Aid) entstanden, die Kirchen in Europa, in der Sowjetunion und im Orient unterstutzte. Er trat gegen den Nationalsozialismus ein und engagierte sich fur judische Fluchtlinge. Marianne Jehle-Wildberger legt nicht nur eine gut recherchierte Biographie des bedeutenden Okumenikers Keller vor, sondern eroffnet zugleich neue Perspektiven zur Geschichte der okumenischen Bewegung. Marianne Jehle-Wildberger, Jahrgang 1937, Historikerin und Lehrerin, Mitautorin der St. Galler Kantonsgeschichte (Kirchengeschichte im 20. Jahrhundert), ist Autorin des im TVZ erschienenen Bandes Das Gewissen sprechen lassen. Die Haltung der Evangelisch-reformierten Kirche des Kantons St. Gallen zum Kirchenkampf, zur Fluchtlingsnot und zur Fluchtlingspolitik 1933-1948.

Many people are of the opinion that our world faces a crisis, a "clash of civilizations," from which we are unlikely to recover. However, Turkish born educator, scholar and advocate for peace Fethullah Gulen believes that through education, tolerance, and dialogue, peace can be achieved. Gulen has spoken of what he calls "peace islands" in an analogy describing his non-violent, cooperative ideas about conflict resolution. The perceived "clash of civilizations" may come in waves of violence and anger throughout the world, but once these waves reach these peace islands, they will retreat with the tide leaving the islands unscathed. Gulen ideals provide the blueprint for these islands.This collection as a whole attempts what each individual paper proposes: a dialogue rooted in tolerance that accounts for the unique histories and assumptions of each member involved. Proper interfaith dialogue requires first an encounter between two or more individuals, then a willingness (rooted in tolerance) of each individual to engage with the other. This definition of interfaith dialogue is central to Gulen's writings, and indeed to the focus of this collection of papers. Each author relates to Gulen's ideas in a unique way, offering a diversity of perspectives that gives true dialogue its vibrant energy.

Bridges: Documents of the Christian-Jewish Dialogue is a comprehensive collection of statements on Christian-Jewish relations issued by churches and interfaith organizations around the world since the end of World War II. Vol. 1 contains such groundbreaking documents as the World Council of Churches' statement "The Christian Approach to the Jewish People" issued at its founding assembly in 1948; the Episcopal Church's "Deicide and the Jews"; the Second Vatican Council's historic declaration Nostra Aetate (1965), addresses by Popes Paul VI and John Paul II and other Roman Catholic documents; and official statements by Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, and other Protestant denominations, as well as ecumenical bodies. Joint Christian-Jewish documents include the famous "Ten Points of Seelisberg" and other statements from national and international interfaith organizations. All of these documents show the Christian churches in a posture of radical repentance for the hostility towards Jews and Judaism that has often marred their teachings, as well as an eager desire to engage contemporary Judaism in dialogue and to learn from its spiritual richness. The book is edited by Franklin Sherman, a longtime participant in and interpreter of the Christian-Jewish dialogue, and introduced by three eminent scholars in the field, each writing from a particular perspective: Alice L. Eckardt (Protestant), Philip A. Cunningham (Catholic), and Michael S. Kogan (Jewish). The volume concludes with pivotal essays on the possibilities and limits of interfaith dialogue by the eminent Jewish scholars Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. All documents are presented unabridged. Several statements by European church bodies are presented in English translation for the first time.

Relations among minorities and majorities, whether religious, ethnic, cultural or other, have been a triggering factor of social dynamics all over the world for millennia. Indeed, their relevance has further grown in recent decades due to turbulent politics and rapidly changing social relations. The Middle East and Asia have traditionally been home to a vast array of religious and ethnic groups, yet a series of both armed and ideological conflicts have begun to re-shape their classic complex social composition.This volume offers valuable insights into the issue of minorities in various geographical and political settings, from the Uyghurs of China and the modern Christian movements of India to the Romas and Dervishes of early 20th century Iran, the Mandaeans of Mesopotamia, and the Muslims of Western Europe.

This insightful volume represents the "hands-on" experience in the world of academia of two Jewish scholars, one of Orthodox background and the other a convert to the Jewish faith. As a series of separate but interrelated essays, it approaches multiple issues touching both the historical Jesus (himself a pious Jew) and the modern phenomenon of Messianic Judaism. It bridges the gap between the typically isolated disciplines of Jewish and Christian scholarship and forges a fresh level of understanding across religious boundaries. It delves into such issues as the nature and essence of Jesus' message (pietistic, militant or something of a hybrid), and whether Messianic Jews should be welcome in the larger Jewish community. Its ultimate challenge is to view sound scholarship as a means of bringing together disparate faith traditions around a common academic table. Serious research of the "great Nazarene" becomes interfaith discourse.

Set in British India soon after the Uprising of 1857, God's Word, Spoken and Otherwise explores the controversial and ingenious ideas of one of South Asia's most influential public thinkers, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898). Bringing to light previously unpublished material from his exegetical commentaries on the Bible and Qur'an, this study explores the interplay of natural and prophetic revelation from an intertextual perspective. The book provides fresh insight into Sir Sayyid's life and work, and underscores both the originality of his ideas, and also their continuity within a dynamic Muslim intellectual tradition.

Frankfurt/M., Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien. Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity. Vol. 125. Edited by Richard Friedli, Jan A. B. Jongeneel, Klaus Koschorke, Theo Sundermeier and Werner Ustorf When German missiologists started to re-import their dream of a dominant Christianity to central Europe, there were more similarities between the missionary and the national socialist utopias than the post-war consensus would like to admit. Fascism to many missiologists became the desired breaking point of modernity, a revival of the Volk's deep emotions and a breakthrough of the archaic spirituality they had long been waiting for. Upon this tide they wanted to sail and conquer new territories for Christ. This study, therefore, will address the issue of mission and Nazism primarily in the light of the struggle of Christianity for a place or a home within and vis-a-vis the culture of the West as it was approaching the end of modernity. Contents: Christian missionary thinking in its broad historical context - Explicitly missionary but non-Christian movements in Germany at the time (Hitler's missiology and Hauer's neopaganism) - Attempts in the US, in Britain and the wider ecumenical movement (William Hocking, Joe Oldham, the Oxford conference of 1937) at rethinking Christianity.