Fall 2011

St. Raphaela’s Retreat Center, Haverford, PA

Present: Mary Boys, Bob Cathey, Phil Cunningham, Alice Eckardt, Katharina von Kellenbach, Bjőrn Krondorfer, Michael McGarry, Esther Menn, John Pawlikowski, Peter Pettit, Elena Procario-Foley, Franklin Sherman, Karla Suomala

Absent: Gene Fisher; Jean-Pierre Ruiz; Rosann Catalano; Jim Bernauer

Katharina von Kellenbach convened the meeting at 9:30 a.m. She expressed thanks on behalf of the group to Phil Cunningham, for setting up the meeting, arranging such congenial accommodations at the St. Rafaela Retreat Center, and arranging for the theatre trip on Saturday evening to a performance of New Jerusalem, The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656, at the Lantern Theatre in Philadelphia.

Minutes of 10 April 2011 meeting were approved as distributed.

CSG website

In the interest of making the website more robust, Phil will coordinate the addition of photos, member bios, lists of publications, etc. About half the group has responded to Phil’s request for this information; he seeks responses from the rest of the group.

The group agreed by consensus that a full list of past members should be included on the website. It should be a fairly concise listing – name and affiliation, particularly because we do not have similarly extensive information for all former members.

For current members, there should be a link to their web pages at their home particular relevance to Jewish-Christian relations.

Peter Pettit will set up www.csg.xxx (to be determined based on what extensions are available) as our URL, with a pointer to www.ccjr.us/csg. The group approved by unanimous vote a personal assessment of $10 per member to buy the URL for up to five years.

Phil has the e-files of all our papers; he can make them available to members CD, on request. Hard copies of all the papers are on deposit at Burns Library, Boston College, under our continuing agreement with the library and the college.

Wikipedia page for CSG

The group reached consensus on needing a Wikipedia entry for the CSG. The suggestion was made that Jean-Pierre Ruiz compile and upload it; Peter agreed to do so if Jean-Pierre cannot.

Faith Transformed, ed. By John Merkle

Since many of our current and several former members of the group have penned their reflections on the impact of their work in Christian-Jewish relations on their faith, it seems worthwhile to have at least the chapters by current members available on the CSG website. Elena Procario-Foley will contact John Merkle regarding the books’ in-print status and copyright, asking whether we can post digital files or scan it and post.pdf.

History of the CSG

Katharina will type up the questions the group has developed for soliciting historical information and reminiscences from former members. She will send them around the group for revision and addition.

The questions will then be circulated to selected current and former members for response. Selection will be based on those with longer membership tenures and those who made particularly significant contributions to the life of the group. Priority will be given to contacting Norman Beck, Alice Eckardt Gene Fisher, Eva Fleischner, Walter Harrelson, John Pawlikowski, Franklin Sherman, John Townsend, Joe Tyson, Clark Williamson, and perhaps Eberhard von Waldow. Alice will check past membership lists to ensure that we do not overlook any qualifying contributors.

We will request shorter, not longer, reflections, without setting a specific page limit.

Creed project

The group has 14 affirmations that they have shared and discussed, and the question was discussed, what next steps should be taken. Bob Cathey indicated a desire still to explore the literature of early church theologians on the subject. He, Phil, and Demetrios Tonias will draft a common creedal text based on the 14 affirmations and circulate it to the group for consideration and comment.

Coolidge Colloquium

The CrossCurrent issue with papers from the colloquium will come out Spring 2012.

Looking ahead from the colloquium, the group agreed that it might invite participants from the colloquium as guests to share the different approaches to religious pluralism that they take. This might include participants from various bilateral dialogue/study experiences, with a focus on what the those other bilateral experiences might contribute to our work in Christian-Jewish relations. If this approach is taken, we must be sure to have present someone from any religious community about which we are talking. It would also be important to include discussion of the theoretical and methodological foundations on which the bilateral encounter is structured.

Spring 2012 meeting

We will be hosted 20-22 April by Boston College. In connection with Yom HaShoa, which immediately precedes our meeting, Katharina has been invited to speak at BC on Thursday, 19 April, 5-6:30 pm in the Corcoran Commons Heights Room. The group is invited to come early and attend the lecture, of possible.

On program planning, the group suggested the possibility of inviting Catherine Corneille to speak on comparative hermeneutics. It was also suggested that Frank Clooney might be invited to speak, with Catherine or individually.

Fall 2012 meeting

The meeting will most likely be held again at St. Raphaela’s Retreat Center, either 12-14 October or 7-9 November. [Later announcement: The meeting will actually be Friday, Oct 5 through Sunday, Oct 7, 2012.] The earlier dates might allow for coordination with a Muhlenberg College and its Night of Shattered Glass observance. Possible guest presenters suggested include John Borelli, Peter Phan, Dan Madigan, and Leo Lefebure, with an eye to exploring contemporary theology/ies of religions

Further program discussions

The discussion turned to other potential program resource people and topics for the group’s future meetings.

Menaz Afridi is an American-born Pakistani Muslim scholar who has been named director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Center at Manhattan College. She is an excellent resource on Muslim issues and on countering Shoa-denial. Her book, The Holocaust through Muslim Eyes, is just being published; she could be an excellent guest for our group at the Fall 2012 meeting.

Isra Yazicioglu, who teaches Islam at St. Joseph’s, does not have extensive encounter with the Jewish community, but could be an interesting guest presenter.

Paul Knitter, at Union Seminary, NYC, is one of the pioneers of contemporary Christian theology of religions, was a seminarian at Vatican II, nolds the PhD in Protestant Theology, has taken Buddhist vows, and remains a practicing Roman Catholic.

John Shevland, who has written recently on yoha in the Christian Century, was at the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne and is seeking theological discourse on interfaith encounter and religious pluralism.

John Pawlikowski suggested that the group might consider holding a session at the World Parliament of Religions in Brussels in 2014. He will monitor developments in planning for the Parliament and keep the group informed.

Alice asked whether the group would do well to take up the topic of ethics in the context of the three montheistic faiths?

Katharina is beginning a project on post-Shoa feminist hermeneutics of the Jewish Bible.
John has a paper from a conference at Trent, on why Jewish-Christian dialogue and the Shoa are significant for Christian ethics, which will be published in the Journal of Political Theology.

Peter has parish educational materials on Introducing Christians to the Seder and on the Jewish heritage of Christianity for confirmation students. curr’m mtls we could review

Additional possible topics mentioned were the Kairos Palestine document and a follow-up or expansion on Michael McGarry’s discussion of the games the folks in Israel and Palestine play in dealing with the conflict and with one another.

The Program Committee will finalize programs for the next several meetings.

Membership

The group clarified its consensus understanding about the membership process:

A potential new member will be invited to give a paper, without any formal prior notification of consideration for membership. After the paper has been is given and the group votes to extend membership to the individual, the CSG chair seeks a letter of intent and c.v. from the candidate – setting a deadline for submission of these materials. The materials are forwarded to the Membership Committee, which vets the candidate and makes a determination on extending membership at least 12 weeks prior to the next meeting. This determination is forwarded to the CSG chair, who makes a final decision on the matter and, if membership is to be extended, invites the individual to the next meeting as a new member.

Revisiting considerations currently underway, the group agreed by consensus to have Katharina extend a membership invitation to Demetrios Tonias following this meeting.
It also agreed by consensus that Peter should explore the interest of Marty Michelson in giving a paper to a future meeting. If Marty is interested, Peter will notify Katharina, who will extend the invitation for Marty to be a guest presenter, and the membership process will follow as noted above.

Vicki Barnett was suggested as a possible member. Because she is completing her doctoral dissertation over coming months, she may not be able to accept now, but the group voted that Katharina should invite Vicki to submit her letter of intent and c.v., noting that we are aware of the dissertation schedule and would be understanding about accommodating it.

Katharina was asked to communicate with Rosann Catalano about her leave of absence, indicating that we understand that it is continuing and that we will welcome her return when she chooses. It was also noted that her term is up for renewal in 2012, so she would need to be making a decision about her membership this year, in any case.

Adjournment

Katharina adjourned the meeting at 11:45 am.

Respectfully submitted,

Peter A. Pettit