Absent: Mary Boys, Gene Fisher, Esther Menn, , Elena Procario-Foley, Reggie Williams
The business meeting was spread across several sessions, but are combined into a single report below.
The minutes of the fall 2014 meeting at Muhlenberg College were unanimously approved.
Chair Karla Suomala welcomed Adam Gregerman and Ruth Langer as participants for the first time in the new membership category of Jewish consultors and thanked them for being with the Group on Shabbat.
Membership Committee: Peter Pettit led a discussion of proposed revisions to the Membership Norms to incorporate the new membership category of Jewish consultors. This category had been approved in the principle at the fall 2014 meeting at Muhlenberg College. After discussion on the question whether the consultors would have both voice and vote at business meetings, all of the proposed revisions were unanimously approved. The revisions will henceforth appear in the online version of the Membership Norms.
Robert Cathey moved the Membership Committee's advice to renew for five-years the memberships of Eugene Fisher, John Pawlikowski, and Elena Procario-Foley. This motion was approved unanimously.
New members: A motion to invite Heather Miller-Rubens to membership was approved unanimously. This invitation was later extended by Karla Suomala and accepted by Heather Miller-Rubens. (In order to stagger the membership renewals, her membership will be renewed with the "class" of 2017).
A general discussion ensued about potential new members. Kirsi Stjerna and Brooks Schramm, Angela Harkins, Fairfield University, and Jennifer Peace, Andover-Newton School of Theology, will be invited to offer guest presentations at the spring 2016 meeting. Other potential new members mentioned were: John Clabeaux, Michael Peppard, and Dan Joslyn-Siematkoski.
Phil Cunningham asked if all members would please let him know of errors or needed updates to the membership contact list on the CSG webpages.
Nostra Aetate anniversary initiatives 1. Draft Statement on "Jewish-Christian Relations for the Present Time"
Peter Pettit led a discussion of a potential draft statement by CSG members to mark the 50th anniversary of
Nostra Aetate that he and Elena Procario-Foley had prepared. The topics of the nature of the text, for whom and by whom it was written and to what purpose it was being written were all considered. It was generally viewed as an effort by the CSG to speak to Christian communities about the importance of deepening relations with Jews and to sent a future agenda for this.
Peter explained that he and Elena fashioned the draft on four basic shifts that they saw occurring since 1965. Several members then offered observations about various features of the draft and suggested revisions and additions. Several negative comments were made about the mention of September 11th in the opening sentences. Sentences dealing with the State of Israel also attracted many comments.
Peter will confer with Elena on the basis of the discussion and they will revise the draft accordingly. This will be made available to the members for further refinement. It is hoped that by means of e-mail conversation a more developed draft might be achieved by the fall 2015 meeting, be further discussed, and possibly finalized.
2.
Symposium in Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations Various ideas and suggestions for developing a series of CSG member-authored articles were discussed. The following is a tentative list of possibilities with very provisional topics and titles. Members not present will be contacted by Karla Suomala and asked to compose articles.
- Michael McGarry: Preaching without antisemitism
- Robert Cathey: Why would Presbyterians turn to a Catholic document?
- Katharina von Kellenbach: Memory and Forgetting: The Purification of Memory (dependent on AAR proposal)
- Adam Gregerman: Nostra Aetate, Covenant, and Israel (dependent on AAR proposal)
- Vicky Barnett: How do you integrate J-C dialogue into wider dialogue of world religions?
- Demetrios Tonias: Nostra Aetate and Orthodox Christianity
- Heather Miller-Rubens: Mapping the Borders between Ecclesial and Popular Dialogue
- Reggie Williams: Nostra Aetate and Race
- The CSG's Nostra Aetate +50 statement
by emeriti:
- Frank Sherman: Lutherans and Nostra Aetate at 50
- Peter Phan: What if Nostra Aetate were written by Asian Christians?
other possibilities:
- Peter Pettit: book review of A Jubilee for All Time, ed. Gil Rosenthal
- Phil Cunningham: a reworking of article discussed at the current meeting: "Putting the Nos in Nostra Aetate."
- Karla Suomala's essay on intermarriage also discussed at the current meeting.
- C-J Relations and people under Thirty: Ben Barer and "State of Formation" to be consulted by Vicky Barnett.
It was the general consensus to try to have drafts of all the above ready for discussion at the fall meeting at Saint Joseph's in Philadelphia. Further details to be worked out online. There was also discussion about a public event at SJU in connection with the above. Again, details to be developed online.
Respectfully submitted,
-Phil Cunningham
