Short description:

This book presents a comprehensive, comparative view of the contemporary challenges facing Judaism and Orthodox Christianity. Bringing together contributions by many experts, writing within their own tradition, essays are arranged in pairs to bring out the living dialogue between these ancient faiths.

Long description:

This book addresses Judaism and Orthodox Christianity, and particularly their points of similarity and difference, congruence and conflict. The city of Jerusalem stands at the heart of both these age-old faiths, but today it is a divided city in which Jews and Orthodox Christians seem to find themselves on opposite sides of history. Must this story be one of continuing conflict, or is there scope for reconciliation and common effort? How do religions that cherish tradition face up to the challenges of a rapidly changing world? What place can they offer to women? Can they welcome lesbian and gay adherents? How do their traditional resources help them to face climate change and other environmental issues? How have they responded to the COVID pandemic? What contribution can they make to current debates about subjects like euthanasia and assisted dying? In seventeen chapters by expert theologians and historians this book examines central issues of common concern. The focus is on dialogue and deepened knowledge. The authors dispel some widely held misconceptions and identify a good deal of common ground. In this way the book aims to lay foundations for future engagement between the two religions.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: A ?City whose Gates are Always Open?? Visions for Jerusalem in Orthodox Christianity

Krastu Banev

Chapter 2: Jerusalem: A Jewish Perspective

Marc Saperstein

Chapter 3: Jewish and Eastern-Rite Christian Relations in Israel: A Sketch of Contexts and Interests

Petra Heldt

Chapter 4: The Encounter between the Greek Orthodox Church and the Jews in Israel

David Rosen

Chapter 5: The Greek Orthodox Church under Israeli Sovereignty

Michael G. Azar

Chapter 6: Women in the Synagogue

Miri Freud-Kandel

Chapter 7: Women in the Orthodox Churches: Modernity and Change

Mary B. Cunningham

Chapter 8: Orthodoxia and Orthopraxia: On the Issue of Blood

Elena Narinskaya

Chapter 9: Kashrut ? Niddah ? Milah: On the Issue of Blood

Sybil Sheridan

Chapter 10: Judaism and Homosexuality

René Pfertzel

Chapter 11: Orthodoxy and Homosexuality: Mapping the Vectors

Misza Cherniak

Chapter 12: Confronting Environmental Crisis: What Do Jewish Traditions Teach About Using the World?

Tanhum Yoreh

Chapter 13: Confronting Environmental Crisis: What Do Orthodox Christian Traditions Teach About Using the World?

Elizabeth Theokritoff

Chapter 14: The Challenge of COVID-19: Reflections of an Orthodox Congregational Rabbi

Michael Harris

Chapter 15: The Challenge of COVID-19 to Rituals around Death in Orthodoxy

Ian Graham

Chapter 16: Euthanasia and Assisted Dying ? What Jewish Texts Can Teach Us

Sylvia Rothschild

Chapter 17: Do We Have the Right to End Our Own Life? Orthodox Christian Responses to the Debate on Euthanasia and Assisted Dying

Joanna Burton