On Sunday, April 9, 2006, as the Christian world prepared for Holy Thursday, Seton Hill’s National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) hosted a panel presentation and discussion entitled �Continuity and Discontinuity in the Passion Narratives.� The panel discussed the ways the Catholic church had presented the gospels and the implications for Jewish-Christian relations.
According to John Pawlikowski, OSM, the traditional notion of Jesus being crucified by the Jews is not accurate.
By Evan Reynolds,
Online Editor
On Sunday, April 9, 2006, as the Christian world prepared for Holy Thursday, Seton Hill’s National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) hosted a panel presentation and discussion entitled �Continuity and Discontinuity in the Passion Narratives.� The panel discussed the ways the Catholic church had presented the gospels and the implications for Jewish-Christian relations.
According to John Pawlikowski, OSM, the traditional notion of Jesus being crucified by the Jews is not accurate.
�His death represents a cumulative judgment on him for challenging the political system of the time,� Pawlikowski said.
Although the panel agreed that the texts of the Bible have grave anti-Semitic overtones, Roger Stasnik, a panel member, said to the audience that the texts must not be altered �to preserve us against a revisionist history.�
According to Steven Honeygosky, OSB, the books – which were written 30 to 60 years after the death of Jesus – must be taken into their proper historical context.
�You cannot subordinate the text to the needs of the community,� Honeygosky said.
�Many people don’t see… the centuries of the relationship between Christians and Jews,� said Gertrude Foley, a panel member.
�Good Friday has the potential to unite,� Pawlikowski said. �We must not present Jesus on Good Friday or any other time as standing… against the entire Jewish community.�
�When you begin to understand more about the Jewish community, you understand more about (your own religion),� Foley said.
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