LWF Webinar: Gathering Around the Tree of Life
May 16, 2022 @ 8:00 am - 9:00 am
The urgency of renewing Jewish-Christian relations today will be the subject of this webinar. Lutheran and Jewish participants will offer a variety of perspectives on how to do this and what lessons we can learn during these times of social hostility and polarization.
In 2018, a gunman entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Shabbat, shouting his desire to kill Jews and shooting 11 people in the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. In the current politically polarizing and conflict-ridden climate, there has been alarming escalation in virulent anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence around the globe.
For Lutherans, Martin Luther’s anti-Jewish writings have received both scholarly attention and internal self-critique within the Lutheran communion. In the process of improving Jewish-Christian relations since 1947, the position of Lutheran churches in rejecting anti-Semitism and affirming the integrity and dignity of the Jewish faith was stated clearly at the LWF Assembly in Budapest in 1984. On that same occasion, LWF’s member churches also clearly distanced themselves from Martin Luther’s writings and expressions against Jews.
At the same time, there are many people in different parts of the world where Christians may not have direct contact with Jewish friends or neighbors. Both the shocking news reports and these historic theological developments might seem very distant and disconnected from their daily lives. Join our speakers from the Jewish community and the global Lutheran communion to reflect on the importance of renewing this interfaith relationship today.