Chair of Jewish and Christian Biblical Studies | A bridge for peace
“At the time we are living now, as war is waging, this is truly a symbolical event”, it was with these words that the Rector of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Isabel Capeloa Gil greeted the new Chair of Jewish and Christian Biblical Studies | Isaac Abravanel - Damião de Góis at UCP, presented on March 29th, that she says she hopes will be “a bridge to be crossed by everyone. A bridge in times of war”.
The Rector congratulated the Faculty of Theology, the Centre for Research in Theology and Religion Studies (CITER) and in particular the director of Chair, Luísa Almendra for the “resistance and effort to really make this Chair possible, which she was determined to implement at Católica, succeeding in overcoming all the difficulties”.
Isabel Capeloa Gil said that we were facing “an essential mark for the study of theology and the university as a testament to Peace, which is what the university is about, to use knowledge for the pursuit and for the development and the betterment of human condition.".
Meanwhile, Luísa Almendra highlighted the “the need to strengthen inter-religious dialogue as a contribution to peace”", adding that “for many centuries, instead of being considered a common heritage, biblical texts were seen as a source of division”.
The step now taken “has a great potential to be an excellent contribution to the Jewish Christian dialogue, but also to the remarkable project of Católica, a great university energized by the ultimate goal of using science to build a better world and foster a dignified life for all”, added.
“Believe with us in the power of reliable knowledge and true dialogue as the most solid builders of humanity and peace", was the dare left at the end of the speech by Luísa Almendra.
Also present at the ceremony, Alexandre Palma, director of CITER, explained how the sacred scriptures are, for Jews and Christians "our meeting point"; "study is the way" and "dialogue is our method", reasons that culminate in the creation of the Chair that now "gives body to a greater and wider effort of CITER, an effort to bring Theology and the Studies of Religion, ever more, to the agenda of university research".
Regarding the reasons that make this Chair so important, guest-speaker Amy Jill Levine (Hartford International University for Religion and Peace), singled out four, “first, texts take on new meanings in the presence of the other.”; “second, when we Jews and Christians read together, we learn more about each other’s traditions even as we see new meanings in the texts that we share”; “third, when we Jews and Christians read together, we can correct common mistakes we make about each”; “finally, when we Jews and Christians read together, we can see not only how we read differently, but also why.”
Under the theme "Studying Together", the guest-speaker Etienne Vetö, (Pontifical Gregorian University), also pointed out that "a genuine knowledge of traditional Jewish history allows a renewed knowledge of Jesus and a better understanding of his teachings".
Confessing that his "students are often shocked to find out that almost all of Jesus’ teachings can be found in different forms in Rabbinic literature", he stressed that the joint study is "a stimulant for a more exact and complete Christian faith in Jesus Christ as Messiah" and that "the Church cannot exist and cannot be herself, without a present, living relationship to the present, living community of the Jewish people".
The session included a message from Cardinal D. José Tolentino Mendonça, archivist and librarian of the Holy See, who greeted those responsible for the creation of the Chair, wishing that if the sacred scripture is the soul of theology, then may the Chair "be the soul of theology as a science in Portugal, and that biblical studies may be a frontier place that inspires what theology can be today as a place of dialogue and meeting with other sciences.
Invited to this session, the students of the Faculty of Theology of UCP surprised those present with the interpretation of two songs in Hebrew, "Hine ma tov" and "Shomer Yisreal".
At the end of the presentation of the Chair, the High Chancellor of Católica, D. Manuel Clemente, celebrated this promise of joint reading, recalling the story of the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustige, who considered himself "one of those Jews who recognised Jesus as the Messiah."
"It is very good to foresee what will follow from here," concluded D. Manuel Clemente.