Friends on the Way: Jesuits Encounter Contemporary Judaism

by Fordham University Press

Overview

The largest order of religious in the Roman Catholic Church, the Society of Jesus has been at the forefront of the Church's efforts at dialogue across religions. Understanding and improving relations between the Church and the Jewish people has been a major focus of the Holy See and the Society of Jesus for many years. This book, the fruit of a major conference on the history, nature, and dynamics of relations between Jesuits and contemporary Jewish life, brings together a rich, wide-ranging selection of essays by Jesuit scholars and pastoral leaders, a leading Jewish studies scholar,and a leading rabbi. Drawing on a variety of approaches in historical and constructive theology, literary criticism, and spirituality, the contributors explore historical, philosophical, theological, cultural, and institutional themes—from Ignatian perspectives on Halakhic spirituality and the role played in Jesuit history by Jews forced to convert to Christianity to Jesuit perspectives on Hannah Arendt, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Harold Bloom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823228126
Publisher:	Fordham University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2010
Series:	Abrahamic Dialogues
Edition description:	3
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Thomas Michel, S.J., is Secretary for Interreligious Dialogue of the Society of Jesus in Rome and Ecumenical Secretary of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.

Table of Contents

Preface   Thomas Michel, S.J.     vii
Introduction   Harold Kasimow     1
From Windfall to Fall: The Conversos in the Society of Jesus   Marc Rastoin, S.J.     8
Reflections on the Dialogue between Jew and Non-Jew in the Bible and in Rabbinic Literature   Rabbi Tovia Ben-Chorin     28
The Goal of the Ignatian Exercises and Soloveitchik's Halakhic Spirituality   Christian M. Rutishauser, S.J.     38
An Ignatian Perspective on Contemporary Jewish Spirituality   Donald Moore, S.J.     57
The Jewish Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel as a Challenge for Catholic Theology   Stanislaw Obirek     71
The Genius and the Wisdom of Harold Bloom   Peter Du Brul, S.J.     83
From Midrash to Rashi to Contemporary Narrative Exegesis (R. Alter, M. Sternberg, et al.): Continuity in Jewish Biblical Reading   Jean-Pierre Sonnet, S.J.     111
Inscribe the New in the Old: Inner-Biblical Exegesis (M. Fishbane) and the Hermeneutics of Innovation (B. Levinson)   Jean-Pierre Sonnet, S.J.     128
A Catholic Conversation with Hannah Arendt   James Bernauer, S.J.     142
What Might Israelis and Jews Learn about Christians and Christianity at Yad Vashem?   David M. Neuhaus, S.J.     166
Contributors     179
Notes     183
Index     223

Editorial Reviews

This is a strong collection of individual essays that will prove useful to theological educators and dialogue participants.

Catholic Library World

"The ten papers in this volume were prepared for the Third International Colloquium of Jesuits in Jewish-Christian Dialogue held in 2005 at Zul, Switzerland.

New Testaments Abstracts

Presents a cadre of talented Jesuit thinkers addressing a range of Jewish questions with familiarity and depth.

Siena College - Peter Zaas

For the past several years, members of the Society of Jesus have been studying together and meeting with Jewish guests to explore the relationship between Jesuits and Jews both historically and theologically. Partially this involves a reckoning with the past denigration of Jews, but it also generates profound spiritual enrichment for those involved. In the volume are collected insightful essays about this exciting undertaking, which consider biblical, historical, and theological topics. Everyone interested in Christian-Jewish relations will be intrigued by this engagement with the more focused subject of Jesuit-Jewish relations.

Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College - Philip A. Cunningham

This volume deepens the conversation between Jesuits and Jews as the Society of Jesus acknowledges its history—both its pride in Ignatius' stance and the need for contrition for its antisemetic role in the years that followed.

Shofar

This volume deepens the conversation between Jesuits and Jews as the Society of Jesus acknowledges its history-both its pride in Ignatius' stance and the need for contrition for its antisemetic role in the years that followed.

This is a strong collection of individual essays that will prove useful to theological educators and dialogue participants.

The ten papers in this volume were prepared for the Third International Colloquium of Jesuits in Jewish-Christian Dialogue held in 2005 at Zul, Switzerland.

From the Publisher