The Hebrew Bible in ´Jewish-Christian´ Dialogue in Austria and Germany after 1945

For Christian theology, the tragedy of the Shoah marks a decisive turning point in the definition of its position on Judaism and, thus, on the first part of its Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. After 1945, the Christian churches only gradually became aware of their duty to face up to their own, centuries-old anti-Jewish tradition. Only slowly did they recognize what partial responsibility Christian anti-Judaism and the manifold silence of the churches bore for the crimes of the National Socialist regime. Only in reaction to the National Socialist reign of terror did a change in social - and also in theological - thought take place. The "Jewish-Christian" dialogue represents an essential result of this process in this change of thought. The goal of the project "The Hebrew Bible in `Jewish-Christian` Dialogue in Austria and Germany After 1945" is to investigate the use and significance of biblical, and especially Old Testament, texts in the process of dialogue at the grass roots and, in addition, to portray, by using examples, the reception of the dialogue as well as its consequences for Old Testament scholarship after 1945. The project, thus, also provides a review of the historical development of the conversation between Judaism and Christianity as well as an analysis of the motivations of the Christian as well as also the Jewish protagonists to take part in the dialogue. The focus of the work of the project will lie in the investigation of the relevance of the Hebrew Bible - the central basis for discussion between Judaism and Christianity - for the dialogue at the grass roots after 1945. Hereby, selected "Jewish-Christian" Bible study weeks in the German-speaking sphere, above all, are to be investigated comparatively as the foundation for this focus. The project, as an example, will compile a history of research in Old Testament scholarship in German-speaking areas after 1945 as an essential consequence of "Jewish-Christian" dialogue, focusing upon its efforts to recognize, name, and overcome anti-Jewish tendencies. In concrete terms, the researches of a Catholic and a Protestant exegete, as well as the themes of "Old Covenant-New Covenant", central to Christian anti-Judaism and the overcoming of it, as well as also the question so volatile for feminist theology concerning the "image of God, violence, and patriarchate" stand in the focus of the analysis. The work is not intended to be limited, however, to mere stock-taking, but rather also to examine the present situation and, on this basis, to point out possible areas of future work for "Jewish-Christian" co-operation.

In 1991, the Israeli author Yoram Kaniuk called the Jewish-Christian dialogue the most important event of the 20th century. This statement can be applied to the whole dialogue-process between Christianity and Judaism: The relevance of a renewed Jewish-Christian relation after the Shoah and centuries of Christian anti-Judaism cannot be overestimated.The research project was dedicated to the documentation of this restart at the grass roots and shows essential lines of development of the Jewish-Christian conversation in Germany and Austria after the National Socialist regime. The theological renewal process after 1945 took place essentially on two levels: on the level of official relations between the churches and the Jewish communities as well as on the level of the Jewish-Christian conversation at the grass roots. Dialogue initiatives, which were established in various education centres or within the academic framework, created unique places of Jewish-Christian encounters.Four initiatives took the centre stage of the project: the International Jewish-Christian Bible Study Week (19692003 in Bendorf, since 2004 in Georgsmarienhütte), the Austrian Christian-Jewish Bible Study Week (19822007 in Graz), the Christian-Jewish Vacation Courses (19832012 in Nettetal, Aachen and Baesweiler-Puffendorf) as well as the Christian-Jewish Summer University (since 1987 in Berlin). Despite the differences between the dialogue formats, all initiatives had one common basis: the Hebrew Bible, respectively the Old Testament. This common document of faith of Judaism and Christianity became a basis par excellence for discussions and encounters and was the reason for the uniqueness of the Jewish-Christian conversation in the context of the interreligious dialogue.Essential parts of the project work are based upon the classification of memories, of orally narrated history. 115 protagonists, male and female, of the Jewish-Christian dialogue provided as contemporary witnesses an insight into the practical aspects of the dialogue. Retrospectively, their experiences constituted a multi-perspective image of the dialogical events. Two international conferences with experts of the Jewish-Christian conversation completed the outcome of the project: While one research colloquium looked at the past and exemplarily documented the paradigm shift within theology in the last decades with regard to Judaism and the Hebrew Bible, the second conference focused on contemporary aspects and future perspectives of the Jewish-Christian conversation in Central Europe.As a follow-up project in regard to Science Communication, the director of the project and the project assistant will revive the Austrian Christian-Jewish Bible Study Week with an international interreligious board in 2017.