Surely the bridges being built between observant Jews and Christians, especially in North America, is the good news story of the last generation. May it continue to solidify to the point that it becomes rich fodder for comedians in the Catskills. Goodness knows the raw material is there.

Few things are more pleasing than the (still emerging) reconciliation between our elder brothers and sisters in faith, the Jews, and us, the Gentile children of the Most High. When the kingdom of God is established, we will know the resolution of whatever differences we may have in this world; but we will also know that faith in the God of Abraham has united us. It was in the Abrahamic covenant that Christianity as well as Judaism was founded; and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are great Christian saints as well as Jewish patriarchs. Not only Jesus, but also Sts Matthew, Mark, Luke John, Peter, and Paul were Jews. Our communities have been divided far too long; and our friendship grievously fractured, for no good reason.

Ratzinger can speak in terms that sound Jewish because he is authentically Christian in a way that few moderns are. We can hope that his papacy will help renew both our faiths.

JPII constructed a place in Catholic theology for contemporary Jews, and we have to assume that Cardinal Ratzinger, as he then was, approved. The formulation was, first, that Catholics should consider Jews their "elder brothers" in faith. This was meant and understood as an acknowledgement that G-d's covenent with the Jews survived Jesus. Second, and astonishingly, he suggested that the Jews' ongoing wait for the Messiah will not be in vain; that the Second Coming can also function as a first. This coincided with a strong push for unification with the Orthodox, in which JPII and Cardinal Ratzinger accepted that the Orthodox would not agree to Rome's primacy as the rest of the RC Church experienced it, and agreed that it would be sufficient for them to defer to Rome as they had for the millenium preceding the schism. There was also a fairly strong push to join into communion with the Anglicans (now probably on indefinate hiatus) and to find a modus vivendi with the other new sects.

In this context, the approaches made to Islam were decidedly low key.

So, from this vantage point, we see JPII's great work as an attempt to find a place for all Christians and Jews within a cohesive theology. This is a Sisyphean task, but JPII made greater strides than I would have thought possible twenty-six years ago, and Benedict will continue the work.

Excellent summary, David. I might note that the Jews-as-"elder brothers"-in-faith-to-the-Gentiles idea was first put forth by Jesus, in his parable of the prodigal son.

It's a theological father/son thing.

Well stated, David.

PJ:
I had never heard the parable of the Prodigal Son described that way before. Both sons are presumably Jewish, ie. beloved sons of the Father[God].

I like the Apostle Paul's imagry of the wild Olive tree branched being grafted to the cultivated Olive tree's found in Romans 11.
"You Gentiles are like the wild Olive tree, and now share in the strong spiritual life of the Jews" 11:17. Ultimatly, it's my Jewish roots, thanks to Jesus, that support me, a wild branch of a person.

Dave - St Paul's olive tree metaphor is another good one.

In the prodigal son parable, the elder brother is faithful to his father (the Master, i.e. God) throughout, as the Jews were. The younger brother was an unfaithful sinner in a distant land, as the Gentiles were. The younger brother comes to the Father asking to be taken in, as Gentile Christians have. The elder brother is upset that the Father slaughters the fatted calf to celebrate the prodigal's return; perhaps a prophecy of the unease that Jews have felt at the apparently favorable treatment that Christians have received from Providence. The elder brother is told "My son, you are with me always and everything I have is yours" - consistent with the eternal validity of God's promises to the Jews. And "your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found" - consistent with the contemporary attitudes to the Gentiles as dead and lost.

The context of the parable in Luke 15 is Jesus's response to the Pharisees and scribes murmuing at Jesus's traffic with sinners, some of whom were Gentiles. (Recall, e.g., Luke 7 and the centurion of whom Jesus said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.")

The interpretation of the parable as referring to Jews and Gentiles is of course not the primary interpretation, but it is a very old and respected one.

Thank you very much older brother. I'll watch your back; keep an eye on mine. We'll meet, happily, later, when our work is done.