Christian Scholars Group
Encyclopedia
The Christian Scholars Group is group of 22 Christian scholars, theologians, historians and clergy from six Christian Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church
, which works to "develop more adequate Christian theologies of the church's relationship to Judaism and the Jewish people."
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, which works to "develop more adequate Christian theologies of the church's relationship to Judaism and the Jewish people."
A Sacred Obligation
The group issued a statement in September 2002, "A Sacred Obligation: Rethinking Christian Faith in Relation to Judaism and the Jewish People", which states, in part:- "For most of the past two thousand years, Christians have erroneously portrayed Jews as unfaithful, holding them collectively responsible for the death of Jesus and therefore accursed by God. In agreement with many official Christian declarations, we reject this accusation as historically false and theologically invalid. It suggests that God can be unfaithful to the eternal covenantCovenant (biblical)A biblical covenant is an agreement found in the Bible between God and His people in which God makes specific promises and demands. It is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith. It it is used in the Tanakh 286 times . All Abrahamic religions consider the Biblical covenant...
with the Jewish people. We acknowledge with shame the suffering this distorted portrayal has brought upon the Jewish people.... We believe that revising Christian teaching about Judaism and the Jewish people is a central and indispensable obligation of theology in our time." They then offer ten positions, with detailed explanations, "for the consideration of our fellow Christians. We urge all Christians to reflect on their faith in light of these statements."
10 positions
The ten positions, in brief, are:- God's covenant with the Jewish people endures forever, see also Dual-covenant theologyDual-covenant theologyDual-covenant theology is a Liberal Christian view that holds that Jews may simply keep the Law of Moses, because of the "everlasting covenant" between Abraham and God expressed in the Hebrew Bible, whereas Gentiles must convert to Christianity or alternatively accept the Seven Laws of Noah...
. - Jesus of Nazareth lived and died as a faithful Jew, see also Historical JesusHistorical JesusThe term historical Jesus refers to scholarly reconstructions of the 1st-century figure Jesus of Nazareth. These reconstructions are based upon historical methods including critical analysis of gospel texts as the primary source for his biography, along with consideration of the historical and...
. - Ancient rivalries must not define Christian-Jewish relations today.
- Judaism is a living faith, enriched by many centuries of development.
- The Bible both connects and separates Jews and Christians.
- Affirming God's enduring covenant with the Jewish people has consequences for Christian understandings of salvationSalvationWithin religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
. - Christians should not target Jews for conversion.
- Christian worship that teaches contempt for Judaism dishonors God.
- We affirm the importance of the land of IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
for the life of the Jewish people. - Christians should work with Jews for the healing of the world.
- The statement may or may not reflect the views of the scholars' various denominations.