Somehow I’d missed this, but here’s a repeat of a defence of the Good Friday prayer for the Jews by none other than Jacob Neusner (scroll towards the bottom of the page).
He begins:
Israel prays for the Gentiles. So the other monotheistic religions, including the Catholic Church, have the right to do the same thing, and [...]
I am still digesting some of the questions Rowan Williams was trying to open up in his now notorious lecture. (See my previous post) I have sometimes been inclined towards some related notions, but for different reasons. In particular I think there is an ambiguous and confused relationship between the law and morality, and over [...]
Updated Friday 8 Feb, 10.45
The Internet seems to produce a rush to judgement, and blogging is it’s apotheosis. Today’s reaction to Rowan Williams’ rather academic (and therefore both obscure and nuanced) reflections on Sharia and UK law seem to typify that. See here, here and here (especially the comments on the latter two which exhibit [...]
John Hobbins posts eirenically but clearly on the new Roman Catholic collect concerning the Jewish people for use on Good Friday. Slightly earlier in the week Ruth Gledhill reported it in the Times, and quite fairly given her past evidence of Zionist sympathies and friendships, though she did perhaps give undue weight to her friend [...]
Thanks to Justin for an email alerting me to this story about the Bishop of Rochester’s views and asking what I think. A few more general comments first, especially for non UK readers.
The Telegraph is the most right-wing of the British broadsheet press, and its Sunday edition more right-wing than its weekday edition. It is [...]
(This post is part of a series on the 39 articles of the Church of England)
There seems to be a sense that the eighteenth of the articles stands between the preceding set on salvation, and those that follow on the Church. Its primary stress is, I think, the uniqueness of Christ as Saviour, fitting [...]
I’ve been reading the very interesting and stimulating In Quest of the Historical Pharisees, a collection of essays (written for this book) edited by Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton.1 Questing for the historical Pharisees is an enterprise even more fraught than questing for Jesus, and the evidence more slender. This book seeks to bring [...]
Last Thursday Mike Bird revealed the remarkable and difficult question he set his students: “Are Christians theologically obligated to support the present state of Israel?” He’s a brave man, and asking for trouble. It seems to me that it is almost impossible to say anything about either the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, or just [...]
Thanks to Iyov for noting this statement by Bishop Geralyn Wolf on Jim Naugthon’s Episcopalian blog.
As many of you know, The Rev. Dr. Ann Holmes Redding is an Episcopal priest who has recently professed her faith in Islam. Dr. Redding is canonically resident in the Diocese of Rhode Island, though she has not served here [...]
The debate following the Ann Holmes Redding story has prompted a number of posts (see, for example here, here and here) moving the discussion about Christianity and other faiths onto different territory. In a recent post Iyov has further developed his views in relation especially to Messianic Jews.
At the same time Chris Tilling has started [...]
