I do not question the qualifications of Dr. Landes, nor those of Hebrew
College. I might observe, though, that Hebrew College defines itself
"non-sectarian, trans-denominational," which means that it embodies many
approaches to Judaism, some of them contradictory (as you will find in
Christendom).
More to the point, Kristin Solias did not respond to my comment that
Judaism is not defined by a belief system, and (consequently) does not
divide the world into "believers" and "non-believers." Further, I stated
that Judaism does not attach much eschatological significance to being or
not being a Jew. It is therefore impossible to respond to a conference that
asks how Jews view "apocalyptic others (i.e., unbelievers)" if the term is
undefined within Judaism.
Further, I neglected to comment on the connection of the conference with
the millennium. The current year on the Jewish calendar is 5757, it is 1375
(give or take a year) on the Moslem calendar. We are approaching the
"millennium" only on the Christian calendar. [anno domini, the year of YOUR
Lord] Since you seem to object to my use of the word "facile," I will not
characterize the assumption that the approach of a year divisible by 1000
in the Christian calendar somehow has universal significance.
I will be happy to respond to comments that speak to the issues.
At 13:44 04/30/97 -0400, Kristin Solias wrote:
>
>On Wed, 30 Apr 1997, Laurence F. Friedman wrote:
>
>> This call for papers is based on a facile assumption that the three western
>> religions are essentially similar, and that all divide the world into
>> believers and non-believers, i.e., that the defining element of the
>> communicants is their set of beliefs. This is certainly NOT true of
>> Judaism. Jews are typically referred to, in the Scripture and otherwise,
> [etc]
>
>Actually, this conference has nothing to do with a zeal for ecumenism.
>It is the outgrowth of a series of seminars held at Hebrew College, where
>I think we can assume they have more than a facile understanding of
>Judaism, as does Richard Landes, the director of CMS.
>
Laurence F. "Laurie" Friedman, Ph.D., CHP
New York University
205 Third Avenue, Apt. 16A
New York, NY 10003-2526
(212) 387-7957
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