Bat Kol Institute - Jewish Chrsitian Dialogue

Jewish - Christian Dialogue and Relations

When Pope John XXIII addressed the Jewish people in 1960 with the words 'I amJoseph your brother', a new era in Christian/Jewish relations began.

The Second Vatican Council had moved, in Nostra Aetate (1965), towards reconciliation between Christians and Jews, acknowledging its judgemental error of the past that portrayed and taught that the Jewish people had forfeited their place as children of God by rejecting the Messiah, Jesus.

Nostra Aetate also acknowledged the part this error played in contributing to the roots of anti-Semitism.

Nostra Aetate reminded the Christian world that Jesus, Mary his mother, and all the Disciples were Jewish. Pope John Paul II continued to promote Jewish Christian Dialogue and relationships so that in the Catholic Church today Christians have been able to apologise for the past and recognise that the Jewish people remain, and have always been, loved and chosen by God—that they remain still, Israel, chosen by God to be a light to the nations, and that God continues to be faithful to the Divine covenant with the Jewish people—a covenant that has never been revoked.

When, in 1986, Pope John Paul II met with the Rabbi Toaff in Rome Synagogue it was the first time a pope had been in a synagogue since St. Peter, in the First Century. John Paul II's words 'You are our dearly beloved brothers and, in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers' expressed to the world an acknowledgement that 'the Jews are beloved of God, who has called them with an irrevocable calling.' The developing dialogue between the Christian Churches and the Jewish people has been embraced and welcomed by Christians and Jews alike.

In a recent statement in Strasburg, Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini commented on the significance of the Church's role in the developments of revised biblical teaching after Nostra Aetate:

"In recent years, there has been a dramatic and unprecedented shift in Jewish and Christian relations. Throughout the nearly two millennia of Jewish exile, Christians have tended to characterize Judaism as a failed religion or, at best, a religion that prepared the way for, and is completed in, Christianity. In the decades since the holocaust, however, Christianity has changed dramatically. An increasing number of official church bodies, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, have made public statements of their remorse about Christian mistreatment of Jews and Judaism. These statements have declared, furthermore, that Christian teaching and preaching can and must be reformed so that they acknowledge God's enduring covenant with the Jewish people and celebrate the contribution of Judaism to world civilization and to the Christian faith itself.

"Before the rise of Christianity, Jews were the only worshippers of the God of Israel. But Christians also worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Creator of heaven and earth. Although Christian worship is not a viable religious choice for Jews, as Jewish theologians we rejoice that through Christianity hundreds of millions of people have entered into relationship with the God of Israel."

Bat Kol Institute and Jewish—Christian relations

The Bat Kol Institute, founded in Canada in 1983, is a non-profit international association of Christian women and men who are committed to study the Word of God within its Jewish context and to incorporate these studies into their Christian self-understanding in a manner that respects the integrity of both traditions. The inspiration for its founding, Nostra Aetate, is given direction in the subsequent ecclesial documents, and in the encouragement of Pope John Paul II: “In the dialogue with other religions, the church gives pride of place to the Jewish people, ‘our elder brothers and sisters’…There is much that Christians and Jews share together, and it is vital now that Christians should learn more of that common heritage” (Rome, April 28, 1999). The program of the Bat Kol Institute had been closely integrated into the Ratisbonne Institute (since 1987), and now, as an independent institute, maintains much of the curriculum and the faculty that were connected with the Ratisbonne Institute.

Conducted under the sponsorship of the Sisters of Sion, Bat Kol is a Catholic association of Christian women and men who are committed to study the Word of God within its Jewish context and to incorporate these studies into their Christian self-understanding. Nostra Aetate (#4) states, "Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wishes to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit above all of biblical and theological studies, and of brotherly dialogues." Bat Kol was founded as an institute where Christians can engage in biblical studies and explore their own historical relationship with theJewish tradition as a whole.

Most essential concepts in the Christian creed grew at first in Judaic soil. Uprooted from that soil, these basic concepts cannot be perfectly understood (US National Council of Catholic Bishops). Christian theologians of recent years have increasingly recognized both the historical interdependence of Judaism and Christianity and the continued significance of Judaism for Christian theology. Bat Kol was founded as an institute where Christians can engage in biblical studies and explore their own historical relationship with the Jewish tradition as a whole. The necessity of these studies has been given added impetus by the signing of the accord of recognition between the Vatican and the State of Israel on 29 December 1993.

During July and November each year, Bat Kol Institute sponsors intense month-long graduate level courses in Jerusalem, accepted by the Gregorian University and several international universities. In addition, Bat Kol Institute staff supervises several international extension programs founded by Bat Kol alumni.

LINKS TO CHRISTIAN—JEWISH DIALOGUE RESOURCES