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Editorial

The new Christian millennium has begun bringing with it a mixed legacy: the last century’s dark legacy of a hitherto unknown degree of genocide, and a legacy of hope inspired by hitherto unseen efforts in interfaith relationship and dialogue.

Post WW II efforts, particularly the 1947 Christian and Jewish deliberations at Seelisberg, Switzerland, and Vatican Council II’s expressions through Nostra Aetate bear witness that transformation of human beings, institutions, and systems of theological understanding is possible when this involves authentic transformations of heart, mind and will. Aware that centuries of misunderstanding, misrepresentation and contempt are not righted by one stroke of the pen, Nostra Aetate and later Vatican documents sought to enable this gradual indepth transformation through a clear call to Dialogue:

Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this Sacred Synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies as well as of fraternal dialogues. (Nostra Aetate, 4)

From now on, real dialogue must be established. Dialogue presupposes that each side wishes to know the other. […] In addition to friendly talks, competent people will be encouraged to meet and to study together the many problems deriving from the fundamental convictions of Judaism and Christianity. […] One might encourage a common meeting in the presence of God, in prayer and silent meditation, a highly efficacious way of finding that humility, that openness of heart and mind, necessary prerequisites for a deep knowledge of oneself and others. In particular, that will be done in connection with great causes such as the struggle for peace and justice. (1974, Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Document Nostra Aetate, I)

Through the personal testimonies of four individuals, this issue of SIDIC bears witness to the fact that this dialogue and transformation has been alive and active in Christian and Jewish communities worldwide. Mary C. Boys and Hans Hermann Henrix, from North America and Germany, write of transformation within the Catholic Christian experience, while Daniel Rossing and Norman Solomon, voices from Israel and Great Britain, are Jewish testimonies that transformation through dialogue “is an all encompassing way of life.” (Rossing, p. 7)

The books reviewed in this issue bear further testimony to this transformation. Pollefeyt’s work is an example of the dialogical efforts of scholars from Europe and North America to help transform a theology of supersession and substitution, while Riegner’s memoirs bear powerful witness to the transformative power of one human being’s life of persevering commitment. Shapiro’s essay on transformation through education, the American National Jewish-Catholic Consultation’s statement “To End the Death Penalty”, and the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust all testify to the diversity of efforts and the deeply-rooted transformative process needed to help effect “a profound change in our cultural attitudes, beliefs and behaviors” and to enhance “our ability to see the sacred faces of all who share our world.” (Shapiro, p. 19, 21).