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Friends on the Way: Jesuits Encounter Contemporary Judaism, edited by Thomas Michel, S.J. New York: Fordham University Press, 2007. 230 pp. $45.00.
Over the years, Jesuits have had both irenic and stormy relationships with the Jews. This volume presents the papers of the Third International Colloquium of Jesuits in Jewish-Christian Dialogue (July 2005) in Zug, Switzerland on “The Importance of Modern Jewish Thought for Jewish-Christian Dialogue.” Edited by Thomas Michael, S.J., it has a breadth of topics by mostly Jesuit authors on theology, spirituality, biblical exegesis, and philosophy. Accompanying the Jesuits were Rabbi Tovia Ben-Chori , Zurich, Switzerland, and Professor Harold Kasimow, Grinnell College, Iowa, whose contributions also appear in the volume.
Both Michel’s preface and Kasimow’s introduction include portions of a decree from the Thirty-Fourth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (1995): “Dialogue with the Jewish people holds a unique place. The first covenant, which is theirs and which Jesus the Messiah came to fulfill, has never been revoked. . . . Since the publication of Nostra Aetate in 1965, the Catholic Church has radically renewed the Jewish-Christian dialogue after centuries of polemics and contempt in which our Society shared. . . .” This decree provided the impetus for these colloquia.
In the first chapter Marc Rastoin, S.J. describes the Jesuits and the Jews in the early years of the Society. Ignatius was adamant that limpieza de sangre (purity of blood) not be included in the statutes for admission to the Society, as was common in all other religious orders of the era. One of his first companions, Diego Laínez, who became his successor as general, was from a family of conversos, as were Ignatius’ secretary Polanco, and Ribaldeneira, the first historian of the Society. Ignatius never altered his decision. However, at the Fifth General Congregation in 1593 under Claudio Aquaviva, who claimed he was accepting limpieza for the sake of the unity of the Society, it became a requirement. The statute was not eliminated until 1946. This important chapter describes both the uniqueness of Ignatius’ stance, and the change which ensued.
Rabbi Tovia Ben-Chorin discusses “Reflections on the Dialogue between Jew and Non-Jew in the Bible and in Rabbinic Literature.”After reflecting on the Noachite Commandments open to Jew and non-Jew, he describes covenant not in legal terms, but as hesed (loving kindness). Ben-Chorin provides examples of dialogue with non-Jews from the Tanach (Jewish Bible) and illustrations from Rabbinic Literature. This Jewish openness to dialogue is foundational for future conversation.
“The Goal of the Ignatian Exercises and Soloveitchik’s Halakic Spirituality,” by Christian M. Rutishauser, S.J., compares the approach of Joseph Dov Soloveitchek, the father of modern Jewish Orthodoxy in the United States, to that of Ignatius. Both accept the subjective experience of God’s grace or presence and then integrate it into an ethical framework based on the revelation of God given to the whole community—the Torah and the Gospel respectively. The result is the transformation of religious experience into religious ethics. Both see this as an act of participation in God’s on-going creation.
Donald Moore, S.J. discusses “An Ignatian Perspective on Contemporary Jewish Spirituality.” He reflects on Martin Buber’s discussion of God’s question to Adam in Genesis, “Where art thou?,” as a challenge for humans who want to “hide” and escape responsibility. This resonates with the Spiritual Exercises, as does Abraham Joshua Heschel’s emphasis on the uniqueness of each human being, which Moore sees akin to the “Election” of Ignatius. Heschel’s “hallowing of all things” parallels the Ignatian emphasis on “finding God in all things” and the concluding contemplatio of the Exercises.
Former Jesuit Stanislaw Obirek’s “The Jewish Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel as a Challenge for Catholic Theology” seems more scattered, with introductory comments that seem unrelated to the theme. Heschel’s question to Gustav Weigel, S.J., “Is it really the will of God that there be no more Judaism in the world?” (p. 75), challenges all readers. Obirek writes from a Polish perspective. His concluding personal reflections regarding the post-Holocaust era are meaningful. However, the relationship to Ignatian thought seems tangential.
A different approach is taken by Peter Du Bruel, S.J. in “The Genius and the Wisdom of Harold Bloom.” Bloom relies on the images of Lurianic Kabbalah, the tropes of Vico, the writings of Freud and the vocabulary of the Valentinian Gnostics. Du Burel’s effort to connect Bloom to Ignatius seems tenuous at best, but he invites participants to explore literature in the Jewish-Christian dialogue—an important challenge.
The two chapters by Jean-Pierre Sonnet, S.J. are clearly for exegetes. He believes “biblical narrative has been an exciting experimental ground where Jewish and Christian scholars have fruitfully met” (p. 126). He describes Fishbane’s “inner-biblical exegesis” and Levinson’s “hermeneutics of innovation.” He believes “[t]he hermeneutics of innovation—this art of inscribing the new within the old—has found in Jesus one of its masters. Paul is another” (p. 140).
“A Catholic Conversation with Hannah Arendt,” by James Bernauer, S.J., discusses her “worldly faith.” Although a Jew by birth, she claimed no church, synagogue, or denomination as her own (p. 219). Bernauer emphasizes her analysis of action as exhibited in the powers to forgive and to promise. She claims that “Jesus of Nazareth was the ‘discoverer of the role of forgiveness in the realm of human affairs’” (p. 150). Bernauer states: “I would like to conclude with an acknowledgment of how significant a confession of guilt and the seeking of forgiveness are for the dialogue between Christians and Jews. Between Jesuits and Jews . . . it is now time for the Society of Jesus to join that penitential voice”(p. 163).
The final essay in the volume is “What Might Israelis and Jews Learn About Christians and Christianity at Yad Vashem,” by David M. Neuhaus, S.J. He offers numerous examples of how an unbalanced presentation of Christianity in this space needs to be the topic for on-going conversation.
This work is clearly a contribution to the Jewish-Christian dialogue and would enhance any academic library. I found the chapters by Rastoin, Ben-Chorin, Rutishauser, and Moore the most insightful. This volume deepens the conversation between Jesuits and Jews as the Society of Jesus acknowledges its history—both its pride in Ignatius’ stance and the need for contrition for its antisemitic role in the years that followed.
Mary Christine Athans, B.V.M.
Professor Emerita
The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
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