Episode 40 of the podcast comes to you with Steve Okey’s conversation with Philip Cunningham of Saint Joseph’s University. Prof. Cunningham was visiting Saint Leo to give a presentation on “Moving Toward Mutuality? Challenges in Catholic-Jewish Relations.” He was also named the 14th recipient of the Saint Leo Center for Catholic Jewish Studies’ Eternal Light Award, in recognition of his significant contributions to Catholic-Jewish relations. In this episode, Prof. Cunningham speaks about his early research into how Christian religious education material represented and misrepresented Judaism, on rethinking the Good Friday liturgy in light of anti-Semitism, and how Jewish-Christian dialogue might enable one to think more deeply about Christology. This episode was recorded on October 25th, two days before the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue.
Prof. Philip A. Cunningham is Professor of Theology and Director of the Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA. He earned his BA in History and MsEd from Fordham, his MA in religious education from LaSalle University, and his PhD in Religion and Education from Boston College. He is most recently the author of Seeking Shalom: The Journey to Right Relationship between Catholics and Jews (Eerdmans, 2015), and the co-editor of Christ Jesus and the Jewish People Today: New Explorations of Theological Interrelationships (Eerdmans, 2011) and The Catholic Church and the Jewish People: Recent Reflections from Rome (Fordham University Press, 2007).
Special thanks for this episode to Dr. Matthew Tapie, Director of the Center for Catholic Jewish Studies at Saint Leo University making the recording of this conversation possible.
#40 - Philip Cunningham