Report of Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski
Kraft Family Professor and Director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning
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Rev. Dr. Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski reviews his inaugural year leading the Center and reflects on the Center's place in the current contexts of Jewish-Christian relations. |
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Report of Ruth Langer
Professor of Jewish Studies and Center Associate Director
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Rabbi Dr. Ruth Langer reports on her recent scholarship, activities, and upcoming work. |
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Frans van Liere
2022-2023 Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations
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Dr. Frans van Liere reflects on his tenure as the Center's 2022-2023 Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations. |
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Center Programs in Review |
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Barbara U. Meyer
"The Suffering Jewish Jesus and Christian Memory"
June 16, 2022
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How does remembering Jesus’ Jewishness affect Christian approaches to suffering? For centuries, Christians have found comfort in associating their own suffering with that of Jesus. But what happens when Christians remember Jesus as a Jew who suffered? Prof. Barbara Meyer explored this question in dialogue with Jewish and Christian voices critical of the notion of redemptive suffering. |
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Frans van Liere
"Scriptural Reasoning, Medieval Style: Interfaith Dialogue in Twelfth-Century Paris"
September 20, 2022
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When we think of Jewish-Christian encounters in the High Middle Ages, disputation and polemic are often the first things that comes to mind. However, the abbey of Saint Victor, in the mid-twelfth century, also witnessed a different kind of interaction between Christians and Jews: an encounter centered not on what divided but on what united them. Prof. Frans van Liere spoke on how the discovery of a shared scriptural heritage could lead to mutual learning, although it was not always without challenges. |
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Susannah Heschel
"Faith and Politics in a Complex Time: Christian-Jewish Relations in the Third Reich"
October 25, 2022
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As part of the Center's Jewish-Christian Lecture Series, Prof. Susannah Heschel spoke on the complexities of Jewish-Christian relations during the Third Reich—focusing on Jews who converted to Christianity and how they were treated by churches in Nazi Germany. This event was co-sponsored by the Boston College Jewish Studies Program and Film Studies Program.
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Kendall Soulen
"Why Did God Choose the Jews? A Christian Reflection in Conversation with Jewish Thought"
November 2, 2022
Prof. Kendall Soulen delivered the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning's 10th Annual John Paul II Lecture in Christian-Jewish Relations: "Why Did God Choose the Jews? A Christian Reflection in Conversation with Jewish Thought." This lecture unpacked what the question means, what makes it so difficult for Christians to answer in a satisfactory way, and what a satisfactory Christian answer might be that is informed by Jewish thought.
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Emma Polyakov
"The Nun in the Synagogue: Judeocentric Catholicism in Israel"
January 11, 2023
In the wake of the Holocaust, a religious phenomenon arose in Israel fueled by Holocaust survivors who had converted to Catholicism as well as by Catholics determined to address the anti-Judaism inherent in their religious tradition. Prof. Emma Polyakov examined this “Judeocentric Catholicism” as a case study in Catholic perceptions of Jews, Judaism, and the state of Israel.
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February 28, 2023
Dr. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal presented the argument that Talmudic literary traditions must be examined as part of the Late Antique boundary-creating discourse between the rabbinic authors and contemporaneous Christians. It adds to our surprising and growing understanding of the rabbinic authors' familiarity with Christian traditions, and to the ways in which we can access the complex relations between the two religious communities.
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2023 Corcoran Chair Conference
"SHARED SCRIPTURE – DIVIDED FAITHS: The Medieval Jewish-Christian Encounter over the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament"
March 19-20, 2023
Ever since Christianity sought to define itself as distinctly different from Judaism, the paths of Judaism and Christianity have diverged. Yet what they retained in common was a large body of Scriptures, the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament for Christians. This conference will explore what the French scholar Gilbert Dahan has called “the encounter over Scripture,” the exploration of the shared textual heritage by Jewish and Christian scholars in the Western Middle Ages (c. 500-1500 CE), which opened the door to interactions between Christians and Jews, ranging from learned discourse to hostile confrontation.
Session 1
Devorah Schoenfeld: How Many Lovers are in the Song of Songs? The Construction of Unified Protagonists in the Commentaries of Rashi, Bede, and the Glossa Ordinaria
Judith Olszowy-Schlanger: New Perspectives for the Study of Bilingual Psalters from Medieval England
Robert A. Harris: Speaking To and About the Other: Terms for Christians and Christianity Among 12th Century Rabbinic Exegetes
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Keynote Address
Frans van Liere: “Hebraeus – Judaeus”: A Thousand Years of Christian Ambivalence in Two Words
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Session 2
Deeana Copeland Klepper: Shared Scripture? Nicholas of Lyra’s “On the Differences between the Hebrew Letter and Our Translation” (1333)
Görge K. Hasselhoff: The Impact of the Parisian Talmud Trials on Christian Theology: Translating the Talmud, Rashi, and Maimonides
Johannes Heil: The Other Diaspora - Roman Jews and Latin Jewish Texts (400-800)
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Session 3
Boyd Taylor Coolman: The Old Law and the Trinity: A Trinitarian Reading of the Decalogue in the “Summa Halensis”
Franklin T. Harkins: Moses Maimonides and Albertus Magnus on Job and Divine Providence
Christopher Ocker: Juan de Segovia: a Hierarchy of Errors, the Bible, and the Jews
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Kevin P. Spicer, C.S.C.
"German Catholicism and Antisemitism on the Eve of Hitler’s Coming to Power"
March 28, 2023
As part of the Center's Jewish-Christian Lecture Series, 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. This event was co-sponsored by the Boston College Jewish Studies Program and Film Studies Program.
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Rebecca Carter-Chand
“The German Churches, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust"
March 30, 2023
As part of the Center’s Jewish-Christian Lecture Series, Dr. Rebecca Carter-Chand presented her lecture “The German Churches, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust” in Prof. Charles R. Gallagher’s course on race, religion, and the struggle for democracy in the Atlantic Worlds.
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Dara Horn
“People Love Dead Jews"
April 18, 2023
In commemoration of Yom HaShoah / Holocaust Remembrance Day, acclaimed author Dara Horn explored a pointed question from her latest book: Why do far too many people seem to love dead Jews, but ignore the living ones? In 2022, the Holocaust continues to make headlines, fill our films and fiction, and generate extraordinary interest far beyond our community. Yet ignorance and indifference towards Jew-hatred today seems to be higher than ever. What’s going on?
This event was co-sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion & American Public Life and the Jewish Studies Program at Boston College. The reception was sponsored by Boston College Hillel / Hillel Council of New England.
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Co-sponsored Programs in Review |
Remembering the Holocaust: Voices of Survivors
July 18-20, 2022
Boston College, in collaboration with the International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem, hosted a three-day virtual seminar on remembering the experiences of women and children during the Holocaust. Each day consisted of a lecture followed by small group conversation for further reflection.
July 18 - Understanding Memory Construction
Sharon Kangisser Cohen, “Early and Later Holocaust Survivor Testimony”
July 19 - Women’s Voices during the Holocaust
Naama Shik, “Jewish Women in Auschwitz-Birkenau”
July 20 - The Voices of Hidden Children
Carmen M. Mangion, “Inside the French Convent: Female Religious Life before the Second World War”
Eliot Nidam-Orvieto, “Letters to and from Parents of Children Hidden in Convents and Catholic Institutions in France during the Holocaust: What Do They Tell Us?”
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A Conversation with Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman
September 28, 2022
This event coincided with the opening of a major exhibition at the McMullen Museum of Art, Alternative American Comics, 1980–2000: “Raw,” “Weirdo,” and Beyond, featuring the work of Françoise Mouly, art editor of The New Yorker since 1993, and Art Spiegelman, recipient of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for his masterful Holocaust narrative Maus.
This event was co-sponsored by the Boston College McMullen Museum of Art; Center for Christian-Jewish Learning; Center for Human Rights and International Justice; Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy; American Studies Program; Literature Core Program; English Department; History Department; and Art, Art History, and Film Department.
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Mark Ludwig
"The Arts in the Terezin Concentration Camp"
October 18, 2022
Mark Ludwig is Executive Director of the Terezin Music Foundation, violist emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and a leading scholar, teacher, and promoter of Holocaust Music. He spoke on his book Our Will to Live about music and the Holocaust at the Terezin Ghetto.
This event was sponsored by the Boston College Institute for the Liberal Arts and co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program, Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, and Film Studies Program.
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Susannah Heschel and Elisha Wiesel
"Two Jewish Fathers Who Changed History: Abraham Joshua Heschel and Elie Wiesel"
October 26, 2022
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel were good friends whose work influenced people around the world to seek peace and justice. Their children, Susannah Heschel and Elisha Wiesel, spoke about the legacies of their fathers.
This event was presented by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life and co-sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning.
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January 26, 2023
Rabbi Sergio Bergman, Argentinian-born politician, social activist, community leader, and President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), spoke on his relationship with Bergoglio, Jewish and Catholic values and their role in Argentine civil society, and global lessons from these personal and community interfaith relationships.
This event was presented by the Center for Ignatian Spirituality and co-sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning.
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Center Student Internship Program in Review |
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Owen Fletcher, Class of 2025
Student Internship Recipient
The Center has awarded a CCJL Student Internship to Owen Fletcher (Class of 2025, International Studies major) to support his year-long research project "Loving the Stranger: Christian and Jewish Responses to Migration in the United States." Through his research, which will be directed by Prof. Mark Massa, S.J., Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Owen will seek to understand better the responses to global migration by people of differing faith traditions and to provide an opportunity for members of the Boston College community to be part of the conversation. His project will explore the fundamental similarities and differences of how the identity of Jewish and Christian aid organizations influences their respective approaches to the realities of migration.
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Dennis Wieboldt, B.A./M.A. Boston College
2020-2021 Student Internship Recipient
Dennis Wieboldt, a previous recipient of the Center's Student Internship, recently published a peer-reviewed article based on his year-long Center-supported research project, "The Natural Law and Interreligious Social Advocacy: The Civil Rights Movement-Era Case of William J. Kenealy, SJ" in American Catholic Studies 134, no. 1 (Spring 2023).
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Center for Christian-Jewish Learning
Boston College
Stokes Hall N405
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
617-552-4495
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