Welcome to Theological Dialogue website
This site is designed to promote Jewish-Christian theological dialogue.
With the development of this dialogue through study of the Jewish and Christian Holy Scriptures, the aim is not only to reach theoretical agreements, but also to act together to arrive at the union of both parts of the people of G-d, without prejudicing the existence of both faiths.
On May 16, 2012 Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, delivered a speech at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) of Rome, under the auspices of the John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue. In this speech, entitled 50 Years of Christian–Jewish Dialogue, he stated:
We will therefore be grateful for every contribution made here to expand the dialogue with Judaism on the foundation of “Nostra aetate”, and to arrive at a better understanding between Jews and Christians so that Jews and Christians as the one people of G-d bear witness to peace and reconciliation in the unreconciled world of today and can thus be a blessing not only for one another but also jointly for humanity. (A. Yoel Ben Arye’s emphasis).
In this site, as in my books, I aspire to establish a model of understanding of the Holy Scriptures that is more consistent than the studies carried out until now, so that the interpretations of the Holy Scriptures presented do not contradict other parts of the Scriptures.
I echo the sentiments expressed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in the speech that he delivered to the members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission of the Catholic Church on April 23, 2009:
… First of all it is essential to pay great attention to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture: only in its unity is it Scripture. Indeed, however different the books of which it is composed may be, Sacred Scripture is one by virtue of the unity of G-d’s plan.
Later in the speech, Benedict XVI concludes:
If this indispensable reference point is missing, the exegetical research would be incomplete, losing sight of its principal goal, and risk being reduced to a purely literary interpretation in which the true Author G-d no longer appears.
Furthermore, this method of interpretation of the Holy Scriptures differs fundamentally from the traditional conception of theologians and exegetes in interpretation of the Scriptures, in particular of the New Testament, an interpretation which shows why mankind is divided between Jews and Gentiles.
In the relevant themes, on this site, as regards relations between Christians and between Christianity and the Jews and Judaism, I do not work with a key of two (Jews and Gentiles), but with a key of three: 1) The house of Judah, 2) The house of Israel (or in other words, those called the ten lost tribes of the house of Israel) and 3) The Gentiles, i.e., any person who does not belong to either of the two houses of the people of Israel.
The material of this site, unless otherwise indicated, is taken from two of the books that I have written: a) Two Paths One Redemption, and b) Toward the New Covenant.
The first book was published in Spanish by Dunken Publishing House, Buenos Aires, 2013 and the second has not yet been published.
Yoel Ben Arye
Jerusalem 2015