Contact us on (02) 8445 2300
For all customer service and order enquiries

Woodslane Online Catalogues

9780271087252 Add to Cart Academic Inspection Copy

Nun in the Synagogue:

Judeocentric Catholicism in Israel
Description
Table of
Contents
Google
Preview

The Nun in the Synagogue documents the religious and cultural phenomenon of Judeocentric Catholicism that arose in the wake of the Holocaust, fueled by survivors who converted to Catholicism and emigrated to Israel, as well as by Catholics determined to address the anti-Judaism inherent in the church. Through an ethnographic study of selected nuns and monks in Israeli monasteries, Emma O’Donnell Polyakov explores how this Judeocentric Catholic phenomenon began and continues to take shape in Israel.

This book is a case study in Catholic perceptions of Jews, Judaism, and the state of Israel during a time of rapidly changing theological and cultural contexts. In it, Polyakov listens to and analyzes the stories of individuals living on the border between Christian and Jewish identity, from Jewish converts to Catholicism who continue to harbor a strong sense of Jewish identity, to philosemitic Catholics who attend synagogue services every Shabbat. Polyakov traces the societal, theological, and personal influences that have given rise to this phenomenon and presents a balanced analysis that addresses the hermeneutical problems of interpreting Jews through Christian frameworks. Ultimately, she argues that, despite its problems, this movement signals a pluralistic evolution of Catholic understandings of Judaism and may prove a harbinger of future directions in Jewish-Christian relations.

Highly original and methodologically sophisticated, The Nun in the Synagogue is a captivating exploration of biographical narratives and reflections on faith, conversion, Holocaust trauma, Zionism, and religious identity that lays the groundwork for future research in the field.


Acknowledgments

Prologue

Part 1: The Jewish People Through a Christian Lens

1. Behind the Monastery Walls

2. A New Philosemitism

3. Christian Constructions of the Jew

4. Christian Responses to Israel

Part 2: A Judeocentric Catholicism

Portrait: Sr. Talia

5. The “Mystery of Israel”

Portrait: Sr. Marie Yeshua

6. Precedents and Predecessors

Portrait: Sr. Anne Catherine

7. A Mission Reversed: The Sisters of Sion

Portrait: Sr. Carmen

8. A Christian Aliyah?

Portrait: Fr. Olivier

Part 3: Religious Identity After the Holocaust

9. Navigating Jewish-Christian Identity

Portrait: Sr. Regine

10. Conversion, Belonging, and Holocaust Trauma

Portrait: Sr. Paula

11. Theology After the Holocaust

Portrait: Sr. Michaela

Part 4: Praying for the Jews

Portrait: Sr. Rebecca

12. Interreligious Dialogue and Monasticism

Portrait: Fr. Jacques

13. Between the Synagogue and the Church

Portrait: Sr. Gemma

14. The Problematics of Prayer for the Jewish People

Portrait: Sr. Maureena

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index


Google Preview content