The Catholic Church and the Jewish People: Recent Reflections from Rome

Preface

Preface Cardinal Walter Kasper The year 2005 was very important for dialogues between Jews and Catholics. More than forty years ago, in October 1965, the Second Vatican Council promulgated the document Nostra Aetate, dedicated to the relations between the Catholic Church and other religions, and in the fourth paragraph, specifically to the special relationship with Judaism. (In fact, prior to the Council, Pope John XXIII had already commissioned Cardinal Augustine Bea to write a Tractatus de Judaeis.) The Council’s declaration made way for a long and promising dialogue between the Catholic Church and Jews, ‘‘our elder brothers in the faith of Abraham,’’ as Pope John Paul II described them. After recalling the Church’s roots in biblical Israel and the patriarchs , the fourth section of Nostra Aetate went on to define the mandate for dialogue in a clear and precise way. ‘‘Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies as well as of fraternal dialogues.’’ Now, more than forty years later, it can be said that this dialogue has led to important developments and that mutual respect between Jews and Christians has been greatly strengthened thanks to meetings, both academic and private, at international and local levels. We have come a long way, but there remains a lot to do. We need to continue our efforts x / Preface to improve the ties between Jews and Christians and continue to discover the spiritual and theological heritage that unites us. I am grateful that the Pontifical Gregorian University had, in 1978, already initiated a project corresponding to the main themes outlined by Nostra Aetate. The foundation of the Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies has contributed significantly to the study of Judaism and Jewish -Christian relations. The Jewish-Christian dialogue has developed in two directions: the dialogue ad extra, with Jewish people from all over the world, and the dialogue ad intra, which promotes, within our Church, the study of documents relating to Judaism and the results achieved from the dialogue. To support the dialogue ad intra, the Cardinal Bea Centre organized a series of lectures in 2004 and 2005, entitled The Catholic Church and Judaism from Vatican II to Today, marking the fortieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate. I was honored to contribute to this series with a lecture, ‘‘Paths Taken and Enduring Questions in Jewish-Christian Relations Today.’’ Thanks to the close collaboration between the Cardinal Bea Centre and a leading institute in the United States, the Center for Christian -Jewish Learning at Boston College, many of the lectures in the series were, shortly after their delivery, translated from their original Italian and made available in English on the Boston College Website. These translated lectures have been collected, refined, and updated in this volume and represent important contributions to the study of the Christian-Jewish dialogue and the Christian theology of Judaism that continues to develop in many academic circles. I extend my thanks to the Cardinal Bea Centre and the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning for making these essays available in English. Cardinal Walter Kasper President, Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews ...