Co-Sponsored by the Center for Catholic Studies and the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies, Rabbi David Fox Sandmel, PhD, will deliver the 14th Annual Lecture in Jewish/Christian Engagement, “Loving the Jews: Philosemitism and Judaizing in Contemporary Christianity.”
If anti-Semitism is bad, then philosemitism – the love of the Jews and Judaism – must be good, right? Like most aspects of Jewish-Christian relations, philosemitism is multifaceted and manifests itself in a number of different ways – not only in terms of attitudes but also in practice and rituals. And it elicits a variety of reactions from the Jewish community.
On Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m. Rabbi David Fox Sandmel, PhD, will explore some of the expressions of philosemitism and the questions it raises about the boundaries and limits of Jewish-Christian relations and dialogue. His lecture, “Loving the Jews: Philosemitism and Judaizing in Contemporary Christianity,” is free and open to the public and will be delivered as a Zoom webinar. Register to attend at fairfield.edu/cs or fairfield.edu/bennett.
Rabbi Sandmel is the director of Interreligious Engagement at the Anti-Defamation League. From 2002 to 2014, he held the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and served as senior advisor on Interreligious Affairs to the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Prior to that, Rabbi Sandmel was the Jewish Scholar at the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies in Baltimore.
As vice chair of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, Rabbi Sandmel belongs to the consortium of organizations that is the official Jewish dialogue partner of the Vatican, the World Council of Churches, and the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox churches.
His commentary on First Thessalonians appears in the Jewish Annotated New Testament (Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 2017). He is co-editor of Christianity in Jewish Terms (Westview, 2000) and Irreconcilable Differences? A Learning Resource for Jews and Christians (Westview Press, 2001).
Rabbi Sandmel was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and received his doctorate in religious studies from the University of Pennsylvania.
Co-sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies and the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University, registration for the 14th Annual Lecture in Jewish/Christian Engagement is free and open to the public. Rescheduled from an event canceled in April, it will take place via Zoom webinar at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 22. For more information about this and other fall 2020 lectures, visit fairfield.edu/bennett and fairfield.edu/cs.
