Ingen kan bli frelst uten gjennom jesus Kristus, lærer Den katolske Kirke, men den er nokså mht å forklare hvordan de som ikke har hørt om Jesus skal oppnå denne frelsen – og om hvordan jødene skal bli omvendt til ham. Dette siste ble diskutert en del for et par måneder siden, da pave benedikts andre bind om evangeliene «Jesus fra Nasaret» kom ut. John Allen skrev slik om dette da:
… another point with important (from the book has) implications for Christian/Jewish relations — in effect, that Christianity “must not concern herself with the conversion of the Jews.” The comment comes in Benedict XVI’s book Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, the full text of which was released today.
While the pope does not affirm a theory propounded by some theologians holding that the Jews will be saved independently of Christ, experts say, he does clearly suggest the church should not be targeting Jews for conversion efforts.
“Israel is in the hands of God, who will save it ‘as a whole’ at the proper time, when the number of Gentiles is full,” the pope writes. The historical duration of this “proper time,” Benedict says, cannot be calculated. …
Allen viser videre i denne artikkelen til at dette spørsmålet er ganske komplisert:
… Almost ten years ago, the late Cardinal Avery Dulles was critical of a joint statement from the National Council of Synagogues and the Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference to the effect that “targeting Jews for conversion to Christianity” is “no longer theologically acceptable in the Catholic Church.”
Dulles replied that the church cannot curtail the scope of the gospel without betraying itself: “Once we grant that there are some persons for whom it is not important to acknowledge Christ, to be baptized and to receive the sacraments, we raise questions about our own religious life,” he wrote.
Subsequently, the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine issued a clarification in 2009 that most experts regarded as largely upholding the position taken by Dulles. Its conclusion was, “The fulfillment of the covenants, indeed, of all God’s promises to Israel, is found only in Jesus Christ.”
Capuchin Fr. Thomas Weinandy, executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Doctrine, cautioned that Benedict XVI’s lines on Judaism in the new book do not endorse a “two-covenant” theology, meaning that Christianity and Judaism represent two parallel paths to salvation, so that Jews are saved without any reference to Christ.
At the same time, Weinandy said, the pope’s words do clearly indicate that “there’s no specific program that the Catholic church has to convert Jews, which is in God’s time.”
Rabbi Jacob Neusner, a Jewish scholar whose Biblical writings have been praised by Benedict XVI, said the pope’s conciliatory statements about Judaism in Jesus of Nazareth are all the more powerful because they’re grounded in scholarship rather than mere inter-faith diplomacy. “He’s talking about truth, not about convenience,” Neusner said.