Removing Anti Judaism From The Pulpit

With particular attention paid to fresh analysis and new understanding of the evolution of Judaism in the post-exilic age, this work features an outstanding array of Christian scholars and preachers dealing with the extrememly vexing issue of anti-Judaism in the New Testament and in Christian preaching.

The book explores the antisemitic potential of Matthew’s Gospel in the Christian New Testament. It begins with a detailed discussion of the occasion of the text, before discussing key questions (Matthew’s fulfilment theology, and the use of polemic in the text). Three crucial texts are examined in detail. The book discusses the reverberations of the “blood cry,” arguing the deicide-focused interpretation of Matthew 27:25 is foundational to subsequent blood libels, which are also discussed. The final chapters explore how to preach from Matthew’s Gospel with Jewish people in mind, including offering sample sermons to stimulate the reader’s thinking about how they might teach from a controversial Matthean text in a way that denies the possibility of perpetuating Christian antisemitism. It will be of interest to students and scholars in religion and faith, Christianity, and interfaith studies.

One of the critical issues in interreligious relations today is the connection, both actual and perceived, between sacred sources and the justification of violent acts as divinely mandated. Fighting Words makes solid text-based scholarship accessible to the general public, beginning with the premise that a balanced approach to religious pluralism in our world must build on a measured, well-informed response to the increasingly publicized and sensationalized association of terrorism and large-scale violence with religion. In his introduction, Renard provides background on the major scriptures of seven religious traditionsÑJewish, Christian (including both the Old and New Testaments), Islamic, BahaÕi, Zoroastrian, Hindu, and Sikh. Eight chapters then explore the interpretation of select facets of these scriptures, focusing on those texts so often claimed, both historically and more recently, as inspiration and justification for every kind of violence, from individual assassination to mass murder. With its nuanced consideration of a complex topic, this book is not merely about the religious sanctioning of violence but also about diverse ways of reading sacred textual sources.

Was Paul an anti-Semite? Was Paul a self-hating Jew? Was Paul misunderstood and wrongly accused? This is the debate that has been raging for almost two millennia. Paul's conundrum seeks to answer these questions through an analysis of his two most controversial passages 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 and Romans 9:1-5. Amy Downey has sought to reconcile these passages through a conservative evangelical approach that not only considers the Jewish man, Paul, but also Paul the Apostle of Messiah Jesus. Downey considers the historical setting of the two passages, analyzes the exegesis of the passages in question, and seeks to respond to three separate but unique theological controversies that arise out of these letters. She finds defective three modern positions: (1) 1 Thess 2:13-16 as a "post-Pauline interpolation" likely expressive of Paul's anti-semitism; (2) the modern post-Holocaust theory of dual covenants, according to which "Gentiles are saved through Jesus and the Jews through the Law of Moses"; hence, all national Israel will be eschatologically saved; and (3) replacement theology (i.e., "God has rejected the Jews as His chosen people" and replaced them with believing Gentiles), traceable to the Epistle of Barnabas and Ignatius of Antioch and in effect bringing the "spiritual genocide" of the Jewish people and making Rom 9:1-5 inexplicable. Hopefully by the end of this book, the reader will be left with only one question, "Just how far was Paul willing to go to realize the salvation of the Jewish people?" Downey opts instead for "ethnic Israel's place in the covenant" and for salvation solely through the death and resurrection of the Messiah for both Jews and Gentiles, thus laying the foundation for urgently-needed present-day Christian witness to the Jewish people.

Harold I. Saperstein served as rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook, N.Y., from 1933 until his retirement in 1980. The specific contours of his career reflect a sustained effort to use the pulpit of this suburban temple to communicate a Jewish perspective based on personal encounters with great issues of the day-including the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust, the civil rights era, the McCarthy era, and other turning points in American history. The fifty-two sermons in this book have been selected, introduced, and annotated by Marc Saperstein, whose award-winning books on the history of Jewish preaching have established him as a leading expert on this subject. No other book illustrates as effectively the value of the sermon as a resource for understanding the challenges faced by American Jews at some of the most dramatic moments in the turbulent history of this century.

This research seeks to examine the root causes of Western anti-Islamic antagonism in the three main realms of the West, i.e. Judaism, Christianity and the secular. To achieve this goal, it first focuses on the Jewish and Christian scriptures and perceptions in chronological order. Their respective manifestations in history are introduced encompassing the Medīna period, age of Islamic conquests, Middle Ages, Early Modern Period and Contemporary Period. Since the literature hardly conceptualises “Jewish” or “Christian” anti-Islamism as such, relevant knowledge was extracted from the present literature and put into a coherent narrative. The findings indicate that Jewish and Christian scriptures, particularly the passages about Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael and contents concerning eschatology, make anti-Islamic interpretations possible. Jewish anti-Islamic antagonism is observed to primarily stem from the ethnocentric self-perception and eschatological agenda of Judaism, whereas Christian antiIslamic antagonism from the ontological instability and eschatological scenarios of Christianity. In the subsequent chapter, the research examines the secular antagonism towards Islam and Muslims. The secular is approached in a theoretical framework of three levels that are paradigm, people and society. According to findings, secular antiIslamism appears to originate from the ideals of the secular to imagine a people, society and world order free of religion. The final chapter consists of evaluation of the findings and concrete suggestions to tackle the problem of Western anti-Islamism. Root Causes of Anti-Islamic Antagonism argues for a deep-rooted approach to anti-Islamism studies and suggests that it is a scholarly necessity to focus on these three main realms in the West to understand the anti-Islamic phenomena properly.

When believers read the sacred texts of other religions through a "hermeneutic of hostility," the consequences can be deadly. Christian history shows that the Bible is no exception. In recent decades, however, many Christian traditions have radically refashioned their approach to other religious traditions and to biblical interpretation. This new "hermeneutics of generostiy" seeks to uncover what can be learned from other holy texts and the communities that treasure them, and also seeks to find common ground on important issues such as human rights and religious liberty.
Lefebure offers Christian readings of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist holy texts that suggest new bases for friendship and understanding. Noting the challenges and tensions in the relationship between Christians and these four other religious communities, he also examines the specific issues involved in interpreting the Christian Bible in interreligious dialogue. He concludes with a reflection on the experience of conversion in light of the theology of Bernard Lonegan and the mimeisis theory of Rene Girard'

John McClure's Preaching Words highlights the most important ideas in homiletics and preaching, offering short explanations of these ideas, what scholars of preaching are saying about them, and how they can help in today's preaching. Topics range from elements of the sermon (introduction, body, and conclusion) to aspects of delivery, types of preaching in different Christian traditions, and theories of preaching.