Priest and Convert

This is a remarkable book, edited by a Roman Catholic priest who is a convert from Judaism. Competence and scholarship here present fascinating subjects with the grace of a clear and often beautiful style. Father Oesterreicher, the author of Walls are Crumbling, has set a pattern of Judaeo-Christian relationship and reciprocal appraisal that leaves almost nothing to be desired.

The book is structured into five studies: 1) “The Word Is A Seed,” a beautiful Christian interpretation of parts of the Old and New Testaments: 2) “The Mysterious Destinies of Israel,” by the eminent Swiss theologian, Charles Journet; 3) “The Community of Qumran,” in which the editor himself deals with aspects of the Dead Sea scrolls; 4) “The Painter and the Prophets,” the painter being Michelangelo; and 5) “Dreyfus and After.” Then follow five “Perspectives” (entitled respectively “The Genius of Biblical Thought,” “Pro Perfidis Judaeis,” “The Blessings of the Jewish Prayer Book,” “Chaucer’s Prioress: Mercy and Tender Heart” and “The Beasts and the Everlasting Love”); two “Surveys” (“Hope and Despair at Evanston” and “Anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union”); and four book reviews (appraising Klausner’s The Messianic Idea in Israel; Agus’s Guideposts in Modern Judaism; Epstein’s An Autobiography and Beaty’s The Iron Curtain over America). All of them are characterized by insights and eloquence.

GS

About the Author

Godfrey P. Schmidt

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This is a remarkable book, edited by a Roman Catholic priest who is a convert from Judaism. Competence and scholarship here present fascinating subjects with the grace of a clear and often beautiful style. Father Oesterreicher, the author of Walls are Crumbling, has set a pattern of Judaeo-Christian relationship and reciprocal appraisal that leaves almost nothing to be desired.

The book is structured into five studies: 1) “The Word Is A Seed,” a beautiful Christian interpretation of parts of the Old and New Testaments: 2) “The Mysterious Destinies of Israel,” by the eminent Swiss theologian, Charles Journet; 3) “The Community of Qumran,” in which the editor himself deals with aspects of the Dead Sea scrolls; 4) “The Painter and the Prophets,” the painter being Michelangelo; and 5) “Dreyfus and After.” Then follow five “Perspectives” (entitled respectively “The Genius of Biblical Thought,” “Pro Perfidis Judaeis,” “The Blessings of the Jewish Prayer Book,” “Chaucer’s Prioress: Mercy and Tender Heart” and “The Beasts and the Everlasting Love”); two “Surveys” (“Hope and Despair at Evanston” and “Anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union”); and four book reviews (appraising Klausner’s The Messianic Idea in Israel; Agus’s Guideposts in Modern Judaism; Epstein’s An Autobiography and Beaty’s The Iron Curtain over America). All of them are characterized by insights and eloquence.