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The Faith of Others: The Inspiration of Interreligious Dialogue in Light of Nostra Aetate
Monday, October 20, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
This October marks 60 years since the Second Vatican Council adopted the historic Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, called Nostra Aetate. Nostra Aetate is best known for revisiting and reforming the long history of Catholic misrepresentation and mistreatment of Jews and provided a baseline for Catholic interreligious engagement in the contemporary world.
Having grown up in a home in which ecumenical discussions were vital, Susannah Heschel, Ph.D., Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College and chair of the Jewish Studies Program, will recount personal memories of her father, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, and of the many Christian theologians and clergy who came to their home. Taking up the theological as well as the historical trajectory that led to Nostra Aetate, she will give particular attention to the relationship between Rabbi Heschel and Augustin Cardinal Bea, charting the new theological directions they represented regarding divine inspiration and prophecy. She will conclude with reflections on the extent to which interfaith encounters can also become moments of prayer.
Responding to Professor Heschel will be Heather Miller Rubens, Executive Director of the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, who will look from this history into the present and future—reflecting on the powers and limits of Nostra Aetate in our own time, as well as on its significance beyond the Catholic-Jewish relationship.
Reception to follow in Platt Court
The 2025 Paul Wattson Lecture at Fordham University is co-sponsored and co-organized by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, and, at Fordham: the departments of theology and Jewish studies, the Center on Religion and Culture, the Francis and Ann Curran Center for Catholic Studies, Campus Ministry, and the Institute on Religion, Law and Lawyer’s Work.
