TeachingRE Issue 4.pdf - the Second Level Support Service

I cannot do justice in so short a space to the three important texts I will now turn to, but hopefully I can give a hint tothe great depth within them. In a collection of Orthodox Rabbi Irving Greenberg’s essays, For the Sake of Heaven andEarth: The New Encounter Between Judaism and Christianity, Greenberg writes that Jesus was a ‘failed’, but not a ‘false’Messiah. For Greenberg, such a distinction is ultimately complementary as he is clear that all the great figures withinJudaism failed in some way: Moses, for example, was not allowed to enter the Promised Land because of an apparentmoment of infidelity towards God.While a false Messiah is someone who strives against God and speaks falsely in God’sname, a failed Messiah is one who honestly sought to establish the kingdom of God on earth, but like many before him,did not fully succeed.After genocides, wars, mass poverty, starvation, disease and ethnic cleansing, it is difficult to argue that Jesus’ life hasushered in a new age of peace, joy, and connection with God – as would be expected in most Jewish messianicexpectations. For the sake of the integrity of Christianity and the marginalised and victims of horror and suffering, it isreasonable to assert with Didier Pollefeyt that:“Christians need to learn to live with the Jewish belief in the ‘No’ to Jesusfor the sake of their own Christology.The way Jesus will come as the Christ and the Redeemer of the World will dependon the way Christians represent him in the present”. xvi Thus, as Greenberg writes:“[Jesus] has not finished the job, buthis work is not in vain”. xvii He calls everyone to continue this liberating and prophetic work.While the actual term of“failed Messiah” is not one most Christians would embrace, elements of truth behind the phrase cannot be ignored.In Opening the Covenant:A Jewish Theology of Christianity, Michael Kogan affirms the revelatory nature of the Christ event– for Christians – and praises the JewishYeshua for bringing the message of the biblical God to the Gentiles. Kogan’s workis a tour de force in Jewish-Christian relations for his fair and at times, laudatory message for a post-Holocaust Christianitythat is striving to face and repent for the sins committed against Jews. For those Christians who oppose evangelising Jewsand accept the eternal covenant of the Jewish faith, Kogan writes:“As long as they recognise the truth of our faith forus, we may feel free to recognise the truth of their faith for them. . . One God, two revelations, two true religions”. xviiiLastly, in Jewish Christian Dialogue: Drawing Honey from the Rock, Jewish scholars Alan Berger and David Patterson examinean array of issues and problems within Jewish-Christian dialogue and then invite three Christian scholars to respond.AsDavid Gushee, one of the Christian participants noted,“[This book] is the most direct and no-holds barred critique ofChristians and Christianity that I have read from a Jewish perspective”. xix A Christian reading this book will struggle withdifficult accusations, comments, and truths. Here is one telling passage:“Crouched in the Christian creeds is a theologythat is unintelligible to Jewish teaching.The primary concepts that define the creeds – Incarnation, virgin birth, Son of God,the Trinity, and so on – are not contrary to Jewish teaching; they are unintelligible.” xx Although many Christians use thephrase Judeo-Christian as if the two religions are connected and united, Patterson and Berger are adamant thatfundamental truths of Christianity have no clear relationship to Judaism and Jewish belief. While many Christians wouldrightly (in my estimate) counter this assertion with the undeniable Jewishness of Jesus and the importance of the HebrewBible in Christian liturgy, theology, and prayer life, they may also need to take a second look – or do a more convincingjob – of explaining those contested terms above to their Jewish partners and their fellow Christians.One last comment on this very interesting material: building upon similar quotes from Pollefeyt and Kogan, Patterson andBerger write:“For the Christians, it seems, are faced with a theological reformulation of their own identity, in such a wayas to allow the Jews room for salvation through Torah, and not through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.In short, Christian theologians can avoid the blasphemy of anti-Semitism only by committing what until now would beviewed as another blasphemy, namely by adapting the view that for the Jews, Jesus is superfluous to salvation.” xxiWe have indeed come a long way from my talk with Yuri amidst the passing of a soccer ball.V. Conclusion: Full CircleEven in the difficult words spoken above by the Jewish theologians to Christians there is a sense of presence and gift, asthe thinkers unveil their true and unsheltered thoughts that are meant as a sign of respect for the Christian listener.Thisdoes not mean, of course, that the gift may also be initially burdensome and even unwelcome. It would be wonderful ifwe lived in a world where deep religious truths could be spoken amidst friendship and the passing of soccer balls; andthat such differences, although noted and not diluted, would always strengthen and not dissolve or cause tension in therelationship. Sadly, however that is not often the case.Interfaith dialogue that is grounded in the five qualities highlighted by Catherine Cornille and attempted withan embracing of the five areas I sketched further above are a means to grow deeper in one’s knowledge and love of theOther, one’s self, and the Divine. It can be a demanding, exhausting, and mind-rattling exercise as one’s seemingly firmgrasp of the world and its truths suddenly feel exposed and brittle. But again, it is in that sense of uncertainty, humility,and frailty that the gift of faith can best nurture oneself and one another as it demands that we reach out andacknowledge our need for each other. And in that sacred space, amidst uncertainty and fear, there is a hope that twostrangers from different faith traditions and backgrounds may even reach the point, where as adults, they can be presentto one another with the familiarity of being friends and the innocence of youth.8 TEACHING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ISSUE FOUR SEPTEMBER 2009