David Novak Quotes
One cannot accept Christ and still be part of the normative Jewish community; one cannot live by Torah and still be part of the Church.
Novak, David. Jewish-Christian Dialogue: A Jewish Justification. Oxford University Press, 1989.
He was referring to the possibility that Barry Goldwater might win the presidency in 1964. Goldwater's father was Jewish, but the family was Episcopalian.
“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.
Pen name: Jack Nipps
Toleration is a relative term. The Muslim Moors made Christians (and Jews) pay a special tax. At times they were forced to wear special clothing so that they could be readily identified. And they could not build churches larger or taller than the smallest mosque in the community. At times, their occupations were restricted but at other times Christians and Jews were appointed to the highest positions like Vizier. The Inquisition, in contrast, forced all Muslims (and Jews) to leave the country without any of their property or money or be tortured and killed—usually by burning at the stake unless of course that they converted to Christianity.
Unlike other conquerors who wanted their wealth, property, animals or women, this was an offer that was almost too good to refuse even if the community were well fortified and had organized soldiers. It is important to note that these options were not available to all people. The Prophet had decided to allow Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians to practice their religion and pay the fizya tax which was not very high. The Persians were Zoroastrians and hence the did not have to convert which most other people did. The Muslim conquest of Persia, therefore, was much easier than most other places.
This is an excellent example of the many public insults that the Irish religious leaders hurled at each other exacerbating the intercommunal tension between the Catholics and Protestants. There were amost no Irish leaders of either religion who tried to dampen the animosity and conflict.
English history has been replete with Catholic-Protestant conflict and because of the British Empire, the British historians were very familiar with the Islamic conflict with Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and other religions. Toynbee was very worried about the future religious struggles and he turned out to be right. Freedom isi amenable to different interpretations and compromise. Religion also has different interpretations, but many of the religious fundamentalists see compromise as an offence to God and his word. So religion is less amenable to political, civil or social structuring and compromise.
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.
