"This collection of new studies provides a deeper understanding of the genesis of this Declaration, of its important statements on Judaism and Islam, and of its continuing relevance in our multi-cultural and multi-religious world." (Michael L. Fitzgerald, Islamochristiana, Vol. 46, 2020)
Chapter 1. Nostra Aetate and its Relevance for Today.- Part I. Nostra Aetate: Historical and Social Context.- Chapter 2. Nostra Aetate: The Contested, Minimal and almost Failed Effort to Embrace a Tragedy and Amend Attitudes.- Chapter 3. The Ecclesial and Theological origins of Nostra Aetate and its Significance for Present and Future Interfaith Engagement.- Part II. Nostra Aetate: Relationship with the Jewish People.- Chapter 4. Harvest and Horizons: An appraisal of Nostra aetate para. 4.- Chapter 5. Naming the Fellowship between the Church and the Jewish People at the Second Vatican Council and in Our Time.- Part III. Nostra Aetate: Relationship with Islam and Eastern Christians.- Chapter 6. Catholic Saints and Scholars: Nostra Aetate and Islam.- Chapter 7. From the Margins to the Center: Exploring the Roots of Nostra Aetate in the Lives of Charles de Foucauld and Louis Massignon.- Chapter 8. The Christian West and the Eastern Patriarchates: Reflections on Nostra Aetate and the World of Islam.- Chapter 9. The Holy See, Islam and the Role of the Eastern Catholic Patriarchs in Developing Nostra Aetate.- Chapter 10. Eastern Orthodox Perspectives on Nostra Aetate and Muslim-Christian Relations.- Part IV. Nostra Aetate and other Christian Churches.- Chapter 11. The Church of England’s and the Responses of the Broader European Protestant Traditions to Nostra Aetate.- Chapter 12. Nostra Aetate and the Christians of the Middle East.- Chapter 13. A Missionary Minefield or Millennial Partnership? Nostra Aetate and American Protestants in the Middle East.- Part V. Nostra Aetate and Eastern Religions: Hinduism and Buddhism.- Chapter 14. Catholic Teaching on Hinduism in Nostra Aetate: phenomenology and its theological implications in the case of Hindu theism.- Chapter 15. Catholic-Buddhist Relations since the close of the Second Vatican Council.
Kail C. Ellis is Dean Emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Assistant to the President, and Associate Professor of Political Science at Villanova University, USA.
This book explores how Nostra Aetate, the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council, can influence inter-religious dialogue and understanding in the modern world. Although influential in religious, academic, and scholarly circles, it is relatively unknown outside these areas. The contributors remedy that deficit by highlighting the declaration’s difficult historical and social context and the Church’s evolving relationship with non-Christians.
Contentious topics are examined such as the link between the Jewish people and the land and state of Israel, that questions the Catholic understanding of the relativity of national borders and identity, and the challenges posed to the Church’s relationship with Islam by its prioritization of human rights and religious freedom for Christians and minorities in certain Muslim regimes.
Given its scope, it is an ideal resource for graduate students and researchers in the fields of political science, international relations, religion, and minority studies.
Kail C. Ellis is Dean Emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Assistant to the President, and Associate Professor of Political Science at Villanova University, USA.