Roland Murphy, The Pontifical Biblical Commission, Jews, and the Bible - Book Review

Perhaps in sensitivity to this full history in general, and to the Shoah in particular, the PBC might have been more nuanced in its description of theodicy. We read, over and over, that Jewish infidelity caused destruction: "But [Jesus] says that the city 'did not know the time of its visitation' and he tearfully foresees that this blindness will bring about its ruin, as had already happened in Jeremiah's time" (the note is to Lk 19:41-44; cf. Mt 23:37-39; Lk 13:34-35; 21:20-24). Thus, the "rejection of Jesus by the leaders of his people, who carried with them the population of Jerusalem, increased their guilt to its extreme degree. The divine sanction will be the same as in Jeremiah's time: the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple." I cannot help being reminded of those, including some within Judaism, who attribute the Shoah to the secularized Jew. Surely the PBC is not making this claim.

Some discussion of theodicy is warranted, with Job being the better text from the Old Testament along with New Testament references to the persecution of the Church. Such notices would complicate simplistic Deuteronomic theology as well as break the connection between sin and destruction. The discussion is urgent, since the contextualization of the Document in terms of the Shoah threatens to suggest that the destruction of the six million was their own fault.

Nor will the stopping of the discussion at the Shoah accomplish the PBC's goals of enhancing interfaith relations. Murphy got it right by looking to events prior to the Shoah; the PBC would have done well to look at more recent events, especially in (nominally) Catholic countries. Given the recent outbreaks of anti-Judaism (burning of synagogues, bombings of dayschools, desecrations of cemeteries, etc.) in Europe--with events in France being particularly egregious (! note this point because the PBC text was originally published in French)--the Document should admit that the problem is not merely one of rectification of the past, it is one of ongoing concern where Jewish lives are at stake.

Reflections

There is a future thrust to the PBC Document, as there is to Wisdom literature and to Murphy's work. None lets the reader rest easily with the status quo; each prompts us toward greater morality, greater humanity. The PBC insists, in two remarkable statements, that "Jewish messianic expectation is not in vain. It can become for us Christians a powerful stimulant to keep alive the eschatological dimension of our faith. Like them, we too live in expectation" and "It cannot be said, therefore, that Jews do not see what has been proclaimed in the text, but that the Christian, in the light of Christ and in the Spirit, discovers in the text an additional meaning that was hidden there." These provide the basis not only for interfaith dialogue, but for interfaith shalom. Wisdom encourages us to continue to question, even to question G-d. Murphy teaches us that the texts offer ever-new meanings even as we can work backwards through history to see how they have impacted each generation.