Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: What are the issues surrounding the Pope's visit to Israel?

(chissà se il Logi scriverà anche all'autore di questo articolo)
 What are the issues surrounding the Pope's visit to Israel?
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Written by Movement for Reform Judaism Monday, 11 May 2009
Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Romain responds to the question: What are the
issues surrounding the Pope's visit to Israel?
It is worth reminding ourselves that the Jewish origins of Jesus and
his original disciples could have led to Judaism and Christianity
having an amicable relationship over the centuries, but unfortunately
it took a very different, and bloody, path for much of the last 2000
years. It was not until 1962 that a religious revolution occurred
through Vatican II. Suddenly, Jews were no longer deviants, but
brothers. Inter-faith dialogue replaced conversion attempts. This was
wonderful and we today enjoy the real benefit of it. However, amid
this rapprochement, there was still one major stumbling block : the
Vatican refused to recognise the State of Israel and exchange
ambassadors. Astonishingly, it took another 32 years before this
occurred.
The reason is that the rebirth of Israel presents a serious religious
problem for Christianity. Traditional doctrine stated that the Jews
had been forsaken by God, had been superseded by the Church, and were
sent into exile to wander the earth in a state of humiliation until
they accepted the truth of the Gospels. The re-establishment of a
Jewish national homeland is a theological slap in the face for that
notion. Moreover, if rejecting Jesus no longer results in eternal
damnation, does that mean that accepting Jesus does not carry eternal
rewards either? What message does it give Christians (and potential
Christians) about reward and punishment?
There is another problem facing the Pope. Vatican II may indeed have
sought to develop a new theology, trying to cast away old assumptions
about Christian supremacy and Jewish sinfulness, but it is undermined
every day when believers read the text of the Gospels declaring that
Jews are damned or that one can only come to the Father through the
Son. Unless a new Vatican II version of the New Testament is printed,
with difficult passages omitted or explained away, there will always
be a huge gulf between what the Scriptures teach and what the modern
Church claims to teach. Frankly, this is not very likely, but it is
this underlying tension that has never been properly addressed and
which periodically surfaces through other guises - such as controversy
over the proposed canonisation of the war-time Pope, Pius XII, or the
re-instatement of the Tridentine Mass, or the furore surrounding
reconciliation with the Lefebvre bishops.On the Catholic side, it is
seen as claiming back aspects of the true faith; on the Jewish side,
it is seen as sliding back to rejection of the Jews.This is the real
conundrum that faces Benedict XVI on his visit to Israel - should he
be loyal to the Gospels which claim that only acceptance of Christ can
bring the Messianic Age, or should he endorse Vatican II which
acknowledges that Jews (and members of other faiths) can find the
kingdom of God via a different route? Should he look inwards or
outwards, backwards or forwards ? At the heart of the Pope’s trip this
week lies an unanswered religious mystery more powerful than anything
Dan Brown can conjure up.

 (chiss� se il Logi scriver� anche all'autore di questo articolo)
molto piatto, non ne vale la pena
ciao Zanardo
-- 
Luca Logi - Firenze - Italy        e-mail: 
ll...@dada.it
   Home page: 
http://www.angelfire.com/ar/archivarius
                   (musicologia pratica)

 molto piatto, non ne vale la pena
sguish (è divertente vedere il Logi svicolare ogni volta che si parla
di Inghilterra)