“Nazism was not a Christian phenomenon.” “Nazism itself was not an inevitable outcome of Christianity.” “We recognize with gratitude those Christians who risked or sacrificed their lives to save Jews during the Nazi regime.”

These quotations come from one section of an extraordinary statement made by a group of Jewish scholars and published earlier this month on a full page of the Sunday New York Times. Entitled “Dabru Emet” (Hebrew for “Speak the Truth”), this path-breaking statement calls for nothing less than a new relationship between Jews and Christians.

Dabru Emet was written by four Jewish scholars based at North American universities and endorsed by more than 150 other scholars and rabbis, most of them from this country. The main purpose of these intellectual and religious leaders is to recognize the efforts in recent decades of official Christian groups, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, to express “remorse about Christian mistreatment of Jews and Judaism.”

The Jewish leaders judge that the changes “merit a thoughtful Jewish response.” The time has come, they declare, for Jews to learn about Christian efforts to honor Judaism and to reflect “on what Judaism may now say about Christianity.”

The authors break their document into eight distinct statements, each of them containing abundant material for reflection and prayer.

1. “Jews and Christians worship the same God.” This gives these Jewish theologians reason to rejoice that through Christianity, “hundreds of millions of people  have entered into relationship with the God of Israel.”
2. “Jews and Christians seek authority from the same Book – the Bible.” Though Jews and Christians interpret it differently in some places, both groups learn from it certain fundamental truths about God and God’s dealings with us.
3. “Christians can respect the claim of the Jewish people upon the land of Israel.” Many Christians have reasons for supporting the State of Israel that go far beyond politics. For their part, the authors honor the Jewish tradition mandating that Israel treat its non-Jewish residents with justice.
4. “Jews and Christians accept the moral principles of Torah.” The first five books of the Hebrew Bible provide a foundation for recognizing the basic dignity of every human being and for motivating efforts to improve the lives of everyone.
5. “Nazism was not a Christian phenomenon.” Had they ever completely exterminated the Jews, the Nazis would have gone further and  turned against Christians. Christians should be encouraged to continue working against the contempt for Jews that so tarnished earlier eras.
6. “The humanly irreconcilable difference between Jews and Christians will not be settled until God redeems the entire world as promised in Scripture.” That means that neither side should claim exclusive correct interpretation nor try to exercise power over the other.
7. “A new relationship between Jews and Christians will not weaken Jewish practice.” The authors see Christianity, despite its origins within Judaism, as distinct. Only if Jews to value their own traditions can they continue their relationship with Christians with integrity.
8. “Jews and Christians  must work together for justice and peace. This is the way to help bring about the kingdom of God on earth.”

Careful reading of the text will discover much that is new in this 8-point statement. It represents a fresh approach to Jewish-Christian relationships that breathes the spirit of peace and reconciliation. The authors resist the temptation to find defects in official Christian statements but instead look to the intention behind them. These Jewish theologians demonstrate an openness of mind that can serve as a model for all who seek a deeper relationship between these two great spiritual traditions.

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, one of the signers, has been quoted as saying: “Christians have come extremely far, especially when you juxtapose the past 30 years against the past 2,000 years of fratricide and enmity. Now it behooves us to take another look, to look at the commonalities, and not to have this siege mentality based on the Christians of the past, not the Christians of today.”

This quotation comes from an article written by Kevin Eckstrom and posted on the Internet. This article and the text of Dabru Emet can be found at www.beliefnet.com.

Richard Griffin