Jerusalem of the Heart by Sliman Mansour. There has been a great controversy this week in Scotland over a report which was to have been presented to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Entitled 'The Inheritance of Abraham? A report on the promised land' it stands strongly on the side of the Palestinians. Clearly the authors feel the pain of the Palestinians and see much injustice in current Israeli policies. But as the title suggests the focus of the report is on a biblical understanding of land. It suggests that to read the Hebrew bible, which is the Christian Old Testament, as God promising a land to a particular people is wrong and that promises about the land of Israel should not be taken literally. It speaks of the inclusive dimension of Christianity and the particular exclusivism of Judaism in the same sentence. It could even be taken as suggesting that Judaism has no right to exist since Jesus has broken down all barriers so that there is no longer Jew or gentile. It is no wonder that the Jewish community were up in arms.
It seems a bit strange to me that a major Christian Church should not recognise and acknowledge that there are differing interpretations of texts, that these need to be struggled with, discussed, prayed about and any conclusions put forward in a tentative way rather than a dogmatic one-sided way. And if there are different interpretations of texts within Christianity, then there will be differing interpretations within Judaism and it is not for one religion to tell another how to interpret their religious scriptures. often within Christian circles people use the term Hebrew scriptures for the Old Testament as they think it is more respectful to Judaism but in passing judgement on how texts within this testament are to be interpreted it might be better to use the term Old Testament as it then acknowledges that the way of looking at the text is a particularly Christian one. It also seems a bit strange to suggest Judaism is exclusive while Christianity is inclusive. Christianity is perhaps the most exclusive of the world religions having denied salvation to people who do not acknowledge Jesus as Lord and I am not sure that the claim to inclusiveness would be the way others see us.
The Israeli/ Palestinian conflict is a difficult and painful one. I would hope that any Christian reflection on the situation would feel that pain, embrace it and listen to the cries of that suffering land. Donald Nichol who was the Director of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Israel said he would know the time had come for him to leave the country once he found himself taking sides. Should a Church not be striving to be a reconciler and peace-maker and can this be done without dialogue? Even Tony Blair has acknowledged that there will be no peace in the Middle East without dialogue between the religions.
The end of this story is that the writers of the report did meet members of the Jewish community and the Council of Christians and Jews and that the report will be modified before it is presented to the General Assembly. As always dialogue helps restore relationships and shows a way forward. What a pity if often happens after the event. if it had been part of the process much hurt and misunderstanding would have been avoided.
It seems a bit strange to me that a major Christian Church should not recognise and acknowledge that there are differing interpretations of texts, that these need to be struggled with, discussed, prayed about and any conclusions put forward in a tentative way rather than a dogmatic one-sided way. And if there are different interpretations of texts within Christianity, then there will be differing interpretations within Judaism and it is not for one religion to tell another how to interpret their religious scriptures. often within Christian circles people use the term Hebrew scriptures for the Old Testament as they think it is more respectful to Judaism but in passing judgement on how texts within this testament are to be interpreted it might be better to use the term Old Testament as it then acknowledges that the way of looking at the text is a particularly Christian one. It also seems a bit strange to suggest Judaism is exclusive while Christianity is inclusive. Christianity is perhaps the most exclusive of the world religions having denied salvation to people who do not acknowledge Jesus as Lord and I am not sure that the claim to inclusiveness would be the way others see us.
The Israeli/ Palestinian conflict is a difficult and painful one. I would hope that any Christian reflection on the situation would feel that pain, embrace it and listen to the cries of that suffering land. Donald Nichol who was the Director of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Israel said he would know the time had come for him to leave the country once he found himself taking sides. Should a Church not be striving to be a reconciler and peace-maker and can this be done without dialogue? Even Tony Blair has acknowledged that there will be no peace in the Middle East without dialogue between the religions.
The end of this story is that the writers of the report did meet members of the Jewish community and the Council of Christians and Jews and that the report will be modified before it is presented to the General Assembly. As always dialogue helps restore relationships and shows a way forward. What a pity if often happens after the event. if it had been part of the process much hurt and misunderstanding would have been avoided.
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