Redeeming Jesus’ Name: Reflections of a Ninety-Year-Old Nun Living in Jerusalem
Ebook
Having spent the majority of her ninety-plus years as a member of a religious order that defines its mission as "to witness in the Church God's faithful love for the Jewish people," and having lived in Jerusalem for over thirty years and become an Israeli citizen in 1992, Sr. Maureena Fritz delivers in this book a final testament. She appeals to her fellow Christians to recognize, honestly and humbly, that the roots of the antisemitism that has persisted throughout the history of the West are to be found in the New Testament itself and in the traditional Christian theology of "supersessionism"--i.e., Christian supremacy over Judaism and all other religions. She seeks to redeem the name of Jesus by recognizing that he was and remained a faithful, though critical, Jew and that the distinctive way that he calls his disciples to follow always remained "a way that is open to other ways." She endorses recent efforts by Christian theologians to forge a pluralistic Christology that will ground both commitment to one's own tradition and dialogue with others. Such an understanding of Jesus will enable the affirmation of the irrevocability and ongoing validity of God's covenant with Israel.
“In this book, Sister Maureena Fritz in her ninetieth year seeks to rethink the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. But she recognizes that this requires a new understanding of Jesus, i.e. a movement from belief in Jesus as the only way to God and salvation to an affirmation that Jesus is a way that is open to other ways. Under her skillful hands, Catholicism and Christianity are liberated to become the Gospel of Love and a worthy vehicle to bring the Kingdom of God—the goals which Jesus sought to achieve with his life. This revolution will go down in the history of all religions as one of the greatest examples of repentance and spiritual rebirth—as befits and honors a great living world religion.”
—Irving Yitz Greenberg, senior scholar in residence, Hadar Institute of New York and Jerusalem
“This is a book of witness. Maureena Fritz testifies to a new experience of Jesus as the revealer of a God who is an intimately loving presence to all. Only an uncompromising love of Judaism and Jews can help atone for the historical effects of the doctrine of Christian supremacy. Fritz tells us how we may begin.”
—Roger Haight, SJ, visiting professor of theology, Union Theological Seminary
“Who better than Sr. Maureena Fritz to set about Redeeming Jesus’ Name? Both her theology and her life are rooted in honesty, diligence, spirituality, and loyalty. This book is written by a true Jerusalemite, holding heaven and earth together in her unstinting gaze. In Hebrew we sometimes call her Rina, which means song. Redeeming Jesus’ Name is Maureena’s song.”
—Michael Marmur, former provost and associate professor of Jewish theology, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion
“Through a lifetime of witness and scholarship, Maureena Fritz has been a gift to her students, her colleagues and to the communities in which she has lived. With the same vitality she brought to seven decades of teaching and learning, she captures in this summative work the challenging appeal that Christians must humbly and critically transform the name of Jesus from obstacle to source of universal love. Redeeming Jesus’ Name is the compelling legacy of a wise woman who knows.”
—David G. Sylvester, president and vice-chancellor, University of St. Michael’s College
- Title: Redeeming Jesus’ Name: Reflections of a Ninety-Year-Old Nun Living in Jerusalem
- Authors: Maureena Fritz, Paul F. Knitter
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666759921, 9781666759907, 1666759902, 9781666759914, 1666759910, 1666759929
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666759921
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-07-20T11:26:58Z
Maureena Fritz, member of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, is professor emerita, Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, and former director of the English Language Sector of the Ratisbonne Pontifical Institute in Jerusalem. She is also founder of the Bat Kol Institute in Jerusalem, which is dedicated to the study of the word of God within its Jewish milieu. She is the author of a series of books entitled Praying with the Hebrew Scriptures. She lives in Jerusalem, and in 1992 she became an Israeli citizen.