In the last twenty-five years, numerous instructions have been issued by Catholic ecclesial authorities concerning Jews and Judaism. These statements repudiated the negative stance toward Judaism which had prevailed in Christianity for centuries. Beginning with the groundbreaking Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate, they have insisted upon a thoroughly accurate presentation of Jews and Judaism in Catholic teaching and preaching. Some have urged that Catholic religion textbooks be examined to ensure their agreement with the content and spirit of Nostra Aetate.
American Catholic textbooks were assessed in 1961 in a study by Rose Thering, and again in 1976 in research conducted by Eugene J. Fisher. This dissertation furthers these investigations through a content analysis of current Roman Catholic religion textbooks, on both the primary and secondary levels, in order to evaluate how accurately they portray Jews and Judaism.
Part One begins by tracing the origins and themes of the Christian anti-Jewish tradition in the New Testament and patristic periods. Next, the various facets of the modern repudiation of that enduring tradition are explored through a survey of recent Catholic ecclesial documents.
Part Two notes that the same themes which had characterized the anti-Jewish tradition were found in textbooks examined by previous content analyses. Improvements were noted by more recent studies, but certain topics were persistently troublesome. The methodology and directional criteria employed in this study are then presented.
Part Three details the results of this analysis. Although progress has been made since Fisher's 1976 study, three topics are still seen to have been handled poorly in the textbooks: Jesus and the Jews, the Pharisees, and the Crucifixion. It is also observed that the elements of the patristic anti-Judaic theological system have been all but eliminated from the textbooks. New Testament polemical arguments, however, are still abundant, usually because of a failure to incorporate critical exegetical principles and insights. The study concludes with recommendations for future textbook treatments of Jews and Judaism and for future studies in this area.
