CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) now has "suggestions" for fostering Lutheran-Jewish dialogue and cooperation. The ELCA Church Council adopted "Guidelines for Lutheran- Jewish Relations" when it met here Nov. 13-16.
The 37-member council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between meetings of the ELCA's Churchwide Assembly. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is August 16-22, 1999, in Denver.
The guidelines are an outgrowth of a "Declaration to the Jewish Community" which the council adopted in 1994. The declaration repudiated the anti-Jewish writings of Martin Luther and expressed "our urgent desire to live out our faith in Jesus Christ with love and respect for the Jewish people."
"We acknowledged one of the dark pages in our history," the Rev. Franklin E. Sherman, associate for interfaith relations in the ELCA's Department for Ecumenical Affairs, told the council. Now the guidelines will encourage local conversations to move beyond that point, he said.
"These guidelines have been issued so that those who desire to engage in interfaith dialogue might benefit from the experience of those who have gone before," says the document. "They are intended to provide practical assistance as well as the encouragement needed for a rewarding journey."
A controversial issue the ELCA's Consultative Panel on Lutheran- Jewish Relations encountered while drafting the guidelines involved mentioning the State of Israel, Sherman told the council. Jewish counterparts stressed the importance of recognizing the state, while Lutherans representing Palestinian interests did not want the guidelines to seem like an endorsement.
"Lutherans need to understand the depth of Jewish concern for communal survival, a concern shaped not only by the Holocaust but by centuries of Christian apathy towards Judaism," say the guidelines. "Jews will thus feel strongly about topics such as the security of the State of Israel, intermarriage and conversion, in which Jewish survival is seen to be at stake.
["Guidelines for Lutheran-Jewish Relations" will be mailed to ELCA
congregations in the January/February Action Packet. The 1994
"Declaration to the Jewish Community" is located at
http://www.elca.org/ea/jewish.html on the World Wide Web. Editors and
reporters only: For a copy of the guidelines, please contact Brenda
Williams, ELCA News & Information, 773-380-2963.]
For information contact:
Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Director (773) 380-2955 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
