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Document Details : Title: De kerk en de Joden Subtitle: Onoplosbare paradox of onvoltooid verhaal? Author(s): MOYAERT, Marianne , POLLEFEYT, Didier Journal: Tijdschrift voor Theologie Volume: 48 Issue: 4 Date: 2008 Pages: 389-402 DOI: 10.2143/TVT.48.4.3203508 Abstract : The authors of this article examine how the Catholic Church has developed its relations with Israel after Nostra Aetate and tried to overcome the notion of replacement. They focus on studies by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI. In his book Many Religions – One Covenant. Israel, the Church, and the World, Ratzinger views relations between Israel and the church in terms of completion. The church does not replace Israel in God’s plan for salvation, but confesses that God’s revelation to the Jewish people is surpassed and completed in Christ. This article shows, first, that this notion of completion results in a paradox. This notion shows that the first covenant was never withdrawn even though it continually suggests that it was only a preparation for the new covenant with God in Christ. In Many Religions – One Covenant, Ratzinger acknowledges this paradoxical theological situation and accepts it as believer and theologian. According to Ratzinger, this paradox is irresolvable. The authors explain that this paradoxical situation does have its problems: the notion of completion remains linked to that of replacement. The reason for this is that the notion of completion has difficulty recognising Judaism’s intrinsic – and thus permanent – value and meaning. In what is the ‘permanent meaning’ of the first covenant grounded, when there is a more perfect second covenant? The article then shows that this theological paradox is increasingly jeopardising Jewish-Christian dialogue. It does this by accentuating the recent controversy around the new Good Friday prayer that Pope Benedict XVI introduced in 2008. This controversy is the result and expression of the undefined and hence equivocal theological appreciation of Israel in Gods plan of salvation. |
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