Bridges: Documents of the Christian-Jewish Dialogue is a comprehensive collection of statements on Christian-Jewish relations issued by churches and interfaith organizations around the world since the end of World War II. Vol. 1 contains such groundbreaking documents as the World Council of Churches' statement "The Christian Approach to the Jewish People" issued at its founding assembly in 1948; the Episcopal Church's "Deicide and the Jews"; the Second Vatican Council's historic declaration Nostra Aetate (1965), addresses by Popes Paul VI and John Paul II and other Roman Catholic documents; and official statements by Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, and other Protestant denominations, as well as ecumenical bodies. Joint Christian-Jewish documents include the famous "Ten Points of Seelisberg" and other statements from national and international interfaith organizations.
All of these documents show the Christian churches in a posture of radical repentance for the hostility towards Jews and Judaism that has often marred their teachings, as well as an eager desire to engage contemporary Judaism in dialogue and to learn from its spiritual richness. The book is edited by Franklin Sherman, a longtime participant in and interpreter of the Christian-Jewish dialogue, and introduced by three eminent scholars in the field, each writing from a particular perspective: Alice L. Eckardt (Protestant), Philip A. Cunningham (Catholic), and Michael S. Kogan (Jewish). The volume concludes with pivotal essays on the possibilities and limits of interfaith dialogue by the eminent Jewish scholars Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. All documents are presented unabridged. Several statements by European church bodies are presented in English translation for the first time.
†