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The Internal Foe: Judaism and Anti-Judaism in the Shaping of Christian Theology
Author: Jeremy F. Worthen
Date Of Publication: Mar 2009
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-0207-9
Isbn: 1-4438-0207-7
The relationship between Christianity and other religions is a vital issue in the world today. This book provides a fresh perspective by exploring how Christian theology has been shaped over two millennia by interaction with its original religious “other”, continuing Judaism.

It begins by describing the origins of the “classic framework” in Christianity that correlates claims about the gospel with judgments about Judaism as resistance to the new thing God has done in Jesus Christ. This framework binds Christianity to the task of interpreting Jewish presence, which then renders engaging with Judaism as well as rehearsing judgments about it integral to Christian theology’s development. The central chapters of the book demonstrate this in relation to three pivotal periods of Western history: 1050-1300 CE, early modernity and the first half of the twentieth century. They reveal the classic framework to have been remarkably resilient, despite sometimes radical adaptation, before, in and after modernity.

The insights of Franz Rosenzweig about Judaism as Christianity’s “internal foe” resonate deeply with the book’s historical analysis. Does this mean that non-relativistic Christian theology must remain intrinsically anti-Jewish? The book concludes that it need not, if it can renounce its historic stance of hermeneutical comprehension.

Jeremy Worthen is the Principal of the South East Institute for Theological Education and Honorary Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Kent. He has published articles on subjects ranging from medieval Christianity to Walter Benjamin and the theology of childhood and is an Anglican priest.

“Many books have been written on anti-Judaism in Christian texts. Jeremy Worthen’s The Internal Foe is distinctive in that it analyzes the complex interaction between Christian and Jewish thinkers from antiquity through the mid-twentieth century. His stimulating, sensitive, judicious and fair-minded survey should be read carefully by all who are interested in Jewish-Christian dialogue.”

Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein, Leo Baeck College

“Jeremy Worthen’s book is a significant historical and theological engagement with the question of the role of Judaism in the shaping of Christian theology. Its conclusion, which substantiates a Rosenzweigian thesis, is an important and distinctive contribution to current scholarly literature. Dr Worthen offers a sensitive and sophisticated treatment of this fraught and painful topic.”

Dr Susannah Ticciati, King’s College London

'Worthen’s book is a magisterial study of the theological exchanges between the Jews and Christians…'

Leonard S. Kravitz- Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, in Journal of Ecumenical Studies- Spring 2010

"Jeremy Worthen's Internal Foe is a well-researched and thorough study of the role that Judaism, and especially Christian anti-Judaism, has played in Christian theological self-understanding from its formative years to the present day.

An Internal Foe is a sincere and important theological study of the role of Judaism in Christian theology and Worthen is to be congratulated for his willingness to tackle honestly a difficult and painful chapter in Christian self-understanding."

Edward Kessler, Woolf Institute, Cambridge in Theology Journal (SAGE) Vol 114, No. 3, June 2011

"Jeremy Worthen's Internal Foe is a well - researched and thorough study of the role that Judaism, and especially Christian anti - Judaism, has played in Christian theological self - understanding from its formative years to the present day.

. . . An Internal Foe is a sincere and important theological study of the role of Judaism in Christian theology and Worthen is to be congratulated for his willingness to tackle honestly a difficult and painful chapter in Christian self - understanding."

Edward Kessler, Woolf Institute, Cambridge, Theology, Vol. 114, no.3, May / June 2011

Price Uk Gbp: 44.99
Price Us Usd: 67.99

Sample pdf (including Table of Contents)

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