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Judaism and Christianity are religions bound together by their
claims to the same biblical covenant initiated by God with Abraham
and his descendants. Yet, despite the inseparable connection
between the election of Israel and that of the church, between the
"old" and the "new" covenant, this shared spiritual patrimony has
been the source of a type of violent sibling rivalry competing for
the same paternal love and inherited entitlement. God, it seemed,
had but one blessing to bestow. It could be given to either Jacob
or Esau-but not both. In the twenty-first century, however, Jews
and Christians are challenged to reconsider their theological
assumptions by two inescapable truths: the moral tragedy of the
holocaust demands that Christian thinkers acknowledge the violent
effects of theologically de-legitimizing Jews and Judaism, and the
pervasive reality of cultural and religious pluralism calls both
Christian and Jewish theologians to rethink the covenant in the
presence of the Other. Two Faiths, One Covenant? Jewish and
Christian Identity in the Presence of the Other is a breakthrough
work that embraces this contemporary challenge and charts a path
toward fruitful interfaith dialogue. The Christian and Jewish
theologians in this book explore the ways that both religions have
understood the covenant in biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern
religious writings and reflect on how the covenant can serve as a
reservoir for a positive theological relationship between
Christianity and Judaism-not merely one of non-belligerent
tolerance, but of respect and theological pluralism, however
limited.
We are exorbitant, and rightly so, when we cut any link we may have
to cosmological powers. Levinas invites us to be exorbitant by
distancing ourselves from visions of metaphysics, epistemology, and
theology. We begin to listen well to Levinas when we hear him
inviting us to break completely with the pagan world in which the
gods are simply the highest beings in the cosmos and learn to
practice an adult religion in which God is outside cosmology and
ontology. God comes to mind neither in our attempts to think him as
the creator of the cosmos nor in moments of ecstasy but in acts of
genuine holiness, such as sharing a piece of bread with someone in
a time of desperate need. Levinas, in short, enjoins us to be
exorbitant in our dealings with one another. This book asks how the
"between" of Levinas's thinking facilitates a dialogue between Jews
and Christians. In one sense, Levinas stands exactly between Jews
and Christians: ethics, as he conceives it, is a space in which
religious traditions can meet. At the same time, his position seems
profoundly ambivalent. No one can read a page of his writings
without hearing a Jewish voice as well a a philosophical one. Yet
his talk of substitution seems to resonate with Christological
themes. On occasion, Levinas himself sharply distinguishes Judaism
from Christianity--but to what extent can his thinking become the
basis for a dialogue between Christians and Jews? This book, with a
stellar cast of contributors, explores these questions, thereby
providing a snapshot of the current state of Jewish-Christian
dialogue.
The scope of this collection of original essays covers the years
1050 to 1215, but it really begins in the summer of 1096, when
marauding crusaders attacked Jewish communities in three Rhineland
cities. These violent episodes disrupted what had been a fairly
peaceful history of coexistence between Jews and Christians for
more than two centuries. Although the two groups inhabited
fundamentally different religious universes, Jews and Christians
lived in the same towns, on the same streets, and pursued their
lives with minimal mutual interference and often with considerable
cooperation. The events of 1096 destroyed that status quo.
Relations between the two communities deteriorated, and the Jewish
communities suffered as a result.
The contributors' careful analyses of people, events, and texts
provide a balanced perspective on the fate of twelfth-century
Jewish communities. They reveal that there is considerable evidence
that old routines and interactions between Christians and Jews
persisted throughout this period. From the perspective of the
editors and contributors, this sense of complementarity, of
interaction or action and reaction, needs to better inform the
medieval story. The essays in this volume therefore intentionally
highlight areas of common or parallel activity: in vernacular
literature, in biblical exegesis, in piety and mysticism, in the
social context of conversion, in relations with prelates and
monarchs, in coping in a time of change, renewal, and upheaval.
Most importantly, the editors and contributors insist on
integrating both Jewish and Christian perspectives into the larger
history of a very complex and increasingly urban twelfth-century
Europe.
We are exorbitant, and rightly so, when we cut any link we may have
to cosmological powers. Levinas invites us to be exorbitant by
distancing ourselves from visions of metaphysics, epistemology, and
theology. We begin to listen well to Levinas when we hear him
inviting us to break completely with the pagan world in which the
gods are simply the highest beings in the cosmos and learn to
practice an adult religion in which God is outside cosmology and
ontology. God comes to mind neither in our attempts to think him as
the creator of the cosmos nor in moments of ecstasy but in acts of
genuine holiness, such as sharing a piece of bread with someone in
a time of desperate need. Levinas, in short, enjoins us to be
exorbitant in our dealings with one another. This book asks how the
"between" of Levinas's thinking facilitates a dialogue between Jews
and Christians. In one sense, Levinas stands exactly between Jews
and Christians: ethics, as he conceives it, is a space in which
religious traditions can meet. At the same time, his position seems
profoundly ambivalent. No one can read a page of his writings
without hearing a Jewish voice as well a a philosophical one. Yet
his talk of substitution seems to resonate with Christological
themes. On occasion, Levinas himself sharply distinguishes Judaism
from Christianity--but to what extent can his thinking become the
basis for a dialogue between Christians and Jews? This book, with a
stellar cast of contributors, explores these questions, thereby
providing a snapshot of the current state of Jewish-Christian
dialogue.
In the summer of 1096, marauding crusaders attacked Jewish
communities in three Rhineland cities. These violent episodes
disrupted what had been a fairly peaceful history of coexistence
between Jews and Christians for more than two centuries. Although
the two groups inhabited fundamentally different religious
universes, Jews and Christians lived in the same towns, on the same
streets, and pursued their lives with minimal interference, often
with considerable cooperation. However, the events of 1096 caused
relations between the two communities to deteriorate, with Jewish
communities suffering as a result. The careful analyses of people,
events, and texts provide a balanced perspective on the fate of
twelfth-century Jewish communities. The contributors reveal
considerable evidence that old routines and interactions between
Christians and Jews persisted throughout this volatile period. The
essays intentionally highlight areas of common or parallel
activity: in vernacular literature, in biblical exegesis, in piety
and mysticism, in the social context of conversion, in relations
with prelates and monarchs, in coping in a time of change, renewal,
and upheaval. Most importantly, the contributors insist on
integrating both Jewish and Christian perspectives into the larger
history of a very complex and increasingly urban twelfth-century
Europe. Contributors: John Van Engen, Jeremy Cohen, Ivan G. Marcus,
Robert Chazan, Jonathan M. Elukin, William Chester Jordan, Walter
Cahn, Jan M. Ziolkowski, Michael A. Signer, Elliott R. Wolfson,
Susan Einbinder, Maureen Boulton, Alfred Haverkamp, Gerard Nahon,
and Robert C. Stacey.
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