I’m not exactly sure what Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is advocating here. Does he advocate dialogue about strengthening the relationships between two faith communities? Or does he advocate actual theological dialogue? And where does one stop and the other begin? In a rather lengthy op-ed in the Jerusalem Post he tries to address this issue. And he proclaims his ‘sea change’ in attitude about inter-faith relations with Christianity.
Early in his career he as strongly opposed to it. Now he seems to actually facilitate it. He reasons that things have changed in our day so dramatically that it justifies this change of attitude.
I am with him up to a point. The truth is things have changed dramatically for all the reasons he has stated. I have written about those changes myself, many times. But does that mean we should now have inter-faith dialogue? I’m not sure these changes justify going that far. Maybe they do. I don’t know but the reasons given are not enough in my view... if I understand him correctly.
But those reasons are enough to change our relationships with Christendom in every other way, in my view. We can and should unite in areas where we have common ground in the true spirit of the brotherhood of man and goodwill. We can and we should now look at Christianity in a different more positive light. More now than ever before.
For the over 2 millenia since its creation, Christianity has been a thorn in our side. A mixed blessing. In fact it was in some ways a blessing but in far more ways a curse.
The Rambam looked at the advent of Christianity as a step toward Messianic times. Christendom literally changed the world. They turned a world of idol worshippers into a world of monotheists who believe in one God, albeit through Shituf… the idea of the Trinity.
That was the plus. The minus as Rabbi Riskin points out is the over two millennia of Christians looking at Jews as infidels requiring conversions; otherwise to be despised as the ‘rejected of God’. Today ever since Vatican Two, they no longer look at us that way. They now look at us as the original and still chosen of God whose permanent treaty with us has never been dissolved... never can be dissolved! They no longer look at themselves as the replacement ‘chosen’ of the now fallen Jewish people, but as a people who grafted themselves on to our covenant.
And it isn’t only Catholics, but fundamentalist Christians as well. More so than even Catholics… as has been so eloquently demonstrated by people like Evangelical Pastor John Hagee, and many many more Evangelical preachers.
So yes, we do need to re-adjust our thinking about Christians. They are no longer out to convert us. …at least not actively… granting us our own independent merit. There has never been a better time to do so than now. This is an historic first in Christian Jewish relations and we ought to work on it and develop it.
The only question is how. Inter-faith dialogue has been discouraged by leading rabbinic figures of the 20th century, including Rabbi Riskin’s own mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. The reasons for doing so are not so clear to me but I assume it probably has something to do with the possibility of corrupting our beliefs by listening to what Judaism considers heretical views.
It can be argued, as Rabbi Rsikin does that because of the sea change in attitude, that we no longer have to worry about that and that if properly constructed, dialolgue can only have beneficial results. Inter faith dialogue will only help Christians better understand their roots and thereby appreciate our religious views. That’s probably true.
But is it enough to change the near universal rulings by the great rabbinic leaders of the past? Would they change their views knowing what we know now? I’m not so sure. Dialogue goes both ways and listening to Christian theology may in fact negatively impact our own beliefs.
I am not worried about ‘winning’ a theological debate. I have enough confidence in the truth of Judaism to know that it wouldn’t sway me. But that state of mind is not universal. Why take the chance that someone could God forbid be swayed by what we consider heresy?
I think that should be the overriding consideration. Inter faith relations does not necessarily require inter faith dialogue. What it does require is our own ‘sea change’ in attitude. We need to re-adjust how we look at their theology from a negative one that is so common in our circles to a positive one.
It won’t be easy. The negative attitude has been around for a long time and for good reason. There has hardly been a period in Jewish history that Jews weren’t in some way persecuted by Christendom in some way. Whether directly as in the Inquisition, or indirectly as in the holocaust. Christian attitudes towards the Jews were certainly a factor in Hitler’s ability to do what he did.
Christianity is reaching out to us now as never before. We should not miss this opportunity to better our relationship. We need to put our past attitudes aside, and not bear any grudges. This is a new era and the Rambam’s theological understanding of the advent of Christianity should be our focus, not the Crusades, the Inquisition or the holocaust. By facilitating a more positive relationship with Christendom we will surely expedite the advent of Moshiach.
