2016-2017 Events

Jewish Dialogical Philosophers and Inter-Religious Dialogue
lunch and learn lecture with Ephraim Meir, Bar-Ilan University

March 16 | noon - 1:30 p.m. | light lunch served
Lattie F. Coor Hall, room 4403 | ASU Tempe campus
A discussion of interreligious theology, in which "trans-difference" is central. Such a dialogical theology has value and can be based upon an elaboration of some basic insights of contemporary Jewish philosophers. Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Abraham Joshua Heschel and Emmanuel Levinas succeeded in challenging the traditional polemic attitude and introduce a more dialogical approach to religions.

From Nostra Aetate to Pope Francis. A Jewish Retrospective.
lunch and learn lecture with Ephraim Meir, Bar-Ilan University

March 20 | noon - 1:30 p.m. | light lunch served
Lattie F. Coor Hall, room 4403 | ASU Tempe campus
Discussion of the Vatican document Nostra Aetate, which was published on 28 October 1965 and brought a change of mentality in the Catholic Church towards the Jews, drawing the attention to the influence of two eminent Jews on the document. The historian Jules Isaac (1877-1963) and the prophetic figure Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) greatly contributed to the genesis and content of Nostra Aetate. The radical changes of the Church after Nostra Aetate did not escape the attention of Jews who thought that these changes deserve an appreciation. This led to the document Dabru emet, published September 2000 in the New York Times. More than 200 Jewish scholars and rabbis signed this text.