Christian Scholars Group on Christian-Jewish Relations

The Christian Scholars Group on Christian-Jewish Relations (CSG) began in 1969 as a consultation sponsored by the Committee on Faith and Order of the National Council of Churches (NCC) to study topics relevant to Christian-Jewish relations both historically and contemporaneously. The Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops decided to co-sponsor the project, and the newly convened group of Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox scholars defined the broad topic of the group as "Israel: People, Land, State." The sponsorship of the group passed to the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ) in 1971, the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore in 1988, and the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College in 2002, but membership and direction of the group remained independent. At its inception, the group was informally known as the “Israel Study Group,” but in 1984 formally became the “Christian Study Group on Judaism and the Jewish People,” with a subsequent slight revision to "Christian Scholars Group on Judaism and the Jewish People" the next year. In 2002, the name was changed again to “Christian Scholars Group on Christian-Jewish Relations.”

The group met approximately twice per year to discuss articles by members and other scholars, church statements, and current affairs. The discussions were punctuated by occasional statements on current events and Christian-Jewish relations in general: in 1973, “A Statement to our Fellow Christians”, a call to Christians to recognize several questions that impact their faith because of their understanding of Jews and Judaism; in 1974, “A Message to Israel”, expressing solidarity with the people of Israel in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War; also in 1974, a statement regarding the invitation of Yassir Arafat to address the United Nations; in 1985, a statement expressing dismay over President Reagan's proposals to visit the Bitburg cemetery in West Germany but to exclude a visit to a concentration camp; in 2000, a private letter expressing concern about the Vatican document “Dominus Iesus: On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church”; and in 2002, “A Sacred Obligation: Rethinking Christian Faith in Relationship to Judaism and the Jewish People”, outlining ten positions regarding Christian-Jewish relations, partially in response to the 2001 text from Jewish scholars “Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity.”

After the initial push from the NCC and the publication of the 1973 Statement, the group broaden its focus to become: to foster scholarship concerning the relation of Christianity to Judaism; to provide a forum for constructive criticism of work-in-progress on this relationship; to engage in collaborative projects that might also serve as a resource for others concerned with Christian-Jewish relations; to discuss recent literature and directions in Christian-Jewish studies; to encourage colleagues in their own and allied fields to consider how the relationship of Christianity to Judaism may impinge upon their work; to assist the churches in reconsidering and reformulating their teaching regarding Jews and Judaism, and the Christian-Jewish relationship; and to engage with Jewish scholars in mutual study and discussion.