The biblical commission, the Jews, and scriptures - Pontifical Biblical Commission

The conclusions of the document ([subsection] 84-86) are general and also pastoral. The general conclusion seems overly positive, but it does little more than repeat the continuity of the "fundamental themes." It concludes that the breaks in the relationship between Jews and Christians in the past were never complete and should not have occurred, "for a complete break between Church and Synagogue contradicts Sacred Scripture" ([section] 85). What is meant by contradiction? The pastoral implications highlight the famous declaration of Vatican II, Nostra Aerate, and especially the many stirring statements of Pope John Paul II. Oddly, Christians are told to avoid "a one-sided reading of biblical texts." This is a strange recommendation in view of Part 2, which presented a thoroughly Christian interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures. Now the "dynamism" that animates them is called a "dynamism of love" in lieu of the "internal dynamism" mentioned in [section] 21. It remains for the final paragraph of the book to describe the situation pithily and accurately. The disagreement between Church and Synagogue "is not to be taken as `anti-Jewish sentiment,' for it is disagreement at the level of faith, the source of religious controversy between two human groups that take their point of departure from the same Old Testament faith basis, but are in disagreement on how to conceive the final development of that faith. Although profound, such disagreement in no way implies reciprocal hostility" ([section] 87).

We can return to the question that the PBC set for itself in [section] 1, "What relations does the Christian Bible establish between Christians and the Jewish people?" They well realize that their document had to be limited, and choices had to be made. They chose to present an interpretation primarily in the light of Christian faith. This has value for Christians, but may hardly be noticed by the Jewish community.

Works Cited

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1962. LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON, edited by E. Bethge. New York, NY: Macmillan.

Brown, Raymond E. 1996. READING THE GOSPELS WITH THE CHURCH. Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony.

Roland E. Murphy, S.T.D. (Catholic University of America), a member of the Carmelite Order, is George Washington Ivey Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies at Duke University, now residing at Whitefriars Hall, Washington, D.C. 20017. His most recent book is EXPERIENCING OUR BIBLICAL HERITAGE (Hendrickson, 2001).

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