Vatican Reflection on Christian and Jewish Relationships Encourages Cooperation, Causes Confusion

The word context is derived from two Latin root words which mean to bring together. That was the main purpose of this December 2015 reflection offered by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jewish people. It was hoped that it would bring Jews and Christians together in love and promote common cooperation in an age which demands their common witness. It was not some attempt to deny the clear teaching of the New Testament and the Christian Tradition concerning God's plan of salvation in Jesus Christ and His Church.

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CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - The Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Jews issued a reflection entitled "The Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable" on December 10, 2015. The title is taken from the letter to the Roman Christians wherein the Apostle Paul addressed the salvation of "all of Israel". (Romans 11) The occasion for this reflection was the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the release of NOSTRA AETATE, the "Declaration of the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions". The Latin title means "In Our Time". Formal titles of Catholic Church documents come from the first sentence in the official Latin edition.

This reflection was intended to address paragraph four of Nostra Aetate on the relationship between Christians and Jews. The earlier declaration from the Second Vatican Council moved the Catholic Church away from mistakes of the past, and affirmed the Jewish roots of Christianity. It promoted the unique bond between Christians and Jews. At the time that Declaration was being written, some questioned the inclusion of paragraph four within the broader treatment of non-Christian religions. They favored a unique treatment of Jewish and Christian relationships. I believe time has proven their cautions were justified.    

The December 2015 refection notes that the "dialogue with Judaism is for Christians something quite special, since Christianity possesses Jewish roots which determine relations between the two in a unique way". It frankly examines the painful history of the relationship between the Christian Church and Jewish people in order to allow the past to become a tutor.  It was meant to continue the healing process called for in 1998 release of the powerful "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah". By way of explanation, "The biblical word Shoah (which has been used to mean "destruction" since the Middle Ages) became the standard Hebrew term for the murder of European Jewry as early as the early 1940s is another word used for the evil of the holocaust of the Jews under National Socialism in Germany." (The Holocaust Resource Center) 

The December reflection was intended to promote the growing brotherly love and mutuality of respect between Christians and Jews. It affirms that "Judaism is not to be considered simply as another religion; the Jews are instead our "elder brothers" (Saint Pope John Paul II), our "fathers in faith" (Benedict XVI)". Though set within a Catholic Christian context, the teaching found within the latest reflection was meant to be welcomed by Christians from across the confessional spectrum. It could be a resource for prayer, bible study, and discussion. Its treatment of the "relationship between the Old and New Testament and the Old and New Covenant" is an exposition of the theology of covenant from both the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament.

Confusion

Its fifth section, entitled "The universality of salvation in Jesus Christ and God's unrevoked covenant with Israel" treats the message of salvation in Jesus Christ with biblical clarity, while at the same time affirming God's covenant with the Jewish people as irrevocable. It offers an expository treatment on the continuity between the Jewish and Christian faith. This is where some Christians, Protestant, Evangelical, Orthodox and Catholic, have raised concerns about the clarity of the reflection and the lack of precision of language within it. The reflection explains that while "the Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews", Christians are "nonetheless called to bear witness to their faith in Jesus Christ also to Jews." 

The reflection primarily addresses the manner, or the spirit of that effort to bear witness, reminding Christian believers that "they should do so in a humble and sensitive manner, acknowledging that Jews are bearers of God's Word, and particularly in view of the great tragedy of the Shoah."

For Catholic Christians, the subject of the essential and indispensable role of redemption in and through Jesus Christ and the Church, as well as the missionary mandate to proclaim the Gospel to all men and women, is set forth with crystal clarity in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. (See, e.g. CCC #846-852) Citing the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans (Rom. 9:4,5 and Rom. 11:29) - and using the exact words of the text- the Catechism says of the Jewish people:

"The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, "the first to hear the Word of God."The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews "belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ", "for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable."

The necessity of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all men and women was authoritatively addressed by the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith of the Vatican in a Declaration entitled Jesus is Lord (Dominus Jesus in Latin) issued in the year 2000. The teaching in that document was more than a "reflection", it was and is a Declaration. Its subtitle, ON THE UNICITY AND SALVIFIC UNIVERSALITY OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE CHURCH makes the point without any hesitation or imprecision in language.

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That Declaration was signed by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, then Secretary of the Congregation (who later became Pope Benedict XVI) and formally ratified and confirmed by the late Saint Pope John Paul II. Here is one of many irrefutable affirmations of the necessity of the fullness of salvation in Jesus Christ from that document:

"(I)t must be firmly believed that, in the mystery of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, who is "the way, the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6), the full revelation of divine truth is given: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him" (Mt 11:27); "No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has revealed him" (Jn 1:18); "For in Christ the whole fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form" (Col 2:9-10)."

Context

We use the word context as a noun in English. One source defines it as referring to "the parts of a written or spoken statement that precede or follow a specific word or passage, usually influencing its meaning or effect: You have misinterpreted my remark because you took it out of context." It is meant to include "the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation."  The word context is derived from two Latin root words which mean to bring together.

That was the main purpose of this December 2015 reflection offered by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jewish people. It was hoped that it would bring Jews and Christians together in love and promote common cooperation in an age which demands their common witness. It was not some attempt to deny the clear teaching of the New Testament and the Christian Tradition concerning God's plan of salvation in Jesus Christ and His Church.

It was also intended to bring Christians together across the confessional lines which divide us on the subject of recognizing the wonderful plan of God with the Jewish people - and then call us to collaboration. On that front, it has not succeeded. It has caused confusion and reaction across the Christian confessional spectrum. 

That is why the December 2015 reflection is styled as a REFLECTION. In its own preface it sets forth the claim that it is not a magisterial document. The writers go to great lengths to offer in that  Preface an explanation of the limited purpose of the reflection and attempt to clarify how it is to be received:

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"Fifty years ago, the declaration "Nostra aetate" of the Second Vatican Council was promulgated. Its fourth article presents the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people in a new theological framework. The following reflections aim at looking back with gratitude on all that has been achieved over the last decades in the Jewish-Catholic relationship, providing at the same time a new stimulus for the future."

"Stressing once again the unique status of this relationship within the wider ambit of interreligious dialogue, theological questions are further discussed, such as the relevance of revelation, the relationship between the Old and the New Covenant, the relationship between the universality of salvation in Jesus Christ and the affirmation that the covenant of God with Israel has never been revoked, and the Church's mandate to evangelize in relation to Judaism."

"This document presents Catholic reflections on these questions, placing them in a theological context, in order that their significance may be deepened for members of both faith traditions. The text is not a magisterial document or doctrinal teaching of the Catholic Church, but is a reflection prepared by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews on current theological questions that have developed since the Second Vatican Council. It is intended to be a starting point for further theological thought with a view to enriching and intensifying the theological dimension of Jewish-Catholic dialogue."

Unfortunately, in some Catholic circles, as well as in some broader evangelical Protestant circles, this reflection is being perceived as an authoritative pronouncement which attempts to abrogate the messianic mission of Jesus Christ. It does not do that - and it cannot do that. One of the best articles I have read which places this reflection in its proper context is from lay Catholic theologian George Weigel and entitled "Jews and Catholics: A Common Witness".  

In a few online circles, some writers seem to not have even read this reflection, at least based upon their comments. Others may actually have chosen to misrepresent its content, for various reasons. It is important that Christians read original sources and not accept the spin. However, there are some sincere and understandable reactions among good Christian leaders who worry about the lack of clarity in the Reflection. I believe that is partially because they do not understand the levels of authority within Catholic sources. In addition, they properly fear that people might be led astray from understanding the essential nature of salvation in and through Jesus Christ into theological error and some form of new syncretism.

Conclusion

The release of this reflection follows what was hailed by Vatican Radio as a groundbreaking public statement of a group of Orthodox Jewish rabbis issued on December 3, 2015 entitled "To do the will of Our Father in heaven". It promotes the building of a new alliance among Jews to engage with Christians. It is promoted by the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding & Cooperation (CJCUC) which advocates for a partnership between Jews and Christians. The CJUC is the "official representative of world Jewry to the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews". 

The signatories affirm that they "seek to do the will of our Father in Heaven by accepting the hand offered to us by our Christian brothers and sisters." In so doing, they echo the emphasis in the Vatican reflection for cooperation by stating that "Jews and Christians must work together as partners to address the moral challenges of our era." That response is exactly what was intended by the "The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable"

We must cement Christian and Jewish relationships, especially given the urgency of this hour when the Jewish and Christian roots of the West are being systematically severed and discarded. There is much work to be done - and it should be done together. However, we also must do everything we can to promote the growing cooperation between faithful Christians, across the Christian confessional spectrum, so that we can work together in a new missionary age, proclaiming the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On that front, this reflection has had a less than desirable early track record.

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Deacon Keith A. Fournier is the Founder and Chairman of Common Good Foundation and Common Good Alliance. A Catholic Deacon of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, he and his wife Laurine have five grown children and seven grandchildren, He is a human rights lawyer and public policy advocate who has long been active at the intersection of faith and culture.He served as the first and founding Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice in the nineteen nineties and is now Special Counsel to Liberty Counsel and Chief Counsel fo the Common Good Legal Defense Fund. He is the Editor in Chief of Catholic Online, a senior writer for THE STREAM and a featured columnist for the Catholic News Agency.

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