Christians & Jews, Faith to Faith Tragic History, Promising Present, Fragile Future By Rabbi James Rudin Jewish Lights Publishing, 2011, 267 pages ISBN 978-1-58023-432-0

Reviewed by Israel Drazin - April 8, 2011

This book on Jewish-Christian relations is by a rabbi who worked on the American Jewish Committee's professional staff for thirty-two years, where he served as interreligious director, and who participated in eleven meetings with Pope John II and Pope Benedict XVI. Rabbi Rudin offers interesting, no-holds-barred information about Jewish and Christian history, why Christianity parted from Judaism and took a different path, and many other subjects.

He tells the meaning of the three names Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews, their origin, and how the names are sometimes misused, even to slander and humiliate Jewish people and their history, and how the name Israel and the meaning of the modern State of Israel are understood differently by Jews and Christians. He describes the early history of Judaism, about the Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, and the Pharisees who are mischaracterized in the New Testament as over-punctilious pietists, while they were actually the opposite and are the parents of current Rabbinic Judaism.

He explains why the term "Old Testament" is not a term of endearment because, among other things, it indicates that the Hebrew Bible is outdated and superseded, and why Jews should not lump all people who are not Jews into a single homogeneous pile and call them non-Jews or gentiles, but recognize them respectfully as Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and so on, as appropriate. He speaks about the positive and negative legacies of Rome and Greece. He notes that Jesus referred to himself as "son of man," and this means what it says and not "son of God." It "appears seventy-nine times in the prophetic books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Ezra and in numerous psalms. In its original usage, the phrase does not possess any unique or special theological meaning."

His section on "Who and What Killed Jesus" is very informative. He explains the history of the time, the role of the High Priest being a Roman designee, a Roman pawn, and not a political or religious leader of the Jews, and that crucifixion was not a Jewish mode of execution – indeed it was and is repugnant to Judaism. He notes that even Rome was horrified by Pilate's "cruelty as governor" and "remove(d) him from office and order(ed) his humiliating and disgraceful return to Rome." The Romans killed Jesus who was a Jew, not Jews.

He tells why Jews are unable to accept the idea that Jesus is the messiah and that there were many individuals who claimed they were the messiah. He relates some of the controversies about Paul among Christians. He addresses the age-old question "Has God abandoned the Jews?"

These examples show how much interesting and relevant material Rabbi Rudin has placed in his volume. There is much more. For instance, he concludes his book with a dozen pages, which includes a "Guide to Christian-Jewish Relations" and a "Discussion Guide" of several dozen questions that Jewish-Christian discussion groups can use to stimulate thoughts and insights.

• Reasonable Doubts, by Cheryl Berman.
  Reasonable Doubts is the memoir of a religious skeptic's endeavor to rediscover her source of faith, from the ground up.
  
  
• How to Do Good & Avoid Evil, by Hans Kung and Rabbi Walter Homolka.
  Explore how the principles of a global ethic can be found in Judaism and how they can provide the ethical norms for all religions to work together toward a more peaceful humankind.