Bible and Mission

  Introduction: Galatians 2.15-21 and 3.1-4.31 Galatians 2.15-21 is something of a tightly packed paragraph that captures the essence of Paul’s theology.   In it, we hear the Paul who spoke regularly on this subject, in synagogues, before Gentiles, and to his churches.   We hear themes such as justification by faith not works, justification through faith in Jesus Christ not the Law, the justification of sinners, dying to the Law and living to God, the crucifixion of Jesus as loving and life-giving and God’s grace, and participating in Jesus’ crucifixion and life.   These inter-related theological themes come at us in this paragraph like a tidal wave.   In chapters 3 and 4 of Galatians, Paul unpacks these themes.   In this lesson, I want to approach what Paul says by asking, ‘What part of this theology should Jews who knew nothing of Jesus have already expected by reading the Old Testament?’   Imagine Jews in a synagogue in Galatia being told that a J...

  Introduction: The 1998 Vatican document presented by Cardinal Edward Cassidy, ‘We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah,’ observes that ‘the fact that the Shoah [Holocaust] took place in Europe, that is, in countries of long-standing Christian civilization, raises the question of any relation between the Nazi persecution and the attitudes down the centuries of Christians towards the Jews’ (n. II). [1] The document acknowledges that some Christians have, in the history of the Church in Europe, mistreated and persecuted the Jews, and have not done all that they could to oppose Antisemitism. [2]   The ‘We Remember’ document is intended as an expression of repentance by the Catholic Church and a resolve ‘ to build a new future in which there will be no more anti-Judaism among Christians or anti-Christian sentiment among Jews, but rather a shared mutual respect, as befits those who adore the one Creator and Lord and have a common father in faith, Abraham.’ Pope John-Paul II st...