 JoAnn Magnuson details her personal experience to the dialogue between Judiasm and Christianity.
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"I go around trying to talk up Israel and Jewish-Christian understanding," said JoAnn Magnuson, the guest speaker at "Understanding Christian Support for Israel." The event was organized by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning.
The Center's executive director, Philip Cunningham, spoke after Magnuson, and he joined her after the presentation to answer questions from the audience. Ruth Langer, the center's associate director, moderated the question-and-answer period.
Magnuson explored her personal relationship with the interfaith dialogue and other connections between Judaism and Christianity, and she addressed the history of conflict between the two religions.
She also discussed the Arab-Israeli conflict, although she admitted that due to time constraints she "really couldn't do it justice."
"I am motivated by the people who gave birth to my religion and my faith community," said Magnuson. She informed the audience that both her personal reasons for supporting the state of Israel and the Jewish people have to do with her view of the role Judaism played in the development of Christianity.
She explained that most of the people in the Gospels are Jewish, with the exception of a few Romans featured in the different books.
Magnuson saidthat Jewish people played an absolutely essential role in the early development of Christianity, but unfortunately, friction between the two religions developed over time.
While some of the early church fathers, men like St. Augustine, wrote beautiful things about God, Magnuso said they were significantly less kind when they discussed Jews.
She also discussed the impact of the passion plays, medieval plays depicting the death of Christ, which helped spread anti-Semitism in Europe. Passion plays were an "ingrained part of the culture," long before Mel Gibson made his film, The Passion of the Christ, she said.
"We have to give up the simple idea that all we have to do is sign treaties and give up more land," said Magnuson as she began her discussion of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Magnuson acknowledged the fact that the current situation in the Middle East is incredibly complex and needed to be studied carefully.
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