Class will be held on Thursdays from 3.10pm to 5pm in Larkin 212.
Zoom link for online attendance: https://tinyurl.com/trinitydivinity
The following book should be acquired for this course as it will be read nearly in its entirety. It is readily and inexpensively available for purchase (including as an ebook), or to borrow from good libraries.
The following book is also recommended.
All other required readings, whether chapters from books or articles, are available online and will be posted below.
The readings for each week are divided into three lists:
A List Readings: These are the required readings for the course. It is essential that you prepare these carefully ahead of each class discussion. You can meet all the course expectations by focusing only on these texts.
B List Readings: These recommended further or extended readings are provided to give you additional background materials for the topics of each week. You are invited to read these to explore the themes in more depth, and to choose and draw upon them for your final literature review assignment (if you choose to submit one). They may be referred to in passing in class discussions, but they will not be dwelt upon as not everyone will have read them.
C List Readings: These readings, often full books or volumes of articles, are given for those who are interested in pursuing the subject matter to a higher level, in their own time, or perhaps in future research or at an advanced degree level. They will not form part of our class discussions, though they can also be used for your literature review.
The following bibliography represents a sample of materials from which course resources will be drawn and which students may consult to complete their assignments for the course.
Available through the U of T library, access to the De Gruyter Encyclopedia of Jewish-Christian Relations (see list of topics published so far).
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
(NB: Depending on your available time, you may choose to read the texts from either Boccaccini or Nanos.)
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
For this asynchronous class week, please read the following (for the first class assignment):
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
Video
You may also watch this conversation with Dr Amy-Jill Levine about the case study liturgical texts under consideration.
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
Video
This ELCA document was produced after many years of discussion of anti-Jewish aspects of Lutheran theology, liturgy and pastoral practice as “a tragic contributor to the wider Western cultural antisemitism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.” This practical guide aims to provide a new vision for teaching and preaching about Jewish tradition and its significance. Leading this video discussion is the Rev Dr Peter Pettit, Lutheran minister and teaching pastor at St Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa, who led the ELCA Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Jewish Relations which authored the document.
The main questions of this encounter were practical, addressing the problem of framing the “newness” of Jesus and Christianity by contrasting these with his Jewish tradition and context (for instance, “Since Jesus is the light of the world, Jews are portrayed as being in the dark”). Dr Pettit showed how this document creates a system of counterbalances to this language, primarily through historical-critical and biblical studies. He emphasised unbiased studies of Scriptural texts, particularly St Paul who needs to be read “before Augustine and Luther,” as well as the necessity to avoid anachronisms “between the time of Jesus and the New Testament writings, between the first century and 21st century.” Thereby Jesus can be understood as “a Jew within Judaism, not terminating it,” keeping “Torah as a lifestyle,” and not contrasting himself with Israel, but rather offering a prophetic word and challenge in the same vein as Jewish prophets had before him. Dr Pettit described how the guide revises the traditional Lutheran confessional reading of Paul: Luther used Paul to oppose the pope, while Paul himself never “opposed Judaism with Jesus,” instead criticising it from within, using its own language; it is an intra-Jewish discussion to which the nations are invited. Dr Pettit also demonstrated how the document reinterprets other key concepts of Lutheran theology around law and grace, promise and fulfilment, on which anti-Judaic theological discourse has relied for centuries.
By carefully rereading the New Testament and early Christian tradition and reframing theological presuppositions based upon that tradition, the document is able to make informed recommendations for renewed teaching and pastoral practice. It has even begun to influence a new, historically-sensitive translation of the Revised Common Lectionary used in a number of western churches, called “Reading from the Roots.”
A List Readings
B List Readings
C List Readings
Video
In this video, Professor Emeritus of Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, Rev Dr Ephraim Radner presents the document, its history and main ideas within the broader context of the development of attitudes towards Jews and Judaism in the theology, pastoral practice and worship of the Anglican Church — starting from open antisemitism (“Jews are degrading Christian culture of England”), through “philosemitic evangelism” (proselytising activity, conversion of Jews), to revising negative images of Jews in church teaching and liturgy and accepting Jewish-Christian relations as a mystery that can be resolved only in the age to come.
Dr Radner described what the document sets out as four “approaches” or “theological frameworks” of the relations between Judaism and Christianity reflecting various positions within the Church of England. These capture stages of historical development in the church’s Jewish mission and relations. In the emerging preferred view, the Church of England accepts as undeniable the “continuing participation of the Jewish people in Israel as God’s gift and God’s creation” and that “there is a mystery here that transcends its understanding in history.” This approach has already influenced changes in the language of worship as well as further theological reflection, informed by the questions that are posed throughout the document.
In our ensuing discussion, the key questions raised centred on Christian identity in relation to Israel, Jews, and Judaism. How do we identify ourselves? Are we Christians, distinct from Judaism and Jews, who are simply struggling to conquer antisemitism and exhibit openness and love towards Jews? Or is the relationship deeper and more fundamental? What does it mean for the church to be Israel, participating in God’s covenant with Israel? How do we construe the mystery of that shared covenant with the ongoing Judaism — as something we just can’t puzzle out or understand for now, or as a true mystery in the sense of paradox in which both claims to being “Israel” are true? And who then are Jews for us — “we” or “they”?