Through the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, scholars and thinkers from diverse Jewish and Christian backgrounds engage in rigorous and ongoing study of all areas of their connected yet distinct faiths. The Center is dedicated to conducting educational research and offering programs for both the University and the wider community in which Christians and Jews explore their traditions together.
Corcoran Visiting Chair
Jonathan Decter, 2023-2024
Boston College and the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning are pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Decter to the 2023-2024 Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations.
Announcement
Previous Corcoran Visiting Chairs
Frans van Liere, 2022-2023
Announcement
Jesper Svartvik, 2020-2022
Announcement
Katharina von Kellenbach, 2019-2020
Announcement
Jack Miles, 2018-2019
Announcement
Christine Helmer, 2017-2018
Announcement
Adele Reinhartz, 2015-2017
Announcement
Mark Oppenheimer, 2014-2015
Announcement
Marc Michael Epstein, 2013-2014
Announcement
Theodore A. Perry, 2011-2013
Announcement
Daniel J. Lasker, 2010-2011
Announcement
Raymond Cohen, 2008-2010
Announcement
Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations
2024-2025 Academic Year
Boston College and its Center for Christian-Jewish Learning invite applications for a one year visiting appointment (renewable for a second year) as the Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations, specializing in an aspect of the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Candidates must hold a Ph.D. or its earned equivalent, have a demonstrated record of publication in the field, and hold (or have retired from) a tenured position (or its equivalent) in a university or seminary. Applications from all relevant disciplines are welcome.
The Corcoran Visiting Chair will agree to take on the following responsibilities, each of which should relate to the mission of the Center:
- A research project leading to a significant academic contribution to the field.
- Organize and lead a conference or consultation during the academic year of residence (preparations, especially invitations to speakers, may need to precede the year of residence).
- Teach or co-teach an upper-level course at Boston College that may be organized in conjunction with the conference or consultation.
Additional Optional Responsibilities
- Submit one essay for peer-review and publication in Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, the Center's e-journal.
- Develop a set of academic resources that will be available to other scholars through the Center's website.
Application and Submission
Electronic submission of the following are requested: letter of application, CV, and a proposal for the research and writing to be done while holding the position, including an indication of how these fit into the guidelines above.
Two letters of recommendation should be submitted directly to cjlearning@bc.edu. Letters should be addressed to Prof. Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Center Director.
Applications are due by November 1, 2023. Decisions will be made by February 1, 2024.
All application materials should be sent electronically directly to cjlearning@bc.edu.
Contact Information
If you have questions about the Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations, please email cjlearning@bc.edu.
Educational Goals
Because the Center is affiliated with a leading Catholic and Jesuit university which has an internationally top-ranked Theology faculty, education in Christian-Jewish relations is a central element of its work. Center faculty offer both courses directly addressing Christian-Jewish relations and courses primarily about Judaism taught for Boston College’s Catholic context. This includes participation in the Comparative Theology area of the Theology department and its work in developing this young field.
Courses are offered on a variety of levels, ranging from a course that fulfills part of the university’s undergraduate Theology core requirements, to courses open to graduate students at all levels (including students at other schools and seminaries in the Boston Theological Institute consortium).
Center faculty also offer a Ph.D. in Christian-Jewish relations through the Comparative Theology area. Graduates of this program are currently employed in college and seminary contexts and involved in dialogic work at national and international levels.
Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations
Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations is the electronic journal of the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations and is published by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College. The Journal publishes peer-reviewed scholarship on the history, theology, and contemporary realities of Jewish-Christian relations and reviews new materials in the field. The Journal also provides a vehicle for exchange of information, cooperation, and mutual enrichment in the field of Christian-Jewish studies and relations. The Journal may be accessed freely on the internet.
Guidelines for Journal Authors
Event Videos
The Center for Christian-Jewish Learning provides links to streaming videos of past Center events and to lectures by Center staff.
Video Library
Center for Christian-Jewish Learning Jewish-Christian Lecture Series
The Center for Christian-Jewish Learning invites Boston College professors teaching a course with explicit connections to Jewish-Christian relations to apply for a one-time sponsorship of an online guest lecturer for that course. Up to five recipients will be chosen for each semester. Preference will be given to non-core courses. When possible, these lectures will be recorded and made available publicly through the Center's website and social media.
* Lecturers joining a class by Zoom will receive a $750 honorarium.
* Lecturers speaking in person will receive a $1000 honorarium.
Please send an email to cjlearning@bc.edu stating (in 250 words or less):
- The guest speaker you would like to bring to your class.
- The speaker's topic and its context. Please make clear the explicit connection between the speaker's topic, your course content, and Jewish-Christian relations.
Applications are evaluated on a rolling basis.
If you have questions about the Jewish-Christian Relations Lecture Series, please contact:
Email: cjlearning@bc.edu
Phone: 617-552-4495
Through-lines and Fault-lines: Gospel of John "Within Judaism"?
Prof. Lawrence M. Wills
April 10, 2024
Prof. Lawrence M. Wills presented his lecture “Through-lines and Fault-lines: Gospel of John ‘Within Judaism’?” in Prof. Angela Harkins’ course "John: Gospel and Letters." The recent trend to interpret New Testament texts “within Judaism”—Matthew, Paul, Acts, Hebrews, Revelation—has also been applied to John. Yet the Gospel of John resists this approach in that “the Jews” is very often used for the opponents, those who simply will not believe that Jesus has a direct relation to God. Scholars are now split on this issue: Does John reflect a troubled but ultimately resolvable conflict with the wider body of Jews, or does John embrace a dualism between the “true” followers of Jesus (not all followers of Jesus?) and “the Jews”? Prof. Wills outlined key positions of scholars and proposed a solution to this problem.
The Book of 2 Esdras: Jewish, Christian, Both, Neither
Prof. Matthew Goff (Florida State University)
March 21, 2024
Prof. Matthew Goff presented his lecture “The Book of 2 Esdras: Jewish, Christian, Both, Neither” in Prof. Yonder Gillihan's course “Early Christianity in Its Jewish Context.” Relatively unknown to most readers of scripture, most of 2 Esdras (also called 4 Ezra) is a Jewish apocalyptic text written around 100 CE, roughly the same time as the composition of the book of Revelation. 4 Ezra offers a crucial window into how Jews in the late first century CE reinvented their traditions in the crucible of national trauma. The book teaches that the diversity and creativity of their responses to losing the temple become harder for us to appreciate if we think about them only through the lens of what later became Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. This event was sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, the Theology Department, the Institute for the Liberal Arts, and the Jewish Studies Program.
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Kristallnacht and the Anti-Semitism of Adolf Hitler: On the Interaction of Malicious Intentions and Unplanned Circumstances
Prof. Michael S. Bryant (Bryant University)
November 7, 2023
Prof. Michael S. Bryant spoke in Prof. John Michalczyk’s seminar “Holocaust and the Arts.” Prof. Bryant’s lecture was a commemoration of the 85th anniversary Kristallnacht and reinforced the seminar’s ideas on how the Arts attempts to express the inexpressible tragedy of the Holocaust and help us in a human way to understand the historical and personal events of the Holocaust. This event was co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program and the Film Studies Program.
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The German Churches, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust
Dr. Rebecca Carter-Chand (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
March 30, 2023
Dr. Rebecca Carter-Chand presented her lecture “The German Churches, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust” in Prof. Charles R. Gallagher’s course “Atlantic Worlds II: Race, Religion, and the Struggle for Democracy.” Dr. Carter-Chand is Director of Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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German Catholicism and Antisemitism on the Eve of Hitler’s Coming to Power
Kevin P. Spicer, C.S.C. (Stonehill College)
March 28, 2023
Fr. Kevin P. Spicer examined the role antisemitism played in the responses of Catholic leaders to National Socialism in the period immediately before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in Prof. John Michalczyk’s course “Why Do the Wicked Prosper?: Portraits of Good and Evil in Film." This event was co-sponsored by the Boston College Jewish Studies Program and Film Studies Program.
Faith and Politics in a Complex Time: Christian-Jewish Relations in the Third Reich
Prof. Susannah Heschel (Dartmouth College)
October 25, 2022
Prof. Susannah Heschel delivered a lecture on the complexities of Jewish-Christian relations during the Third Reich in Prof. John Michalczyk's course "Nazi Film, Nazi Art: The Power of Propaganda." This event was co-sponsored by the Boston College Jewish Studies Program and Film Studies Program.
Video
The New Testament and Anti-Judaism
Amy-Jill Levine (Vanderbilt University, emerita; Hartford International University for Religion and Peace)
April 29, 2022
Dr. Amy-Jill Levine spoke in Prof. Dieter Roth’s course on the Historical Jesus, discussing her chapter “The New Testament and Anti-Judaism” from her book The Misunderstood Jew. Dr. Levine examined how issues dealing with the historical Jesus relate to the New Testament and anti-Judaism and how course topics (including the question of sources, critical methodologies, and various portraits of the historical Jesus) can both aid in a critical reading of the New Testament and be constructive for Jewish-Christian dialogue.
Constantine's Sword: Twenty Years Later - A Retrospective
James Carroll
April 25, 2022
As part of the Center's Jewish-Christian Lecture Series, and moderated by Dr. Jesper Svartvik as part of his seminar From Foes to Friends: Jewish-Christian Relations, James Carroll spoke about his book Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews (2001) - the impact of the book, what has been achieved, and what still remains to be done.
Video
Jesus the Jewish Divine Physician: Understanding Healing in Early Christianity in its Jewish and Greco-Roman Contexts
Prof. Frances Flannery (James Madison University)
March 17, 2022
Prof. Frances Flannery spoke in Prof. Angela Kim Harkins' seminar "Disease, Illness, and Chronic Pain in the Biblical World" on how the Gospel writers drew on Jewish apocalyptic traditions to self-consciously craft a portrait of Jesus as a Jewish healer who was superior to the Roman alternatives, especially the god Asclepius.
Video
Early Christian Interpretations of Paul
Prof. Paula Fredriksen (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
October 12, 2021
Prof. Paula Fredriksen spoke in Prof. David Hunter’s "Reading Romans in the Early Church" seminar on how both Origen and Augustine viewed Paul's observations on the relations between Jews and Gentiles.
Concepts of God in Twentieth Century Jewish Thought
Prof. Paul Franks (Yale University)
February 17, 2021
Prof. Franks spoke in Prof. Karin Nisenbaum’s “Concepts of God in Twentieth Century Jewish Thought” class.
The Significance of Jerusalem in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (2020)
Dr. Raphael Jospe (Ariel University)
November 12, 2020
Dr. Jospe spoke in Prof. Ruth Langer's class “Jews and Christians: Understanding the Other.”
Video
Germany's Post Holocaust Payout: Compensation, Reparations, and Transitional Justice (2020)
Prof. Nir Eisikovits (University of Massachusetts, Boston)
October 22, 2020
Prof. Eisikovits spoke in Prof. Gregory Fried’s “Law and Interpretation” class.
Video
The History of Jewish Mysticism (2020)
Rabbi David Maayan (Boston College)
September 23, 2020
Rabbi Maayan spoke in Prof. Catherine Cornille's “Comparative Mysticism” class.
Video
What Can We Say about Jewish Groups during the Second Temple Period?”
Prof. Shaye J. D. Cohen (Harvard University)
November 12, 2019
Prof. Cohen spoke in Prof. Angela Harkins’ “Second Temple Judaisms” class.
Hannah Arendt and the Global Refugee Crisis
Prof. Serena Parekh (Northeastern University)
September 26, 2019
Prof. Parekh spoke in Prof. James Bernauer’s “Hannah Arendt” class.
Matthew and the Jewish Leaders: From Text to Film
Prof. Adele Reinhartz (University of Ottawa)
March 25, 2019
Prof. Reinhartz spoke in Angela Harkins’ “Gospel of Matthew” class.
The Jewishness of the Gospel of Mark
Prof. Lawrence Wills (Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA)
October 3, 2018
Prof. Wills spoke in Prof. Angela Harkins’ “Gospel of Mark” class.
Confronting Racism: The Prophetic Politics of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Prof. Susannah Heschel (Dartmouth College)
November 14, 2017
Prof. Heschel spoke in Prof. Ruth Langer’s “Exploring the Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel” class.
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament
James VanderKam (University of Notre Dame)
November 13, 2017
Prof. VanderKam spoke in Prof. Angela Harkins’ “Second Temple Judaisms” course.
Kings and Messiahs: Reconsidering Kingship in the Hebrew Bible, Judaism, and Christianity
Prof. Garrett Galvin, O.F.M. (Franciscan School of Theology in California)
April 6, 2017
Prof. Galvin spoke in Prof. Andrew Davis’ “Book of Kings” course.
Mark, Women, and the Representation of Judaism in Mark 5:21-43
Prof. Mary Rose D’Angelo (University of Notre Dame)
February 21, 2017
Prof. D’Angelo spoke in Prof. Angela Harkins’ “Gospel of Mark” course.
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: For the Law or Against the Law?
Prof. Jonathan Klawans (Boston University)
September 20, 2016
Prof. Klawans spoke in Prof. Angela Harkins’ “Gospel of Matthew” class.
The Politics of Apocalypticism: Assigning Authorship and Jewish-Christian Relations
Dr. Kelley Coblentz Bautch (St. Edwards University)
November 6, 2015
Dr. Coblentz Bautch spoke in Prof. Angela Harkins’ “Apocalypses and Apocalyptic Literature” class.
History, Trauma, and Testimony
Dr. Murray Schwartz (Emerson College)
November 6, 2015
Dr. Schwartz spoke in Prof. Vanessa Rumble's “Freud and Philosophy” class.
Zion and Zionism in Jewish and Christian Thought and History
Dr. Raphael Jospe (Ariel University, Israel)
April 21, 2015
Dr. Jospe presented a lecture to Prof. Ruth Langer’s “Jews and Christians: Understanding the Other” class.
The Media’s Treatment of Buddhism in America
Dr. Jay Michaelson
April 1, 2015
Dr. Michaelson spoke in Prof. Mark Oppenheimer's “Writing About Religion” class.
Covering Jewish/Muslim/Christian Ethnic and Religious Conflict: Dilemmas for Secular News Organizations
Linda Gradstein
February 18, 2015
Jerusalem-based NPR reporter Linda Gradstein spoke to Prof. Mark Oppenheimer's “Writing About Religion” class.
Turning Disaster Inside Out: Commemorating the Holocaust to Transform the Future
Alan Rosen
November 4, 2014
Alan Rosen spoke in Prof. Ruth Langer’s “Jewish Liturgy: Its History and Theology” class.
Jewish Thinking about Islam and Christianity in Medieval Spain
Prof. Jonathan Decter (Brandeis University)
March 25, 2014
Prof. Decter delivered a talk to Prof. Pamela Berger’s art history class on Jewish literature in the Islamic World during the medieval period.
Abraham Heschel: His Theological Method in the Context of Christian Theology and Philosophies of Religion
Prof. Susannah Heschel (Dartmouth College)
January 30, 2014
Prof. Heschel spoke to Prof. Ruth Langer’s “Exploring the Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel” class.
Building after Auschwitz: Jewish Architecture and the Memory of the Holocaust
Prof. Gavriel D. Rosenfeld (Fairfield University)
November 7, 2013
Prof. Rosenfeld delivered a lecture to Prof. James Bernauer’s “The Holocaust: A Moral History” class.
The Pope's Last Crusade: How an American Jesuit Helped Pope Pius XI's Campaign to Stop Hitler
Peter Eisner
March 25, 2013
Reporter and author Peter Eisner spoke to Prof. Charles Gallagher S.J.’s “Race, Religion, and the Struggle for Democracy” class.
Maimonides and Gersonides: Their Teachings on Omniscience and Free Will
Prof. Alfred L. Ivry (New York University)
November 1, 2012
Prof. Ivry spoke to Prof. Stephen Brown’s “Medieval Religions & Thought” class.
Israelite and Judean Prophecy and Jewish-Christian Hermeneutics
Prof. Marvin A. Sweeney (Claremont School of Theology)
March 21, 2012
Prof. Sweeney presented a lecture to students in Prof. David Vanderhooft’s “Habakkuk and the Judean Prophetic Tradition” seminar.
The Relationships Between Christian Churches and the German State Under National Socialism
Prof. Kevin Spicer, C.S.C. (Stonehill College)
November 17, 2011
Prof. Spicer, C.S.C. delivered a lecture to Prof. James Bernauer’s “The Holocaust: A Moral History” class.
Trauma and Moral History
Dr. Dori Laub (Yale University)
October 13, 2011
Dr. Laub spoke to Prof. Vanessa Rumble’s “Freud and Philosophy” class and Prof. James Bernauer, S.J.’s “The Holocaust: A Moral History” classes.
Holocaust Films: Rescue and Inspiration
Sharon Pucker Rivo (National Center for Jewish Film)
September 27, 2011
Sharon Pucker Rivo spoke to Prof. John Michalczyk’s and Prof. Raymond Helmick, S.J.’s “Genocide and Film” class.
The Life and Writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel
Prof. Edward K. Kaplan (Brandeis University)
September 20, 2011
Prof. Kaplan spoke to Prof. Ruth Langer’s “Exploring the Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel” class.
The Center's Annual John Paul II Lecture in Christian-Jewish Relations honors the late pontiff's many efforts to overcome the divisions between Christians and Jews.
"Humans as the Image of God: The Bible and John Paul II"
Dr. David Novak
October 17, 2023
Video
"Why Did God Choose the Jews? A Christian Reflection in Conversation with Jewish Thought"
Prof. Kendall Soulen
November 2, 2022
Video
"MESSY MONOTHEISM: The Crowded Cosmos of Ancient Jews and Christians"
Prof. Paula Fredriksen
October 12, 2021
Video
Lecture Handout
"Walking You Make the Road": Discerning the Way in Jewish-Christian Relations Today
Prof. Mary C. Boys
February 11, 2021
Video
Between the Holocaust and the Nakba: When Genya and Henryk Kowalski Challenged History, Jaffa 1949
Prof. Alon Confino
February 9, 2020
Video
Christian Privilege, Christian Fragility, and the Gospel of John: How American Race Relations inform Jewish-Christian Dialogue
Prof. Amy-Jill Levine
October 14, 2018
Video
Towards the Ends of the Earth: Land in the Jewish-Christian Dialogue
Rev. David Neuhaus, S.J.
October 30, 2016
Lecture Text
Nostra Aetate and the Jews: The Relationship Between Augustin Cardinal Bea and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Prof. Susannah Heschel
October 18, 2015
The Jewishness of Jesus: Renewing Christian Appreciation
Rev. Dr. Christian M. Rutishauser, S.J.
February 16, 2014
Lecture Text
"Mind the Gap": Bridging One Dozen Lacunae in Jewish-Catholic Dialogue
Rabbi Michael J. Cook, Ph.D.
March 20, 2013
Lecture Text
Accompanying Handout
Pope John Paul II on Christian-Jewish Relations: His Legacy, Our Challenges
Rev. John T. Pawlikowski, Ph.D.
March 1, 2012
Lecture Text
Center for Christian-Jewish Learning Student Internship Program
The Center for Christian-Jewish Learning (CCJL) invites Boston College undergraduate and graduate students to apply for its Student Internship Program. These internships are 1-year, student-initiated, and student-led endeavors dedicated to furthering the intern’s understanding of and participation in Jewish-Christian relations. The internships support programs and projects independently conceived and executed by students outside their regular coursework that contribute to interreligious dialogue and interfaith understanding. Internships may be in—but are not limited to—ministerial, pastoral, and educational fields. Students must conduct their internships under the guidance of an appropriate advisor (e.g., faculty member, clergy person, or non-profit staff member).
Current Center Student Interns
Liam Adamczyk, ’25 (2024), “Anti-Semitism in the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study” (Advisor: Mark Massa, S.J.)
Joe Monti, '25 (2024), "Portraying the Sacred: Initial Insights into an Exhibit Design of Catholic-Jewish Relations in a Boston Holocaust Museum" (Advisor: Charles R. Gallagher, S.J.)
Previous Center Student Interns
Owen Fletcher '25 (2022-2023): "Loving the Stranger: Christian and Jewish Responses to Migration in the United States" (Advisor: Mark Massa, S.J.)
Video
Dennis Wieboldt '22 (2020-2021): "The Natural Law Foundation of Interreligious Social Advocacy: A Civil Rights Movement Case Study" (Advisor: Mark Massa, S.J.)
Video
Article in American Catholic Studies 134, no. 1 (Spring 2023)
“The Center’s resources have been invaluable to advancing my research on interreligious social advocacy during the Civil Rights Movement. Not only did the student internship program’s financial support ensure that I had the materials I needed to complete my research, but the structure of the program—including one-on-one support from an advisor—has helped me develop critical skills for the future.”