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Presentation
The Editors
The Vatican Notes on the correct way to present Jews and Judaism in preaching and catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church cited Typology as the traditional way of -resolving the problem of the relationship between the Old and New Testament but noted that "many people are uneasy about this which points to a problem which is unresolved". Jews and Christians alike found it disquieting that this was the sole approach to the Old Testament mentioned in the Vatican text. As Geoffrey Wigoder commented "The use of typology has constituted a major obstacle for Jews throughout the history of the Church . . . and has inevitably bo.rne negative consequences for Jews and Judaism".(1) In this issue of SIDIC Francesca Cocchini discovers a legitimate typology in the Fathers of the Church (p. 9). F. Rossi de Gasperis distinguishes between a "typology of discontinuity" which has a long tradition in the Church but which is not to be identified with true Christian faith, and a "typology of continuity" which affirms the unity of the One God and the one mystery of salvation in both testaments (p. 4).
Yet typology is only one way of understanding the relationship between the Testaments and the article by Carmine Di Sante proposes a new and different way. Another important problem remains unresolved: the perpetual value of the Old Testament on its own grounds for Christian life. This was affirmed in the Vatican Guidelines relying on Dei Verbum 14/15 but its meaning was never developed. Even though a portion of the Old Testament is read every Sunday in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, yet its own intrinsic message is seldom developed in the homily. Many Christians still regard it primarily as a preparation far or a foreshadowing of the New Testament. An aspect of Biblical revelation is thus missing from Christian understanding.
One way of discovering a valid meaning of the Hebrew Bible is to look at the way it is interpreted in the Jewish community where it has continuously inspired daily life. Jesus himself lived within this tradition so it can scarcely be without interest for his followers. The article by Rabbi Jonathan Magonet is a good introduction to this treasure-trove (p. 18). We regret that there is no article on Jewish typology in this issue. Such a method of interpretation does exist though it is different from the Christian one. Biblical texts were constantly re-meditated and found inspiring for later situations. Indeed Isaiah 40-55 describes the return from exile in Babylon in terms of the exodus from Egypt. In later Jewish tradition Abraham is a "type" for his descendants. As he practised hospitality so must they.(2) His prayer for Abimelech shows that the injured should pray for the injurer. (3)
An attempt to find the enduring message of the "Old Testament" for the Church was made by Robert Murray SJ of Heythrop College, London, in a lecture entitled "Is the Old Testament Superseded?" He remarked that many different faces of God with many conflicting statements about him as well as many different human responses are revealed within it. He suggested that in this diversity there is a marvellous theological stimulus. Such antitheses invite us, not to make the kind of choices that take up one and cut out all the others, nor to stand in dumb helplessness before them, but to think about the images put in contrast and remember that they are human images and responses, all inspired by God but filtered through human cultural patterns and pre-suppositions and to ask ourselves what this diversity means?
Perhaps if the recognition of this diversity of God-talk and human responses had been normative in the Church, there would be a different consciousness about its own identity and mission flowing out of a tremendous respect for groups with a different experience of revelation. This could have added
a richness and breadth to the meaning of life as well as realism about the present. Today we are groping towards that consciousness through forces in our society which confront all of us and from which the Church cannot isolate itself. May the Christian-Jewish encounter be a catalyst for the Church in this process.
The Editors
1. Immanuel, No. 20, Spring 1986, p. 77.
2. A.R.N. (B) 23.
3. L. Ginsberg, The Legends of the Jews, Vol. 1, p. 260, Philadelphia 1968.
