David Novak Quotes
Although most Christian churches advocate some sort of mission to non-Christians, no Jewish group advocates a mission to non-Jews. Proselytization seems to be foreign to Judaism.
Novak, David. Talking with Christians: Musings of a Jewish Theologian. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005.
“Goyim” is the Hebrew and Yiddish word for non-Jews. In early Christianity, all Christians were Jews. Christianity was a new form of Judaism. The Last Supper was the Jewish Passover which was observed by all the early Christians who followed all the Jewish laws. Even goyim who wanted to convert to Christianity in the early days were converting to Judiasm and following the teachings of the famous Rabbi, Jesus. Later, St.Paul, allowed some goyim conversion without maintaining the Jewish dietary laws and without males having to be circumcised. The two religions split thereafter, but for many Jews of the time, especially the followers of Jesus, one of the Jewish obligations was to bring light to the goyim. The Cardinal was born of Jewish parents and converted, but just as the disciples of Christ considered themselves Jews so always did Lustiger.
Medved, a Jew, maintained that as America became more interested in Christianity, there would also be more interest in Judaism, and true Christianity—American Christianity—which would not be anti-Semitic as many earlier Christian movements had been. Most Jews disagreed preferring a strict separation of church and state. While it may be true that some Christian groups are favorably disposed to Jews, historically must American Christian groups have been supportive of anti-Semitic activities in the United States.
See {586039} for a quotation that goes further and seeks to punish and humiliate the non believers. This sura is often used by those wishing to illustrate the intolerance of Islam—especially of other religions. They fail to put this into the context of the Old Testament which proscribed death for heretics or the history of Christianity regarding the murder of nonbelievers. The difference is however, that a very small proportion of Jews or Christians today believe in following Biblical instructions in this respect while the proportion of Muslims who believe in the literal interpretation of scripture on these points is much larger. However there are Islamic modernists and moderates throughout the world who reject this notion of warring on all other religions and there is a struggle going on within Islam itself.
David Novak, FRSC is a Jewish theologian, ethicist, and scholar of Jewish philosophy and law (Halakha). He is an ordained Conservative rabbi and holds the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies as Professor of the Study of Religion and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto since 1997. His areas of interest are Jewish theology, Jewish ethics and biomedical ethics, political theory (with a special emphasis on natural law), and Jewish-Christian relations.
