TWO TAKES ON CHRISTIANITY: FURTHERING THE DIALOGUE

PRECIS This essay examines the concept of Christology from a Judaic perspective in an attempt to answer the following questions: Is Jesus the Christ, the one and only begotten son of God, only for those who accept him as such? Or, is Jesus the Christ, the one and only begotten son of God, for all hu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of ecumenical studies Vol. 47; no. 4; pp. 508 - 524
Main Author LEONARD JACOBS, Steven
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia, PA Temple University 22.09.2012
University of Pennsylvania Press
Subjects
Analysis
Christianity
Christianity and other religions
Christology
Contemporary period
Ecumenism
General subjects
History and sciences of religions
Jesus Christ
Judaism
Oecumenism
Religious studies
United States
Interreligious dialogue
Oecumenism
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Summary:PRECIS This essay examines the concept of Christology from a Judaic perspective in an attempt to answer the following questions: Is Jesus the Christ, the one and only begotten son of God, only for those who accept him as such? Or, is Jesus the Christ, the one and only begotten son of God, for all humanity--including those who do not accept him as such? What about those who neither accept him as such nor reject him outright or who stand in ignorance of him? What is the proper Christian response, first to the Jews and also to the Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others? How do we proceed in dialogue, knowing full well that Jews can no more acknowledge the divinity of this Christ than Christians can affirm the full humanity only of this Christ? To take a pragmatic, realistic, honest, and therefore somewhat different approach from Jesus studies and Pauline studies, l ask the provocative question, "Do Jesus and Paul really matter Judaically?" That is to say, given the asymmetrical relationship between Christianity and Judaism (that is, Christian authenticity more and more is becoming enriched by its reaffirmation of its Judaic roots and beginnings, while Judaism appears not at all to be so enriched--other than dialogically), is there any place whatsoever for either Jesus or Paul within a renewed appreciative Jewish context, or will such present and future conversations always remain outside the purview of Judaism?
ISSN:0022-0558
2162-3937