Review

Prepared by Dr. Christine Butterill, Dean Emeritus of Studies,
St. Paul’s College, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Winnipeg Bat Kol Tri-Diocesan Committee Celebrates the 60th Anniversary of “Nostra Aetate.”

February 2025

On January 31^st– February 1^st, 2025, to mark the 60^th Anniversary of the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate (“In Our Time”), the Winnipeg Bat Kol Tri-diocesan Committee (founded in 2008) in collaboration with the Jesuit Center for Catholic Studies at St. Paul’s College (U of Manitoba), hosted a Symposium on Inter-Religious Dialogue. Its purpose was to explore Nostra Aetate’s 60 year impact, and the work of interfaith dialogue pioneer André Chouraqui (1917-2007). Those in attendance participated in three presentations by the renowned author and scholar in the field of Jewish-Christian Dialogue, Dr. Murray Watson (Theology faculty, Huron University College). The Committee organized this event to promote the work of Bat Kol and enrich its long association with Bat Kol Winnipeg activities going back to 2008.

Bat Kol is a Hebrew phrase that means “Daughter of a Voice”. The Bat Kol Jerusalem website notes, “She is the Daughter of God’s Voice and her dwelling places range from the loftiest heights of human thought to the lowest of hearts on earth.” The Bat Kol Institute was born out of the call of the Vatican II document, Nostra Aetate, to address the relationship between the Christian church and the Jewish people. Dr. Maureena Fritz, Sister of Sion and professor emeritus of St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, made it her mission within Christian education to promote the teachings of the church as they evolved from Nostra Aetate. The Bat Kol Institute was founded in Toronto in 1983 and its central office was moved to Jerusalem in 1992 to encourage Christians to study the Bible using Jewish sources within its Jewish milieu.

Session 1: Recalling the Radicality of Nostra Aetate: Where are we, 60 years later?

Nostra Aetate is the shortest of the 16 documents promulgated at the Second Vatican Council yet remains one of the most theologically significant. Its radical declaration on non-Christian religions has over the years promoted dialogue with all faiths whether Hinduism, Buddhism, or the Abrahamic faiths of Islam and Judaism.

On Friday evening, Dr. Watson spoke to the question, ‘Nostra Aetate’: Where are we 60 years later?’ He reminded the audience of Pope John XXIII’s revision of the Good Friday prayer in 1959 which struck off the adjective “Perfidious” applied to the Jews for much of previous history; Pope John’s call for a Vatican Council; his promise to French Jewish historian Jules Isaac to include mistaken Christian ideas about Jews on the Council agenda; the little known role of the Sisters of Sion who educated and urged especially the French bishops on the importance of Nostra Aetate; and Pope Paul VI’s follow-up with seeing the Vatican II Council to completion. Watson then reviewed a brief history of the document’s major points:

• The Condemnation of antisemitism that rejects antisemitism and the deicide charge that Jews killed Jesus; 
• The Rejection of Supersessionism, a Christian doctrine that claims the Christian Church has replaced the Jewish people as God’s chosen people.  Also known as replacement theology or fulfillment theology, Supersessionists believe that the New Covenant through Jesus Christ replaced the Mosaic covenant; 
• The Respect for other religions that affirms the Catholic Church’s respect for the spiritual, moral, and cultural values of other religions; 
• The Dialogue between religions which calls for respectful dialogue and theological inquiry between the Catholic Church and other religions; 
• The Recognition of Judaism that acknowledges the legitimacy of Judaism and the spiritual bond shared by Jews and Catholics; 
• The Rejection of seeking baptism of Jews which expresses no interest in baptizing Jews; 
• The Recognition of the Jewish roots of Christianity;
• The Respect for the spiritual legacy of other religions which affirms that the Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in other religions. 

Considered controversial and revolutionary at the time, Watson remarked that six decades later the Christian world has and continues to change because of respectful listening and dialogue.  All this, considering the risks, both theological and geopolitical, the pope and bishops took in issuing Nostra Aetate. To expand their knowledge attendees were given a full page bibliography of sources on ‘Nostra Aetate and its development’ prepared by Dr. Watson (see the Nostra Aetate TAB on this webpage).

Session 2: André Chouraqui: The Interfaith Pioneer No One Has Heard Of

Saturday’s morning session featured Dr. Watson speaking about ‘André Chouraqui (1917-2007): the Interfaith Pioneer, no one has heard of!’  Chouraqui is known for having translated into French, in a highly individualistic way, the holy texts of the three monotheistic religions: the Scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Watson gave a background of Chouraqui’s career and work over his lifetime. From 1935 he studied both Law and Rabbinical Studies in Paris. During World War II he laboured in the French Underground exchanging ideas with philosopher Albert Camus and historian Jules Isaac. A lawyer and, later, a judge in the district of the Algiers Court of Appeal (1945–1947), Chouraqui became a Doctor of Law in 1948 (University of Paris). He was founding President of the Alliance Française of Jerusalem, President of the Israel Interfaith Committee, President of the Israeli Film Institute (Reginald Ford Foundation), and President of the Movement for a Middle East Confederation.

As member of the Executive Committee of the World Congress of Religions for Peace (1974–1983), Chouraqui took an active part in interfaith movements, and was active in the development of cross-cultural friendship, especially for fraternization between Jews, Christians and Muslims, through personal action.

Chouraqui was an eye-witness to other momentous events of the 20^th century as an Algerian-French-Israeli politician, diplomat, interreligious activist, and translator. He was an influential figure in Israeli politics and tireless worker developing modern interfaith relations, yet today his work is little known. As a scholar he had studied the works of Maimonides, that influential Torah scholar of the Middles Ages. He understood Martin Buber’s I & Thou philosophy of dialogue.

His fluency with languages – Arabic, Hebrew/Aramaic, and French enhanced his skillful work in translating the 3 Abrahamic religions’ sacred texts: the Qur’an, Torah and New Testament into French. The day Nostra Aetate was voted on and approved (28^th Oct. 1965) Chouraqui was the guest of Pope Paul VI in Rome. He worked side by side with Dr. Rene Cassin one of the authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Paris, 1948). His ‘shuttle diplomacy’ helped lay the foundations for the 1979 Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. In June 1977 Chouraqui was awarded a gold medal by the French Academy for his literary work. Jerusalem honoured him by naming a square after him in 2021. Watson stressed in this session that, “Our gathering here this weekend is a direct result of the work of those first interfaith organizations in France almost 80 years ago.”

Session 3: The Chouraqui Bible: A Unique Resource for Christians to Appreciate the Fundamental Jewishness of Jesus and the New Testament

Following this rich excavation of who Chouraqui was, on Saturday afternoon, Dr. Watson offered a closer look at ‘the Chouraqui Bible: a Unique Resource to appreciate the Jewishness of Jesus  and the New Testament.’ Chouraqui’s command of languages and use of his literal method of translating has earned him a special place in history. To arrive at his French annotated translation of the Bible, he would work with translations side by side to produce clearer meaning of the Hebrew. He would work with semantics in the Judeo-Greek and double-up on using verbs and nouns which had earlier been ‘weeded out’ to achieve smoother grammar by English or other translations. For example Chouraqui would say “I have desired with desire…” J’ai désiré désirer (Luke 22). Or, ‘..they trembled with great trembling…” (Mk4:41). He animated ‘The Beatitudes’ (Mk5:1-12) with “En marche!”, a term of encouragement to act (Rise up! Or, Let’s get going!) instead of giving a simple list of the Beatitudes. He always sought to bring out the fundamental Jewishness of Jesus and other characters of the New Testament.

Adding to our knowledge and his insightful 2 days, breaks during this symposium gave the audience the chance to view the ten volume display of the Chouraqui Bible and Commentaries, as well as, have Dr. Watson sign their copies of his book, Restoring the Gospels’ Jewish Voice (2023).

Bat Kol’s mission is richer for his efforts. Watson stressed that Chouraqui continues “…to help educate Christian minds and facilitate interreligious dialogue and understanding. His ideas have prompted us to seek and understand… and perhaps ask…What is God asking of me now?” Clearly we have come a long way in these past 60 to 80 years!

At left:
Group at Winnipeg celebrations of
Nostra Aetate.
left to right. Br. Camile Légaré, Julien Fradette,
Murray Watson,
seated. Chris Butterill, Vicky Adams

below. The Chouraqui Bible and other
André Chouraqui publications