Jews and Christians the Topic in Course
at USM’s L-A College
April 2004
A new course examining the 2,000-year ‘clash
of civilizations’ between Judaism and Christianity
will be offered this summer at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn
College. Titled Jews & Christians from the Crucifixion
to the ‘Passion,’ the course will analyze the
‘teaching of contempt’ by both the Catholic
and Protestant Churches towards Jews and Judaism, the sea
change in Christian Jewish relations since the end of the
Holocaust, and the controversy over Mel Gibson’s ‘The
Passion of the Christ’ and its implications for the
future. Some of the issues that will be explored in the
course include the following:
How did a negative image of Judaism develop
in Christianity and why? Is there a relationship between
Christian anti-Jewish teachings, anti-Jewish teachings,
anti-Jewish violence and anti-Semitism? Is there a corresponding
anti-Christian hostility within Judaism? What effect has
the Mel Gibson film “The Passion of the Christ”
had on future Jewish-Christian relations?
Class members will also seek to answer an
important question based on the Vatican II Council Nostra
Aetate (Declaration on non-Christian Religions). How can
Christians and Jews study their religious history and develop
a theology of “the other” that is not triumphalist
but empathic?
The course (HUM 299) will be offered Tuesday
and Thursday mornings from 9:00 - 11:30 a.m. May 18 through
July 1. The instructors will be Abraham Peck and Carey Walsh.
Peck is an adjunct professor in USM’s history department
and also serves as the director of the Academic Council
for Post-Holocaust Christian and Jewish studies. He is the
founder of the African American / American Jewish dialogue.
Walsh is a graduate of the Yale Divinity School and the
University of Chicago and served as an assistant professor
of religion at Rhodes College in Tennessee. She also served
as an instructor at the Harvard Divinity School.
Registration for the course is open through
the first week of classes. Please call 753-6530 for registration
information. A complete summer and fall course listing is
available on-line at usm.maine.edu/lac/schedules/
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