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This site is devoted to fostering mutual respect and understanding between Christians and Jews around the world. Here you will find articles, reviews, reports, official statements, and study resources on Jewish-Christian relations, as well as links to many related organizations. Please click on Contact to offer feedback or propose additions to the site.

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ICCJ

International Council of Christians and Jews

This site is owned and maintained by the International Council of Christians and Jews, which has 38 Christian-Jewish and interreligious member organizations in 32 countries. Its headquarters is in the Martin Buber House in Heppenheim, Germany, where the great Jewish thinker lived until Nazi persecution forced him to flee.

Through its annual conferences and other consultations the ICCJ offers a platform where Christians, Jews, and in recent years Muslims as well, examine current issues across national and religious boundaries, providing the opportunity for face-to-face exchanges of experience and expertise.

Further information:
www.iccj.org

Most viewed

Statements | Joint Christian-Jewish

'As long as you believe in a living God, you must have hope'.

ICCJ | 02.06.2013

Reflections on the Role of Religious and Interreligious Groups in Promoting Reconciliation about and in the Troubled Middle East, Shavuot / Pentecost - 2013/5773 ... [more]

Articles | Fundamentals & Introductions

Christians and Christianity in the Jewish State

Amnon Ramon * | 02.06.2013

The relationship between Judaism and Christianity is unique, with Jews and Christians having a mutual affinity not seen in other religions. Christianity emerged during the 1st century CE from within the Jewish world and,– like Judaism,– sanctifies the Hebrew Bible, regarding it as the firs part of the Holy Scriptures. Among other consequences, this shared foundation has resulted in a perception of the land of Israel as the Holy Land and of Jerusalem as a holy city and thus a major pilgrimage destination. ... [more]

Reports (225)

State Department’s Religious Freedom Report Recognizes Severity Of Global Anti-Semitism

Anti-Defamation League | 01.06.2013

On May 20, 2013, U.S. Sec­re­tary of State John Kerry released the State Department’s annual Inter­na­tional Reli­gious Free­dom Report for 2012, describ­ing the U.S. assess­ment of the sta­tus of reli­gious free­dom in every coun­try. The report cov­ers gov­ern­ment poli­cies vio­lat­ing reli­gious belief and prac­tices of groups, reli­gious denom­i­na­tions and indi­vid­u­als, and U.S. poli­cies to pro­mote reli­gious free­dom around the world. … [more]

Ruth Weyl passed away

Deborah Weissman * | 01.06.2013

I am sorry to have to share bad news with the family of the ICCJ—our beloved friend and colleague, Ruth Weyl, has died at the age of 89. She passed away on Sunday, May 12th (the 3rd of Sivan in the Jewish calendar.) … [more]

International Young Christian Leadership Seminar on the Holocaust, Anti-Semitism and Israel

Yad Vashem | 01.06.2013

November 29 – December 6, 2013 at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Education Center, Jerusalem … [more]




Book Reviews (45)

The Jewish Jesus

Amy-Jill Levine | 01.06.2013

Zev Garber, ed.:
The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation.
Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies Series. West Lafayette Purdue University Press, 2011.
528 pp. $59.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-55753-579-5. … [more]

From Luther to Hitler?

Shelley O. Baranowski | 01.05.2013

Christopher J. Probst:
Demonizing the Jews: Luther and the Protestant Church in Nazi Germany.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012. xiv + 251 pp. $25.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-00100-9. … [more]

Antisemitism in Contemporary Hungary

Ferenc Laczó | 01.04.2013

András Kovács:
The Stranger at Hand: Antisemitic Prejudices in Post-Communist Hungary. Jewish Identities in a Changing World Series.
Leiden: Brill, 2011. 211 pp. $131.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-90-04-19194-5. … [more]




Statements | Protestant (42)

Jerusalem Declaration

Protestant Consultation on Israel and the Middle East (PCIME) | 01.01.2013

Concluding Statement from the Jerusalem Consultation on the Mainline Protestant Churches and the State of Israel (November 5-8, 2012) … [more]

On the relationship of the Protestant churches of Europe to Judaism

Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CEPE) | 01.12.2012

The Community of Protestant Churches in Europe – Leuenberg Church Fellowship has made important statements on these questions both in its foundation document and in two further documents which its member churches have unanimously endorsed. … [more]

Declaration Concerning the Sixtieth Anniversary of the End of the Second World War, May 8, 1945

Seventh-day Adventist Church in Germany and Austria | 01.07.2012

… [more]




Statements | Joint Christian-Jewish (46)

Joint Declaration of the 21st International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee Meeting Paris

| 01.11.2012

The 21st meeting of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee (ILC) was held in Paris, France from February 27 – March 2, 2011. … [more]

Statement on Rabbi H. Schachter's "Experimental Judaism: Playing with Fire"

CCJR Board of Directors | 01.10.2012

The Board of Directors of the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations (www.ccjr.us), an association of thirty-five academic centers and institutes in the United States and Canada devoted to enhancing understanding between Jews and Christians, objects to Rabbi Herschel Schachter's recent polemical claims and blatant inaccuracies, published in a d’var Torah for Parshat Re’eh on torahweb.org. … [more]




Statements | Jewish (10)

Affirming the Image of God

| 30.11.2012

… [more]

Ascending towards God

Rabbi David Rosen | 01.12.2011

Address of Rabbi David Rosen, KSG, CBE, International Director of Interreligious Affairs, AJC, October 27, 2011, in Assisi … [more]

Resolution on the 2009 Kairos Document

Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) | 01.05.2011

Adopted by the Board of Trustees
April 15, 2010 … [more]




Statements | Ecumenical (21)

The Kairos Palastine Document

| 01.08.2010

We, a group of Christian Palestinians, after prayer, reflection and an exchange of opinion, cry out from within the suffering in our country, under the Israeli occupation, with a cry of hope in the absence of all hope, a cry full of prayer and faith in a God ever vigilant, in God's divine providence for all the inhabitants of this land. Inspired by the mystery of God's love for all, the mystery of God's divine presence in the history of all peoples and, in a particular way, in the history of our country, we proclaim our word based on our Christian faith and our sense of Palestinian belonging - a word of faith, hope and love. … [more]

Statement on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

World Counil of Churches (WCC) | 06.09.2009

1. While the decision of the United Nations (UN) of 1947 (Resolution 181) to establish two states in the land of Palestine was partially achieved with the creation of the state of Israel, the second part of this resolution is still waiting for realization: the establishment of a Palestinian state. … [more]

Holocaust/Shoah: Its Effects on Christian Theology and Life in Argentina and Latin America

First Symposium of Christian Theology, Buenos Aires, May 17, 200 | 07.06.2006

… [more]




Statements | Roman Catholic (31)

Address of the Holy Father Pope Francis

Pope Francis | 01.04.2013

Audience with representatives of the churches and ecclesial communities and of the different religions. … [more]

Building on "Nostra Aetate"

Cardinal Kurt Koch | 01.06.2012

Address delivered by Cardinal Koch at the Angelicum University in Rome under the auspices of the John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue, May 16, 29012 … [more]

Day of Reflection, Dialogue and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World

Pope Benedict XVI | 01.12.2011

Address of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI at the meeting in Assisi, 27 October 2011. … [more]




Articles | Observations & Experiences (118)

Observations on the Christian-Jewish dialogue

Günther B. Ginzel* | 01.05.2013

The 27th January, known as the Holocaust Memorial Day: For me this is a time of emotional stress – just like Yom Hashoa, the Jewish day of mourning in memory of the Shoah, the Holocaust. The past has not passed – as much as one may yearn for it to pass. It has not passed for me either, who was born only after the liberation of 1945. … [more]

The challenges of Multiculturalism and Social Responsibility

Clive Lawton * | 01.04.2013

I start as is usual with me with a few digressions! … [more]

The Dabru Emet’s Sister

Mary Ann Kaiser | 01.02.2013

Having grown up in a fundamentalist religious background, I long thought that other religions were dangerous. I was taught that any involvement with another religion toes the line of idolatry. As a “faithful Christian,” I was fearful of affirming too much of another religion and disobeying “God.” Now, this makes me not only want to go back into the past and hug my little self out of sadness that I believed in such a closed-minded, punishing, and grumpy divine being but also to go back and shake myself for buying into and living such a mindset. … [more]




Articles | Fundamentals & Introductions (92)

Dialogue Decalogue

Leonard Swidler | 01.05.2013

These principles of dialogue were formulated by Professor Leonard Swidler of Temple University. The text is printed in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies 20:1 (1984). … [more]

Fasting and Feasting in Contemporary Judaism and Christianity

Debbie Young-Somers; Patrick Morrow | 01.04.2013

Rabbi Young-Somers and Rev'd P Morrow are reflecting in a short and informative way about the use and meaning of feasting and fasting in Judaism and Christianity. … [more]




Articles | Scholarly Contributions (133)

Personal Reflections on the Role of the Secular Academy in Inter-Faith Dialogue

Philip Alexander * | 04.03.2013

Has the secular academy a role to play in inter-faith dialogue? For me this is a very personal question. A few years ago I retired as a professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Manchester. It was the end of an academic career spanning thirty-eight years in two major British universities (Oxford was the other one) – a career dedicated to teaching, research, and publication in the field of religion. … [more]

Nostra Aetate – 50 years on

Edward Kessler | 01.01.2013

Nostra Aetate, published on 28th October 1965 towards the end of the Second Vatican Council, helped transform Jewish-Christian relations. Pope John XXIII had already received wide attention a year earlier for publicly greeting Jewish visitors with the words, “I am Joseph your brother”. … [more]

Gary Burge: Not Sent by Heaven

Malcolm Lowe | 02.12.2012

One wonders whether Wheaton College believes that such programs befit a respectable teaching institution…. Burge's comparison of himself with Jesus is preposterous and absurd. … [more]




Statements | Orthodox (3)

To Recognize Christ in His People: Declaration by a Round Table of Eastern Orthodox Priests and Cultural Representatives

| 01.06.2007

Twelve Eastern Orthodox priests and lay leaders from Greece, Georgia, Italy, Russia, and Ukraine issued this statement at the conclusion of a five-day visit to Jerusalem, April 20-24, 2007. … [more]

Statement by Metropolitan Yuvenali (Russian Orthodox Church)
on the Alleged "Ritual" Nature of the Murder of the Royal Family

Metropolitan Yuvenali | 01.06.2005

In its historical analysis of the Ekaterinburg tragedy, the Commission could not avoid dealing with the question of the so-called ritual murder of the royal family, which continues to be the subject of press articles. … [more]

Communique of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church Regarding Anti-Semitic Posters

| 01.05.2005

Upon learning the facts with regard to the anti-Semitic posters and graffiti that appeared in Belgrade on March 22 of this year, as well as of earlier, similar and in some cases even more blatant, inhumane and malicious demonstrations of prejudice and intolerance toward the Jewish people, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, convened today, March 24, in prayerful memory of the innocent victims of the bombing by the NATO alliance, wishes to communicate the following … [more]




Statements | Interreligious (4)

International Abrahamic Forum condemns German ban on circumcision

International Abrahamic Forum | 10.07.2012

The International Abrahamic Forum is deeply concerned by the recent ban on circumcision by the court in Cologne, Germany. … [more]

Resolution

ICCJ International Abrahamic Forum | 01.11.2011

At its meeting held January 2011 in the Martin Buber House in Heppenheim, Germany, the Executive Board of the International Council of Christians and Jews, implementing the decision taken by the 2010 ICCJ Annual General Meeting held in Istanbul, Turkey, decided to renew its commitment to the Jewish-Christina-Muslim dialogue. During a trilateral consultation, held in Berlin, December 2010, the following proposition was drafted, with which the ICCJ Executive Board unanimously agreed. … [more]

Joint Declaration by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbis of Israel

| 01.10.2006

The Most Revd Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger of Israel met in friendship at Lambeth Palace on 5th September 2006/12th of Elul 5766, to commit themselves to a continuing relationship based on mutual trust and respect. At the end of their meeting they made the following statement.

… [more]

Articles in other channels

Jewish, Christian, Muslim Conversation on the Exodus and the Passover Celebration on the Web |
The Question of the Non-Judaic Other | Steven L. Jacobs
A few remarks of Pope Benedict XVI. about Nostra Aetate | JCR
After Auschwitz a culture of listening | Manfred Deselaers
UN Holocaust commemoration | UNO
Reports

ICCJ Report on discussion of the Israel/Palestine Conflict and its impact on Christian-Jewish Dialogue

This report provides a brief overview of the main issues, discussions and conclusions of the meeting held by the ICCJ Executive Board in February 2013. ... [more]