10-volume Work by Jewish, Christian Scholars Probe Jewish-christian Relations In-first Two Centuries

The most comprehensive analysis ever attempted of the history, culture, social and political life, theological concepts, and inter-relationships between the Jewish and Christian communities of the first., two centuries of the present era, together with a study of the implications of these findings for modern Jewish-Christian relations, is underway by an international group of renowned scholars. Titled Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum Ad Novum Testamentum (Compendia on the Jewish Background to the New Testament), the work will cover 10 volumes, the first of which, “The Jewish People In The First Century,” has just been co-published in Amsterdam by Van Gorcum and Company, and in Philadelphia by the Fortress Press. The latter will distribute the books in the U.S.

Announcement of the project was made by Prof. M. De Jonge, Dean of the Theological Faculty of the University of Leiden, at a news conference at the national headquarters of the American Jewish Committee, one of the sponsors of the scholarly inquiry. Other participants in the conference were the Rev. Harry E. Gaylord, Jr., executive editor of the Compendia, and Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum, AJC’s national interreligious affairs director. Among other sponsors of the project who have provided funds for research and publication, are the Vatican Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity, the World Council of Churches, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research, the Prince Bernhard Fund, and the Evangelical Church of the Rhineland.

Describing the Compendia project, Prof. De Jonge, who serves as general editor; together with Prof. S. Safrai of Hebrew University, said that it would “carry out a seldom-explored comparative study of Jewish and early Christian thinking, with a view to discovering where or how basic concepts in Judaism and Christianity are related and where they differ.” He added: “This is the first time to our knowledge that New Testament scholars and specialists in rabbinic scholarship have engaged in such close, systematic collaboration. It is reasonable to assume that this will bring about a new insight and a better understanding of the relations between Judaism and Christianity in our era than has been available thus far.”

A number of scholarly convocations based on the Compendia will be held in the U.S. and elsewhere, Rabbi Tanenbaum announced. The first of these will be held in New York in April. The idea for the Compendia was proposed in 1964 when a committee of Jewish and Christian theologians and others interested in the Bible agree on the necessity for “a living encounter between their two theological traditions.”

Rabbi Tanenbaum, who served as liaison for the project on the American scene, declared that the Compendia would be “a landmark work,” and that “there is every reason to believe that this unprecedented scholarly undertaking will affect In decisive, positive ways the entire educational systems of Jews and Christians in terms of how they teach about each other and communicate with each other.