CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In September, a group of Jewish scholars issued "Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity" in a full-page ad in the New York Times and the Baltimore Sun. A panel on Lutheran-Jewish relations has said the statement "moves Jewish-Christian dialogue to new levels, as together we seek to understand how the God of history is working in our time."
"Our two communities share the hope and confidence that God will bring all creation to redemption," said the consultative panel on Lutheran-Jewish relations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Department for Ecumenical Affairs.
"Dabru Emet" -- which means "to speak the truth" -- was signed by more than 200 Jewish scholars from Canada, England, Israel and the United States. The statement notes a change in Christian views toward Judaism since the Holocaust of World War II.
"We believe it is time for Jews to learn about the efforts of Christians to honor Judaism," said Dabru Emet. "We believe it is time for Jews to reflect on what Judaism may now say about Christianity. As a first step, we offer eight brief statements about how Jews and Christians may relate to one another." + Jews and Christians worship the same God. + Jews and Christians seek authority from the same book -- the Bible (what Jews call "Tanakh" and Christians call the "Old Testament"). + Christians can respect the claim of the Jewish people upon the land of Israel. + Jews and Christians accept the moral principles of Torah. + Nazism was not a Christian phenomenon. + The humanly irreconcilable difference between Jews and Christians will not be settled until God redeems the entire world as promised in Scripture. + A new relationship between Jews and Christians will not weaken Jewish practice. + Jews and Christians must work together for justice and peace.
The Lutheran-Jewish panel thanked those who authored and signed Dabru Emet. "We are grateful for the steps you now have taken, and we pledge our own continued work in this direction. We pray that God will continue to bless this new stage of our common journey toward mutual respect and understanding," said the panel.
"We thank you for taking this bold step. We appreciate the extensive work that went into the creation of this statement, and cherish its scope and eloquence.
"We are among those who have grieved the distance between our communities, and have tried to do our part in moving our church to repudiate the anti-Jewish statements of Martin Luther, to express our regret and repentance for the part these played in the history of persecution that followed, and to pledge our efforts for new and. better days in Christian-Jewish relations," said the Lutheran-Jewish panel.
In 1994, the ELCA issued a declaration to the Jewish community repudiating Luther's anti-Jewish writings and expressing the ELCA's "urgent desire to live out our faith in Jesus Christ with love and respect for the Jewish people." The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) have made similar declarations. The LWF is a global communion of 131 member churches in 72 countries representing 59.5 million of the world's 63 million Lutherans. The ELCA is a member of the LWF.
"The Lutheran communion of faith is linked by name and heritage to the memory of Martin Luther, teacher and reformer. Honoring his name in our own, we recall his bold stand for truth," said the ELCA declaration. "In the spirit of that truth-telling, we who bear his name and heritage must with pain acknowledge also Luther's anti-Judaic diatribes and the violent recommendations of his later writings against the Jews."
The declaration added that Lutherans "feel a special burden in this regard because of certain elements in the legacy of the reformer Martin Luther and the catastrophes, including the Holocaust of the twentieth century, suffered by Jews in places where the Lutheran churches were strongly represented."
As a follow-up to the 1994 declaration, in 1998 the ELCA adopted "Guidelines for Lutheran-Jewish Relations," which offer suggestions for fostering Lutheran-Jewish dialogue and cooperation. The suggestions include visits to one another's houses of worship and prayer in interfaith settings.
Members of the ELCA Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Jewish Relations are:
+ The Rev. Barbara Gazzolo, St. James Lutheran Church, Lake Forest, Ill.
+ The Rev. John Matthews, Memorial Lutheran Church, Afton, Minn.
+ Dr. Esther Menn, Dept. of Religious Studies, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, Va.
+ The Rev. George P. Mocko, former bishop, Baltimore
+ Dr. Peter A. Pettit, Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding,
Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa.
+ Dr. Franklin Sherman, panel chair, associate for interfaith relations,
ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, Allentown, Pa. + The Rev. John Stendahl, Lutheran Church of the Newtons,
Newton Center, Mass. -- -- --
"Dabru Emet," a list of its signers and other related details are available at http://www.icjs.org/ -- the Web site of the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies. ELCA documents are linked to http://www.elca.org/ea/lujwrsce.html on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
