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Shifts in the approach of the Catholic Church to Inter-religious engagement, the changes and the stance today.
Introduction
In the period prior to the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church had held a rather extremist view of other religions (D'Costa, 2011). The Church proclaimedto be the only way to salvation of mankind and that it was its responsibility to get the Gospel to the nations by whatever means necessary. This included violent conquests leading to the taking over of political rule of many nations (Luttwak, 2016). The general relations between the Catholic Church and other religions were those of intolerance. Early Christians who were Catholics fought other nations and forced Christian rule on them. Jews were held in low regard and blamed for many things including crucifying Jesus (Lieu, North &Rajak, 2013).Other religions such as Islam were viewed as not having seen the light. In the early 1930s, Pope Pius 11 felt a need to Change this status. The papacy ordered an end to the hatred against Jews by various actions including warning the Vatican Paper to stop publishing material that painted Jews in bad light (Pope Pius 11, 1942 para. 7). Pope John XXIII finally initiated the process that would formally change the relations between the Church and other religions by convoking the Second Vatican Council (Second Vatican Council, 1963, Declaration 4).The Council made several declarations one of them being Nostra Aetate that would permanently change how the Church viewed other religions and related with them (Ibid.).Although there may still be some Catholics who never completely got over the bad feelings against other religions, today the general perception of the Church towards them has significantly changed. This essay briefly reviews the history of the Catholic Church and other religions. It then highlights the stance of the Church regarding inter-religious relations at that time, changes effected through the Second Vatican Council and the stance of the Church Today.
The situation before
To understand how the relations between the Church and other religions came to where they were, looking at the history of its formation is necessary. The Catholic Church was initiated by Jesus Christ though Peter who is considered by the Church as the first Pope. Therefore, the Church’s foundation is really based on the Passion of Christ. The whole message is that Christ died and resurrected; and therefore, mankind is saved. One of the teachings of the Catholic Church is that of God’s plan of bringing salvation to mankind (Vatican, 2016, Nostra Aetate, para. 9). According to Catholic teaching, due to the transgressions of Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden, man is born with Original Sin (Pope Clement XIII, June 1761, In Dominico Agro, para. 5, 7-8). To relieve mankind from this burden of sin, God initiated a salvation planwhere ultimately, Jesus would be sacrificed to wash away the sins of all mankind. This plan began way before Jesus’ era during the epoch of Moses then the prophets then through the generations to the time Jesus was born.In this plan, Jews were the main actors. The events that preceded the Passion of Christ were facilitated by Jews. Moses and the prophets were Jewish.Essentially, the entire setup was founded upon the Jews. Jesus, the centre of the salvation plan, was also born from a Jewish family.He lived a Jewish life and observed Jewish tradition and it can be concluded that he was a Jew by all means (Pope Pius XII, 1956, Haureitis Aquas, para. 42).
Relations with Jews
Despite being a Jew, Jesus was rejected by them. The Jews refuse to acknowledge the deity of Jesus.They looked at him as a man who had come to overthrow the Jewish kingdom by radicalising people and destabilising the rule.In thinking that he had come for a political revolution, they marked him as an enemy and closely followed his steps. Throughout his life, Jewish authorities always interpreted his teachings as having political undertones. Yet every time Jesus asserted that his kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). They even tried to catch him on many instances but his time had not come. Finally, when his time had come, he was tortured and put to death under Jewish command. This is where the hatred between Jesus’ followers, who formed the early Church, and Jews began. Jesus’ followersblamed the Jewish rule for the death of Jesus although it was understood to be part of God’s saving plan.
It appeared that both Jesus’ disciples,who later established the Church and the Jews alike,were a little lost on the nature of his Kingdom. At one instance when trying to defend Jesus,Simon Peter drew a sword and struck off a servant of the high priest cutting off his ear (John 18:10).Jesus asked him to put the sword away saying that he could ask for protection from the Father and get it instantly. Followers of Christ who constituted the early Church carried on with this possibly equivocal conception of Jesus and his mission. They often resorted to aggression against those they considered opponents of Jesus’ mission.
During the first centuries the Church was growing big and attracting huge followings.The early Church felt a need to conquer nations and convert them to Christianity (Smith, 2014). So, many nations across Europe and the Middle East were conquered and Christianity made their official religion. All the peoples including the Jews were expected to pay allegiance to the Church (Nitza Rosovsky, 1996, p. 18-19). Christians continued to look at Jews as their enemies from days of old when they tortured and crucified the Messiah. Jews also considered Christians political enemies.
Relations with Islam
In 476 CE, the Roman Empire which propagated Christianity was felled by Odoacer a German barbarian. After the fall, Christianity would no longer be enforceable among the nations. In the years around 630 CE, an army of Muslim Saracens invaded Jerusalem, a stronghold of the Church in a four-month siege (“The Muslim Period”, 2016, para. 1-4). When the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem finally gave in to the siege, a deal was reached that would allow religious freedom in Jerusalem. This is not a situation that the Christians of the time would be happy about. Besides the seizure of Christian authority, they were slapped with a tax burden that was required of conquerednon-Muslims.Although the Muslims maintained peace and reasonably favourable living relations with the Christians, it could not be forgotten that they `had taken away Christian rule in Jerusalem. During the faction wars of the ninth century among Muslims, Palestine became volatile and Byzantine Romans of Jerusalem tried to take advantage of the situation to regain their control of the city. Christians sided with the Byzantines in their efforts to take back Jerusalem. These actions were considered treasonous by the Muslims who had, hitherto, accorded cordial treatment to the Christians. With increasing inter-religious intolerance, Muslims responded to the treason with the persecution of Christians and the destruction of their churches. Christians reorganised themselves under Pope Urban II in a mission to recapture the Holy Lands, including Jerusalem, that had been taken by Muslims (Ibid). The First Crusade, which was the religious war that Christians used to capture lands, ended with the siege of Jerusalem in 1099 and the installation of Christian rule once again (University of Michigan, 2016, para. 1-6). From this point, Muslims became official enemies of the Church.
Relationship with Protestantism
Protestantism began as early as the twelfth century in attempts to bring changes to the Roman Catholic Church.There could have been many reasons for the upheaval that eventually led to the disintegration of the states of the Holy Roman Empire. But whatever the case, the Church condemned the Reformation and even excommunicated some of its initiators. Protestantism was greatly influenced by the Great Awakeningsafter the middle ages (Cantoni, 2012).The Reformation and Protestantism in general is associated with tendencies of secularism; an ideology that the Church strongly opposes. In Europe and America there has been increasing approval and adoption of secularism and a decline in the observance of religion mostly as a consequence of the Enlightenment closely associated with Protestantism (Frost, 2016).Ideologies derived from the Enlightenmentadvocated for the separation of the church from the state; which again, was a contrasting principal to the Church. Therefore, Protestant denominations became outcasts to the Church.
The above histories of Jews, Muslims and Protestantsshow where sour relations between the Church and most other religions began. In the early centuries of the Common Era, the Church would force its authority on foreign nations that had been conquered (Aksan, 2014). Violence would be used if necessary to make the conquests and conversions. As civilisation took place and the cost of wars became dear, it was no longer possible for the Church to relate aggressively with other religions. However, the underlying differences continued to exist and be expressed throughundertones. Until the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church maintained that it was the only way to salvation (International Theological Commission, 1997, sec. 1.2 para. 10). The Second Vatican Council, convoked by Pope John XXIII, did not rescind this position (Pope Paul VI, 1965, Nostra Aetate, para. 19), but the declarations that resulted from the Council had far-reaching implications regarding the relations between the Church and other religions.
Changes (after the Second Vatican Council)
Before the time of Pope Pius XI in 1932 the Church completely disregarded Jews as contributors to God’s plan for salvation (Prather, 2015). This position has led to the speculation by adherents of Millennialism of the mass conversion of Jews to Christianity in the end times (Robertson &Singler, 2015). Pope Pius XI was among the first Popes to do advocate for a change of state of affairs. He denounced anti-Semitism adding that all people are Semites spiritually. He also ordered the Vatican Paper to seizespreading anti-Semitism sentiments in its publications. His efforts to change inter-religious relations were picked up by Pope John XXIII who ordered that they create a document on the relations between Jews and Catholics (Pope John XXIII, 1958, para. 5).
One of the ideas that came out from Nostra Aetate was that of a common spiritual ancestry between Jews and Christians. The document recognized that the Church developed from an ancestry common to the Jews. In the Church’s understanding of God’s plan for salvation, Moses, a key leader of the Jews, was part of the plan. The declaration urged for the consideration of Jews as an important element in the plan for salvation (Hannan, 2013). All the events that culminated to the death and resurrection, and hence salvation for mankind, happened through the Jews. Regarding the issue of the blame placed on Jews for the death and torture of Jesus, it was decided that the blame cannot be placed indiscriminately on all Jews of that time and much less, on the Jews of today.
Pope John Paul II has been a campaigner of accuracy and objectivity in catechetical teaching of Judaism.These two elements are seen as important aspects of building dialogue between the two faiths.Leonard Swidler also believes that objectivity and non-prejudice are imperative in developinginterreligious dialogue (Dialogue Institute, 2015). Recognition of Jews’ true role in the history of the Church is seen as a way arousing the consciousness of the origins of the Church and the role played by Jews in fulfilling God’s mission of salvation. A historical account of God’s plan for salvation is seen through Moses and the prophets and how it transited through the genealogy of Jesus. Therefore, Jews are seen as having played a very important role of preparing the coming of Christ as part of God’s plan for salvation of mankind. Theologian Peter Phan has also highlights the concept of a “Universal God” in his text Being religiously interreligiously(Rumi Forum, 2016).
Years after Vatican II, Pope John Paul II continued with spreading the message of changing relations to both Jews and Catholics. He emphasised on the importance of acceptance of other peoples as they are and a demonstration of respect for their beliefs. Perhaps in reflection of Knitter’s Acceptance Model, all paths may lead to God (Knitter, 2002). He therefore called to an end in prejudice and an inaccurate portrayal of Jews. In a synagogue in 1986, he referred to Jews as “beloved elder brothers of the Church”(Pettit, 2016) affirming that they are not estranged.
Concerning the Church being the only way to salvation as described in extra ecclesiamnullasalus, the Church must continue to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world. Therefore, if the Gospel must reach the whole world, no people should be discriminated against receiving it. The Church should be welcoming to all as is the spirit of the Gospel of Christ. This perspective does not seek to recruit Jews into the Church but to leave the Church open for all since that is the spirit of the Gospel. Consequently, the view of Jews as a people who have not received the Gospel is not underlined. The flock must all unite under one shepherd and the Church must witness to Christ as the way to salvation (Pope Paul VI, 1965, para. 19).
Many developments regarding Jewish-Catholic relations have been witnessed since Nostra Aetate. For instance, the Commission for Interreligious Relations with Jews has established over twenty centres of Judeo-Christian understanding in Catholic universities and colleges in the United States (Graham & Cahoy, 2013). In 2015, Holy See’s Congregation for Bishops issued instructions to bishops regarding Christian-Jewish relations. The instructions recollect the spiritual bond that exists between the New Testament (the Church) and Abraham’s descendants. From the instructions it follows that Jews (the descendants of Abraham) have a special role in the Church.
The stance today
Today the relations between the Church and other religions have significantly changed. There is absolutely much more inter-religious tolerance between religions. Acknowledging religious diversity and understanding religion from that perspective has been a growing concern (Havard Divinity School, 2014). There has been a spirited effort by the Church, particularly by Pope Francis to rekindle relations with Muslims. In May 2016, he invited Al-Azhar, the top Sunni Muslim leader to Vatican. This was a phenomenal event after years of no dialogue. He was quoted saying “the message is the meeting” signifying that the event was symbolic of greater dialogue to expected in future (Pope Francis, 2014, para. 11).While condemning what he termed as “a genocide against Christians” Pope Francis was careful to say that equating Islam with violence was not right. Felicitas Opwis sees interreligious dialogue as inevitable in tough times such as the persecution of Christians in Muslim-dominant nations (Berkley Center, 2013).
Conclusion
From the early inter-religious hostilities to today’s dialogue, evidently much has changed. Early relations between the Church and other religions was mostly characterised by aggression and forceful conversions. The Church did not view other religions as legitimate and thus did not express respect for them. Other religions acted in a similar manner showing disrespect and aggression in some instances. Through civilisationmany factors that affected inter-religious relations have changed. The need for showing more understanding and respect for different religions has become clearer. For the Catholic Church, the process of mending inter-religious relation began with Pope Pius II’s agitation and formally through the Second Vatican Council. The Council made declarations to the effect that other religions be respected for their identity.Recognition of Jews as an important part of the Church’s history meant the beginning of an end to bitter Judeo-Christian relations.Today, the Church continues to make a constant effort to rekindle broken inter-religious conversations. Dialogues that failed in the past are being re-establishedto enhance the life of Christians and other peoples wherever they may live.
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