The Brother John G. Driscoll Professorship
in Jewish-Catholic Studies

This series represents an ongoing initiative between the American Jewish Committee, Westchester Chapter and Iona's Br. John G. Driscoll Professorship in Jewish-Catholic Studies to explore the points of contact between Judaism and Catholicism. Each evening of dialogue features a Jewish and a Catholic scholar who make presentations on a specific topic and then engage in extended dialogue with the audience.

2007-2008

Spring Program: Resurrection: Meanings of the Afterlife for Christians and Jews

Invited Scholars:

• Dr. John Thiel is Professor of Religious Studies at Fairfield University where he has taught for thirty-one years. He has served as Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Fairfield and currently is Director of the University Honors Program. He is the author of 5 books, including Senses of Tradition: Continuity and Development in Catholic Faith (Oxford University Press, 2000) and God, Evil, and Innocent Suffering: A Theological Reflection (Crossroad, 2002) and many articles in numerous journals.
• Dr. Claudia Setzer is Chairperson of the Religious Studies department at Manhattan College. Her scholarly interests include New Testament and Christian Origins, Hebrew Bible and early Judaism. Setzer's books and articles focus on social relations between Jews and early Christians, and she has a special interest in North African Christianity. Her many and diverse publications include the books Jewish Responses to Early Christians (Augsburg/Fortress, 1994) and Resurrection of the Body in Early Judaism and Early Christianity: Doctrine, Community and Self-Definition (Brill, 2004).

Date: February 19 , 7:30, Ryan Lecture Hall

Autumn Program: Christian-Jewish Relations and the Defining Reality of the Land of Israel forJews

Invited Scholars:

• Richard Lux is Professor of Scripture Studies at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he teaches Hebrew Scriptures and Pauline Literature. He holds the Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. Active in Catholic-Jewish Relations for over 30 years, Lu x lectures and publishes widely on Christian-Jewish topics. He has studied at the Shalom Hartman Institute and Tantur Ecumencial Institute, both in Jerusalem and he is completing a book on the Jewish people, the Holy Land and the State of Israel. He is Vice-President of the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel.
• Yehezkel Landau is Faculty Associate in Interfaith Relations at Hartford Seminary. He holds the M.T.S from Harvard Divinity School. In 1978, Landau made aliyah (immigrated) to Israel. His work has been in the fields of interfaith education and Jewish-Arab peacemaking. He directed the OZ veSHALOM-NETIVOT SHALOM religious Zionist peace movement in Israel during the 1980's. From 1991 to 2003, he was co-founder and co-director of the OPEN HOUSE Center for Jewish-Arab Coe xistence in Ramle, Israel. He lectures internationally on Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations and Middle East peace issues, has authored numerous journal articles, and co-edited the book Voices from Jerusalem: Jews and Christians Reflect on the Holy Land (Paulist Press, 1992).

Date: October 21 , 4:00 pm, Iona College Spellman Lounge

2006-2007

Spring Program: Martyrdom in Antiquity – Jewish and Christian Responses Dr. Maureen Tilly of Fordham University

Invited Scholars:

• Dr. Maureen Tilly is the Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Dayton and Visiting Professor of Theology at Fordham University. Among other titles, she is the author of The Bible in Christian North Africa: the Donatist World and she is past president of the North American Patristics Society.
• Dr. Pamela Eisenbaum is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Christian Origins at the Iliff School of Theology, Denver, CO. She is the author of The Jewish Heroes of Christian History: Hebrews 11 in Literary Context and a contributor to the Women’s Bible Commentary.

American Jewish Committee, Westchester, co-sponsor
Date: April 30, 7:30 pm, Iona College Spellman Lounge

Autumn Program: Sacred Scriptures, Sacred Study: Proclamation, Learning, and Interpretation.

Invited Scholars:

• Dr. Ruth Langer is the Associate Professor of Jewish Studies in the Theology Department at Boston College and Associate Director of its Center for Christian-Jewish Learning. She is the author of To Worship God Properly: Tensions between Liturgical Custom and Halakhah in Judaism, Langer researches the development of Jewish liturgy and ritual.
• Dr. Audrey Doetzel is the Assistant Director for Programs and Managing Editor of Studies in Christian-Jewish Learning at the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, Boston College. Doeztel serves on the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Advisory Committee on Catholic-Jewish Relations for the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affiars.

Date: Wednesday November 29, 2006 at 7:30 pm in Iona College’s Spellman Hall

2005-2006

Spring Program: The Parting of the Ways: The Emergence of Early Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity.

Invited Scholars:

• Rabbi Stephen Wylen is the Rabbi for Temple Beth Tikvah, Wayne, NJ. He has served since 2000 as president of the Wayne Clergy Fellowship and is a member of the North Jersey Board of Rabbis and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Rabbi Wylen is the author of five books including The Jews in the Time of Jesus (1996), and he also writes a monthly column for the “Religion and Values” section of the New Jersey Record newspaper.
• Rev. Msgr. Guy Massie is the chairperson for the Ecumenical and Inter-Faith Commission for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, and is currently the pastor of the Parish of St.
  Andrew the Apostle. Msgr. Massie’s ecumenical and interfaith interests were cultivated in his Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg/Greenpoint where he discovered the richness of his own Catholicism, as well as the ancient wisdom of Judaism.

Date: Wednesday April 26, 2006 at 7:30 pm in Iona College’s Spellman Hall
Read more in the Spring 2006 Brochure

Autumn Program: Looking Back, Looking Forward: 40 Years After Nostra Aetate, The Declaration On The Church’s Relationship To Non-Christian Religions

Invited Scholars:

• Paul F. Knitter, ThD, professor emeritus of Theology, Xavier University is the author of, No Other Name? A Critical Survey of Christian Attitudes Toward the World Religions (1985), Jesus and the Other Names: Christian Mission and Global Responsibility (2001) and many other publications.
• Rabbi A. James Rudin, senior inter-religious advisor, American Jewish Committee is a prolific writer appearing in the Religion News Service, The Christian Science Monitor, Christianity Today, Commonweal, and many other publications. He is co-editor of Evangelicals and Jews in an Age of Pluralism (1984) and co-author of Prison or Paradise? The New Religious Cults (1980).

Date: Thursday November 3, 2005 at 7:45 pm in Iona College’s Spellman Hall

 

2004-2005

Autumn Program: The Intersection of Faith and Politics

• Jewish Scholar: Alan L. Mittleman, PhD is professor or Jewish Philosophy and the director of The Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
• Catholic Scholar: James Fisher, PhD, is associate professor of Theology at Fordham University and co-director of the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies.
• Catholic Scholar: Rev. Jean-Pierre Ruiz, STD, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. John's University in New York, an elected member of the Christian Scholars' Group, and former president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States.

Date: October 27, 7:30 pm, Iona Spellman Hall Lounge

Spring Program: Jewish Roots of Catholic Worship.

Jewish Scholar: Rabbi Joseph H. Ehrenkranz is co-founder and executive director of the Center for Christian- Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT and rabbi emeritus of Congregation Agudath Sholom, Stamford, CT, where he has served for 45 years.

Date: April 5, 7:30 pm, Iona Spellman Hall Lounge

2003-2004

Autumn Program: Interfaith Relations in Israel Today and their Wider Impact on Jewish-Catholic Relations

• Jewish Scholar: Rabbi David Rosen, AJC International Director of Interreligious Affairs
• Catholic Scholar: Dr. Michael McGarry, Rector, Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem

Date: December 9, 8:00 pm, Iona Spellman Lounge

Spring Program: We project a program exploring the development of Passion Plays

2002-2003

Autumn Program: From Conflict to Conversation: A Dialogue about the documentary, "I am Joseph Your Brother"

• Jewish Scholar: Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana, Senior Rabbi Temple Israel of New Rochelle
• Catholic Scholar: Dr. Rosann Catalano, Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies

Spring Program: Stepping Stones and Stumbling Blocks: Key Moments in Jewish-Catholic Dialogue

• Jewish Scholar: Mark Weitzman, Director of the Task Force Against Hate, Simon Wiesenthal Center, NYC
• Catholic Scholar: Dr. Audrey Doetzel, Director, Jewish Christian Relation Encounter

2001-2002

Autumn Program: Life and Death: How Catholics and Jews make their Ethical Decisions

• Jewish Scholar: Dr. Gordon Tucker, formerly Dean at Jewish Theological Seminary, NYC
• Catholic Scholar: Dr. Barbara Andolsen, Monmouth University

Spring Program: Solace in Prayer in Times of Crisis

• Jewish Scholar: Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff, then AJC National Director of Interreligious Affairs
• Catholic Scholar: Dr. Kathleen Deignan, Director Iona Spirituality Institute

2000-2001

Autumn Program: Days of Repentance: Jewish and Catholic Perspectives

• Jewish Scholar: Dr. Neil Gillman, Jewish Theological Seminary, NYC
• Catholic Scholar: Dr. Mary Boys, Union Theological Seminary, NYC

Spring Program: Telling Our Stories, Sharing Our Symbols: Easter and Passover

• Jewish Scholar: Dr. Ellen Umansky, Fairfield University
• Catholic Scholar: Dr. John Baldovin, Weston Jesuit School of Theology

1999-2000

Inaugural Dialogue: "Encountering the Past, Engaging the Present, Envisioning the Future: Jews and Catholics in Dialogue: Perspectives on the biblical Jubilee texts"

• Jewish Scholar: Dr. David Elcott, currently AJC National Director of Interreligious Affairs
• Catholic Scholar: Fr. James Loughran, then Director of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the Archdiocese of New York

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