The idea for this book arose out of the author's fifteen years of sustained engagement in Jewish-Christian relations. His purpose here is to speak about the practice of religious education in the church in which anti-Judaism is eliminated. O'Hare focuses on "the holiness of the religious community" which, he notes, can develop along triumphal, absolute, and exclusive lines. He suggests instead that "every time we unearth a defensive and xenophobic practice or pattern of speech in our religion and set it aside, we are doing something that adds to the health of our religious community, to its capacity to assist people to become holy."
Chapter 1 surveys what philosopher Jules Isaac calls the history of the "teaching of contempt"; chapter 2 deals with genuine religious pluralism and dialogue; chapter 3 is a short "Christology" devoid of triumphalism and exclusivism; chapter 4 focuses on religious education and its purpose to form holy people; chapter 5 is an appreciation of "the genius of Judaism," its world view and life; chapter 6 focuses on practice, including elements of a paradigm shift in religious education, principles for such practice, and select examples of programs of religious education for interreligious reverence, especially between Jews and Christians.
Padraic O'Hare teaches in the Religious Studies Department of Merrimack College, North Andover, MA, and is the author of The Way of Faithfulness: Contemplation and Formation in the Church, also published by Trinity Press.