With thanks to the Boston College Front Row project and the WGBH-Boston Forum project, we are pleased to make available these streaming media presentations of selected Center, and other relevant, programs. The programs are listed chronologically, beginning with the most recent.
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The Extraordinary Life and Witness of Jan KarskiMaciej Kozlowski speaks on the life of Jan Karski (1914–2000), a Polish diplomat in the 1930s who joined the underground at the beginning of World War II and, according to the New York Times, “infiltrated both the Warsaw Ghetto and a German concentration camp and then carried the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to a mostly disbelieving West.” Following the war he taught history at Georgetown University for 40 years. Kozlowski, who published the first-ever interview with Karski, recounts Karski’s wartime experiences. A journalist and a historian, Kozlowski is also a diplomat, having served as the chargé d’affaires at the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C. and as Poland’s ambassador to Israel from 1999 to 2003. His talk includes several short films on Karski’s life. Recorded: January 22, 2008, Boston College
The Church's Witness on Issues in the Arab-Israeli ConflictSr. Ruth Lautt, founder and national director of Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East, devotes her talk to providing a framework for Christians to think about the Arab-Israeli conflict, both theologically and through the norms of international law, to promote the causes of "peace, justice, and reconciliation" in the Middle East. Rabbi Ruth Langer, theology professor and associate director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, says that as an American Jew, she views Arab-Israeli relations as an "encounter between two victims." She suggests using this "mutual victimhood" to foster peaceful discourse. A question-and-answer session follows the event, the second of a two-part series focused on "Responding to International Conflict: Challenges for Christian-Jewish Dialogue," sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning on November 14, 2007. More info/viewRecorded: November 14, 2007, Boston College
Jewish and Christian Responses to Peacemaking and War A Jesuit, a rabbi, and a Presbyterian minister discuss the ways in which the Christian and Jewish traditions address peacemaking and war in this program, first in a two-part series entitled "Responding to International Conflict: Challenges for Christain-Jewish Dialogue," sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning on November 7, 2007. Theology Professor and director of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice David Hollenbach, SJ, lays out the Roman Catholic approach to peacemaking and the ethics of warfare, with particular attention to the "just war" tradition. Rabbi Or Rose of Hebrew College speaks on how his faith informed his personal engagement as an activist in the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. Rev. Rodney Peterson, executive director of the Boston Theological Institute, presents a historical context for Christian approaches to war and peace. Recorded: November 7, 2007, Boston College
The Sacred Liturgy: Revisiting Sacrosanctum Concilium Forty Years After Vatican II Recorded: April 17, 2007, Boston College
Catholic-Jewish Dialogue in Father Hanspeter Heinz, professor emeritus of pastoral theology at the University of Augsburg, in his talk sponsored by the Center for Christian Jewish Learning on April 16, 2007, stressed the continuing importance of studying the "specifics of what happened" to Germany and Jews during the Nazi era. Professor Heinz is president of the Jewish-Christian Discussion Group, which sponsors programs and discussions in Germany over the difficulties experienced by both Jews and Germans in confronting the historical facts of the Holocaust. Along with Rabbi Michael Signor, he is editor of Coming Together for the Sake of God: Contributions to Jewish-Christian Dialogue from Post-Holocaust Germany (Michael Glazier Books, 2007). Recorded: April 16, 2007, Boston College
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Religious Pluralism without Relativism “Can we move from mere toleration to mutual acceptance?” asked Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) at a 1994 conference attended by Bar Ilan University Jewish philosopher Raphael Jospe. In his lecture, sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning and the theology department, Jospe says the Cardinal’s question had “a profound influence on my own thought as I’ve attempted to develop a Jewish paradigm for pluralism.” He describes the Jewish teachings from which he concludes that accepting other religions’ legitimacy is not tantamount to relativism. Jospe has authored or edited eight books on Jewish philosophy and history. Francis Sullivan, SJ, theology department adjunct professor, presents a Catholic perspective following Jospe’s remarks. more info/view
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Heschel and King: Legacy and Responsibility Currently a professor of religion at Princeton University, Cornel West spoke at the closing event of a two-day conference celebrating the centenary of Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Jewish theologian and civil rights leader who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King. Heschel and King demonstrated “unbelievable levels of courage, willingness to sacrifice, and to speak the truth, even when it cut against the grain,” said West. Recorded: December 12, 2006, Boston College
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer for Our Times: Jewish and Christian Perspectives German Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-45), a Nazi resistor, was the subject of a two-day conference in September entitled "Dietrich Bonhoeffer for Our Times: Jewish and Christian Perspectives," sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Hebrew College, and the Andover-Newton Theological School. Two panel discussions from the conference are available for online viewing:
Three panelists examine the spirituality of Bonhoeffer’s writings, including his influence in post-Holocaust Jewish and Christian theology. Speaking are Lisa Dahill, assistant professor of worship and Christian spirituality at Trinity Lutheran Seminary; Marc Krell, professor at the University of California, Riverside; and Stephen Pope, professor of theology at Boston College. The panel is moderated by Victoria Barnett, staff director for the committee on church relations at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Three panelists discuss ways Bonhoeffer’s writings can provide intellectual guidance to modern religious activism, including fundamentalism.Or Rose of Hebrew College, Union University Professor of Moral Philosophy David Gushee, and Boston College Philosophy Professor James Bernauer discuss Bonhoeffer as a model for religious activism, moderated by Clifford Green, executive director of the Bonhoeffer Works Project.
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Address to the Jewish Community to Mark the 40th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Boston, delivered this address at an evening organized by the Anti-Defamation League, New England Region. He describes the conciliar declaration as the work of the Holy Spirit and stresses the importance of Catholic-Jewish understanding through moving personal anecdotes.
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Fuller Meanings: Christian and Jewish Readings of the Bible Theologians Jon Levenson and Gary Anderson critique the Pontifical Biblical Commission’s 2001 document, The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, which affirms the essential place of the Jewish Scriptures in the Christian tradition, and examines the depictions of Jews in the New Testament. Levenson, the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard Divinity School, and Anderson, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, speak separately, and then answer questions.
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Estranged [Br]others: Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity Adiel Schremer is an associate professor of ancient Judaism in the department of Jewish History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He speaks on Jewish-Christian relations in antiquity and the role Christianity occupied in the formation of ancient Judaism; this is also the topic of his book in progress, in which he discusses Talmudic efforts to encourage Jewish avoidance of Christian teachers and teachings.
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Funny, They Don’t Look Jewish: Confusing Converts in Medieval Spain Dwayne Carpenter is a professor of Hispanic studies at Boston College, specializing in medieval Spanish literature and in interreligious relations of that time period. His lecture—about the blurring of social and religious boundaries between Sephardic Jews, Christians, and Muslims in medieval Spain—was part of a series of inaugural events for the Jewish studies program at Boston College, of which Carpenter is a founding codirector.
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Seeing Judaism Anew in Our Time Two panel discussions are held to celebrate the publication of Seeing Judaism Anew: Christianity’s Sacred Obligation (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), a collection of essays by the 21 members of the Christian Scholars Group, focused around the claim that revising Christian teaching about Judaism and the Jewish people is a central obligation of contemporary theology, both as a matter of justice for the Jewish people and for the integrity of Christian faith. In the first panel discussion, “Looking Backward—Looking Forward,” Boston Globe religion reporter Michael Paulson interviews three professors emeriti of religion to gain a historical perspective on Christian-Jewish dialogue since the Holocaust. The panelists are Alice Eckardt of Lehigh University, Eva Fleischner of Montclair State University, and Walter Harrelson of Vanderbilt University. In the second panel discussion, “What Difference Does the Effort to See Judaism Anew Make?” three Christians and three Jews offer personal reflections on the importance of the journey toward greater Christian-Jewish understanding. The panelists are Ruth Langer, associate professor of Jewish studies at Boston College; Reuven Kimelman, professor of classical Rabbinic literature at Brandeis University; John Merkle, professor of theology at College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University in Minnesota; Gilbert Rosenthal, executive director of the National Council of Synagogues; Jean-Pierre Ruiz, associate professor of Hispanic/Latino theology at St. John’s University in New York; and Karla Suomala, assistant professor of religion at Luther College. The panels are followed by the unveiling of a painting by Michael O'Neill McGrath that was commissioned by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning and the Archdiocese of Boston to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Vatican II declaration, Nostra Aetate. Entitled, "In Our Time," the painting depicted the symbolic figure of Wisdom guiding the pilgrim people of the Church and Israel to the New Jerusalem of the Age to Come.
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Christ’s Passion: What’s at Stake for Christians and Jews? As the season of Lent draws to its culmination during Holy Week, four Catholic Boston College professors share both personal and academic reflections on the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Their discussion marks the recent publication of an essay collection to which all four contributed: Pondering the Passion: What’s at Stake for Christians and Jews? (Sheed & Ward, 2004). The panelists are Philip Cunningham, executive director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning (and editor of the above-mentioned book); Raymond Helmick, SJ, of the theology department; John Michalczyk, fine arts department chair and codirector of the film studies program; and Louis Roy, OP, of the theology department.
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The Jewish-Christian Debate in the Early Modern Period: Spinoza, Modena, and Isaac of Troki Daniel J. Lasker is the Norbert Blechner Professor of Jewish Values at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Be'er Sheva, Israel, where he teaches medieval Jewish philosophy. In this lecture he focuses on the changes within the Jewish-Christian debate as Europe passed through the 16th and 17th centuries, as seen through the writings of a diverse trio of Jewish scholars: Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza; Leone Modena, a Venetian rabbi; and Isaac of Troki, a Karaite from Lithuania.
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Should Catholics Seek to Convert Jews (If Jews are in True Covenant with God)? Three faculty members from Boston College's theology department discuss the Catholic Church's theological position on the conversion of Jews to Christianity. The panelists are Philip Cunningham, executive director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College: Fr. Michael Himes, a professor in the theology department; and Frederick Lawrence, director of the Lonergan Workshop.
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For the Sake of Heaven and Earth: The New Encounter Between Judaism and Christianity
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Portraying the Passion: The Gospels, Christian Theologies of Judaism, and Antisemitism
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Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik: An Interreligious Dialogue, 40 Years Later
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The Moral Minority, Altruism, Rescue, and the Human Condition: Lessons from the Holocaust
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Speaking to Each Other in Times of Controversy
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Competing Claims for Truth: Medieval Judaism and Christianity in Conflict
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A Crucial Endeavor for the Catholic Church: Remarks on Catholic-Jewish Relations
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Walking God's Paths: An episode from our six-part video series for congregational Christian-Jewish dialogue. Episode Three: Common Texts, Different Scriptures Examines how the Bible both unites and divides Jews and Christians. Although Christianity and Judaism share many of the same scriptural books, they are arranged differently and read through different traditions of interpretation. Participants will experience this diversity by reading common texts together.  Choose: Audio Only | Modem Video | Broadband Video |
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