Key Moments in the History of Jewish-Christian Relations
Date: Mar 24, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Sponsor: Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue | Union Theological Seminary
Category: Book Talks
Monday, March 24, 2025
7:00–8:30 p.m.
In Person at JTS
3080 Broadway (at 122nd Street)
New York City
Join the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue and Union Theological Seminary for a special book talk on A Documentary History of Jewish-Christian Relations: From Antiquity to the Present Day by Dr. Ed Kessler, MBE, Founder and President of the Woolf Institute, Fellow of St. Edmund’s College, and University of Cambridge. Professor Mary Boys, UTS, will offer a response to Kessler’s book talk. The book will be available for sale and signing.
Jews and Christians have interacted for two millennia, yet there is no comprehensive, global study of their shared history. This book offers a chronological and thematic approach to that 2,000-year history, based on some 200 primary documents chosen for their centrality to the encounter. A systematic and authoritative work on the relationship between the two religions, it reflects both the often troubled history of that relationship and the massive changes of attitude and approach in more recent centuries. Written by a team leading international scholars in the field, each chapter introduces the context for its historical period, draws out the key themes arising from the relevant documents, and provides a detailed commentary on each document to shed light on its significance in the history of the Jewish–Christian relationship. The volume is aimed at scholars, teachers and students, clerics and lay people, and anyone interested in the history of religion.
About the Author
Dr. Ed Kessler is Founder President of the Woolf Institute, Fellow St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, and a leading thinker in interfaith relations, primarily, Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations. He founded the Woolf Institute in 1998 and has written 12 books and dozens of articles in interfaith relations. Ed was described by The Times Higher Education Supplement as “probably the most prolific interfaith figure in British academia” and was awarded an MBE for services to interfaith relations in 2011.
He regularly appears in the media commenting on religion and belief issues of the day.
