A Dialogue That Almost Died

Extract

A new tone of optimism is being sounded in some recent reports on Christian-Jewish relationships. For instance, we have been hearing about a “decade of progress” in Jewish-Roman Catholic dialogue ever since 1975, when a Vatican commission issued “Guidelines and Suggestions” to implement the 1965 Vatican Council declaration Nostra Aetate. The new initiatives in Jewish-Evangelical conversations have been hailed as exceedingly heartening. Many and varied forms of dialogue between Christians and Jews are taking place on the local scene all across the land. Finally, the Fifth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Nairobi, avoided adopting a statement on the Middle East so offensive to the Jewish community as to cause the breakdown of conversations.