The Synagogue and the Church: Filiation, Divorce and Reconciliation (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781967820429)

The subject of relations between the Synagogue and the Church has emerged in religious, historical, and sociological debates. It is animated by theologians, historians, and sociologists, whose list is very long. It was indeed necessary, following the judgments of the Nuremberg Court in 1946, to examine in depth the root causes and their consequences in this monstrous conflict that has caused so many victims and among them so many are Jews.

In the list of these specialists, there is Jules Isaac who with his fundamental books: "The teaching of contempt" followed by this one in the form of a question, "Does anti-Semitism have Christian roots?" and also of, "Jesus and Israel", uncovered many well-kept secrets of his time and gave a lot of insights to scholars and researchers on this major problem. He was one of the first to explore, in extenso, the religious causes of the rift between these two distinct entities over the centuries. They are so close to each other, however, if only by the etymology of their name, one in Greek derived from "Sunagôgê" and the other in Latin, "Ecclésia", both mean: "assembly". They are so close also by their finality as a place of worship to the same God: one, creator, savior of Israel and through the "New Covenant" of all humanity.

With this first basic idea, it seemed interesting to me to highlight the three major periods of their respective evolution: their genesis at one and the other, then the painful divorce that permanently separated their fate.Finally, in a third part, I wanted to evoke the ways of reconciliation and mutual communion so highly desirable for peace and concord between religions and beyond in society as a whole. These three periods justify the title of the book: "Filiation, Divorce and Reconciliation". To give a credible account of this long journey through time by these few pages, it was naturally necessary to be very synthetic, multiply the shortcuts, span the centuries without ever losing the thread; I hope I have succeeded.