Friday, August 10, 1984 13
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
NEWS
Need stressed for Christian
understanding of Judaism
New York — Christians
should accept the fact that
their religion does not
supercede Judaism, and
that both faiths comple-
ment each other despite
their different roads to God,
according to a group of lead-
ing Christian theologians.
The theologians ex-
pressed.' their views in the
current issue of Face to
Face, an inter-religious
bulletin published quar-
terly by the Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai
B'rith.
•
Rabbi Leon Klenicki, di-
rector of ADL's Interreli-
gious Affairs Department
and editor of Face to Face,
said in an introductory arti-
cle that Christian teaching
of contempt, denigrating
the Jewish religion, has his-
torically created an atmos-
phere conducive to anti-
Semitism.
In a keynote article titled
"Judaism: The Christian
Problem," which is also the
title of the current issue, J.
Coert Rylaarsdam, pofessor
emeritus of theology at
Marquette University, as-
serted that "this is the time
in which Christian and Jew
can learn to mutually ac-
knowledge each other as
`people of God,' despite their
separateness and because of
it."
According to Monika
Hellwig, professor of theol-
ogy at Georgetown Univer-
sity, "there is no doubt that
the Christian churches still
have a great deal of theolog-
ical assimilation to do in
order to arrive at a self-
understanding that gives
Judaism a place under the
sun." She added that "there
seems to be some solid
ground for hope of dialogue
between Jews and Chris-
tians in which Christology
does not place an immova-
ble obstacle to recognition of
(Judaism's) legitimate
complementarity."
A German theologian,
Dorothy Soelle, visiting pro-
fessor of theology at Union
Theological. Seminary, said
that "in overstating Christ's
messianic role, Christians
often quench their thirst for
justice and this seems to me
the greatest danger of a
Christianity that has
turned away from her
spiritual mother, Israel."
The issue of Face to Face
also contains a section titled
"A New Maturity in
Christian-Jewish DialOgue:
An Annotated Bibliography
1973-1983," by Eugene J.
Fisher, executive director of
the Secretariat for
Catholic-Jewish Relations
of the National Conference
of Catholic Bishops. The
bibliography, according to
Dr. Fisher, traces "only the
last few years' worth of the
explosion of new literature
that has so irrevocably
changed for the better our
perceptions of each other as
religious communities and
the willingnes of Christian
and Jewish thinkers alike
to take up with new candor
even the most sensitive of
issues."
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Is nuclear disarmanient
a topic of Jewish concern?
BY BEN GALLOB
Special to The Jewish News
An overwhelming major-
ity of Conservative rabbis
responding to a survey by
the Rabbinical Assembly
(RA), their association,
agreed that nuclear dis-
armament is an issue of
Jewish concern and that the
threat of nuclear war has
produced serious anxieties
among Jewish teenagers
about their futures and
among young couples, pos-
ing serious questions about
whether or not they should
have children.
A total of 205 questin-
naires were returned from
the 1,000 sent to United
States and Canadian Con-
servative rabbis, according
to Rabbi Myron Fenster of
Roslyn, N.Y., chairman of
the RA social action com-
mittee. The RA is among
the religious groups which
have urged a nuclear freeze
and a reduction in the
armaments race.
Fenster said the RA was
"interested in finding out
how this problem — per-
haps the most important
religious issue of our time —
affects the congregation and
its spiritual leader."'He said
that, by 183 to seven, the.
responding Conservative
rabbis agreed that nuclear
armament did represent an
issue of Jewish concern.
Rabbi Louis Zivic re-
ported that religious school
students of Cong. Beth Is-
rael in Lebanon, Pa. who
live in the shadow of Three
Mile Island, find the prob-
lem "real and extremely
worrisome" and that some
use such phrases as "assum-
ing the world isn't destroyed
before my bar (or bat)
mitzvah."
1
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Rabbi Ludwig Nadel-
mann reported that Cong.
Mivakshei Dereck of
Scarsdale, N.Y. has in-
serted a special prayer into
its Sabbath service pointing
out man's responsibility
towards the universe and
stressing the potential de-
struction of creation
through use of nuclear
weapons.
,
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