Roman Catholic theological attitudes to Judaism since 1945

Abstract

The period since 1945 has witnessed profound and far-reaching changes in Christian theological attitudes to Judaism. The terrible suffering of the Jewish people In the Holocaust prompted Christian theologians to re-examine their attitudes, their beliefs and their teaching with regard to Judaism. The thesis centres on the responses of the Roman Catholic Church to the theological problems which this Issue provoked s, although attention Is also given to the work of Jewish and Protestant scholars as the process of dialogue developed. The thesis begins with an examination of how the Second Vatican Council defined itself with regard to Judaism. The events preceding the promulgation of the fourth section of the 'Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions' (Nostra Aetate) Issued In 1965 are examined and the text Is analysed. The implications as well as the limitations of the Declaration are considered, and reactions to it, by both Christian and Jewish scholars, are discussed. The second section outlines the pioneering work in this field by Karl Rahner and Hans Kling. It compares and contrasts their theological writings on this issue and pays particular attention to the ways in which they strove to develop Ideas which had been Implicit in the Declaration of Vatican II. The final and longest section of the thesis is concerned with four of the major areas in this field which both Christian and Jewish scholars have debated and researched: the charge of decide against the Jewish people; the problems surrounding the position of the Pharisees In the New Testament; the religious problems posed by the Holocaust experience for both Christians and Jews; and (briefly) the theological and political problems posed by the position of the State of Israel. All these issues have been related to contemporary biblical scholarship as well as changing relationships between Judaism and Christianity.