{"id":189,"date":"2009-01-26T18:15:56","date_gmt":"2009-01-26T18:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/windowsanddoors\/2009\/01\/pope-benedict-and-rabbi-riskin.html"},"modified":"2009-01-26T18:15:56","modified_gmt":"2009-01-26T18:15:56","slug":"pope-benedict-and-rabbi-riskin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2009\/01\/pope-benedict-and-rabbi-riskin.html","title":{"rendered":"Pope Benedict and Rabbi Riskin Should Both Examine Their Deeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

My earlier post about Pope Benedict XVI’s <\/a>reinstatement of four excommunicated bishops was for informational purposes and in no way endorses either the tone or content of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s analyses. While I appreciate Riskin’s pain and frustration brought about by the Pope’s endorsement of Richard Williamson, an avowed Holocaust denier and rather loony conspiracy theorist, I found his approach to the entire situation arrogant, self-serving and insensitive.<\/p>\n


\nIs it really appropriate for Rabbi Riskin to give New Testament lessons to the Pope? Even if the rabbi’s reading of John 8:32 is correct, making such one-sided pronouncements about the meaning of other people’s scriptures is the height of arrogance. If that is the spirit in which the Rabbi’s Center for Jewish Christian Understanding operates, he should shut it down as quickly as possible.
\nIf nothing else, the rabbi should ask himself how much damage has been done by well-meaning and sincere Christians misreading Jewish texts. Why does he presume to do better by theirs than they have often done with ours? Does he find it appropriate when others isolate individual lines from the Hebrew Bible to prove the inappropriateness of policies supported by him, including the recent war in Gaza?
\nAnd who is Rabbi Riskin to suggest that this one ace by the Pope constitutes a death blow to Catholic-Jewish relations? If he is right, then there was no real relationship to begin with and he needs to reflect on the nature of the inter-faith work he has done.
\nThe concluding paragraph which indicates that the return of prayers for the conversion of Jews, Cardinal Martino’s recent comparison of Gaza and a concentration camp, and the reinstating of these Bishops as all having the same meaning is really hard to understand. At lease it is until one appreciates that the only test for Rabbi Riskin is whether of not Church actions please Jews who happen to agree with Rabbi Riskin. If that kind of approach doesn’t set back inter-group relations, I don’t know what will.
\nBut Rabbi Riskin is correct about one thing: the Pope should examine his conscience. So should Rabbi Riskin. Each needs to ask if they are doing all that they can to reach out beyond their own ideological boundaries to nurture better relationships between people of different faiths. I actually suspect that the Pope did just that in making his most recent decision. I may not agree with it, but I think there is something to be learned from it. More on that later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My earlier post about Pope Benedict XVI’s reinstatement of four excommunicated bishops was for informational purposes and in no way endorses either the tone or content of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s analyses. While I appreciate Riskin’s pain and frustration brought about by the Pope’s endorsement of Richard Williamson, an avowed Holocaust denier and rather loony conspiracy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judaism","category-news","category-religion"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Benedict and Rabbi Riskin Should Both Examine Their Deeds - Windows and Doors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2009\/01\/pope-benedict-and-rabbi-riskin.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Benedict and Rabbi Riskin Should Both Examine Their Deeds - Windows and Doors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My earlier post about Pope Benedict XVI’s reinstatement of four excommunicated bishops was for informational purposes and in no way endorses either the tone or content of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s analyses. While I appreciate Riskin’s pain and frustration brought about by the Pope’s endorsement of Richard Williamson, an avowed Holocaust denier and rather loony conspiracy…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2009\/01\/pope-benedict-and-rabbi-riskin.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Windows and Doors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-26T18:15:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad Hirschfield\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope Benedict and Rabbi Riskin Should Both Examine Their Deeds - Windows and Doors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2009\/01\/pope-benedict-and-rabbi-riskin.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope Benedict and Rabbi Riskin Should Both Examine Their Deeds - Windows and Doors","og_description":"My earlier post about Pope Benedict XVI’s reinstatement of four excommunicated bishops was for informational purposes and in no way endorses either the tone or content of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s analyses. 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