SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Scholar and interfaith activist Rabbi David Fox Sandmel will present “Come Let Us Reason Together: Jewish Responses to the Catholic Church’s New Teachings on Judaism” at the 25th annual Msgr. John M. Oesterreicher Memorial Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 25, from 7 to 9 p.m. in Jubilee Hall Auditorium at Seton Hall University, 400 South Orange Ave., South Orang.
The occasion also commemorates the 65th anniversary of the founding of the university’s Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies, which is hosting and financially sponsoring the lecture in partnership with the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust and Genocide Education.
“Since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the Catholic Church has issued a series of texts that are intended to guide Catholics in their relations with those of other religions. The Church understands our relationship with the Jewish people to be unique, linked intimately to our self perception as followers of Jesus the Nazarene. These documents have been read with interest by many Jews and studied by some,” said Father Lawrence E. Frizzell, director of the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies and the organizer of this year’s Oesterreicher Memorial Lecture.
“The first response by a group of Jewish educators was published in The New York Times and elsewhere in September 2000. This document, “Dabru Emet” — “Speak the Truth,” from Zechariah 8:16 — was the work of Rabbi David Sandmel and several colleagues,” Frizzell said. “He will discuss this and two texts issued by Jewish leaders in the context of the 50th anniversary of the Council’s Declaration on the Church’s Relation to Non-Christian Religions — Nostra aetate. This promises to be a significant opportunity for members of the university and surrounding community to learn more about Jewish-Christian relations on the national and international levels.”
Sandmel has served as director of interreligious engagement at the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith since 2014. In this role he builds on his experience as the Crown-Ryan Chair in Jewish Studies for the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and as the Judaic Scholar at the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore. There he managed the Jewish Scholars Project, which produced the text “Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity” in September 2000. This document was the work of four scholars and was endorsed by Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis and scholars. This brief statement has been set in the context of a series of essays by Jews and Christians.
This event is free and open to the public; however, registration is encouraged by contacting Lawrence.Frizzell@shu.edu, calling 973-761-9751 or registering at https://setonhall.formstack.com/forms/jmo2018.
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