Preface xxi
to christianity because they are the children of the old testament and play a cru-
cial role as witnesses to it. where his statements differ from his thirteenth-century
predecessors, however, is in his insistence on the positive value of rabbinical
Judaism. For in general—with a few notable exceptions such as innocent iV
(1243–1254)—medieval popes were not interested in, and even often feared, the
influence of, rabbinical Judaism. what is different between medieval determin-
ations and those of post-Vatican ii catholicism is not the underlying theology
but the much more positive recent evaluation of Jews and Judaism which deter-
mines how that theology is to be understood and interpreted. That is what one
would and should expect from a church that claims to believe in the develop-
ment of doctrine through the ages.
Perhaps just as important as the utterances of John Paul ii have been those of
his successor benedict xVi (2005–2013). according to israel singer, at the time
President of the world Jewish congress, before becoming pope and during his
tenure as Prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the Faith, Joseph alois
Ratzinger articulated the underpinnings for a rapprochement between christianity
and Judaism. benedict phoned the chief Rabbi of Rome immediately after his
election and his first official act on becoming pope was a letter of affirmation to the
Jewish community of Rome. He also visited a number of synagogues, invited a rabbi
to attend a synod of bishops, and stopped the beatification process of a French
priest alleged to have made anti-semitic speeches. in his scholarly writings he
emphasized not only the intrinsic unity of the old and new covenants, but that
christians can only understand the new testament if they read it in conjunction
with the old testament which preceded it. in this he is again close to his eleventh-,
twelfth-, and thirteenth-century predecessors. where he is so different is that he
has also sought to emphasize the historical Jesus and the importance of his
Jewishness. in the long history of papal–Jewish relations, it will be interesting to
see what Jorge Mario bergoglio, now Francis i (2013– ), does next!
Rebecca Rist, 2015.