Upcoming Seminars and Events

Online Seminars

The work of OCDJ is proceeding on the basis of regular online seminar discussions by Orthodox Christian theologians in consultation with our Jewish and ecumenical Christian partners.

Please get in touch (info@ocdj.net) if you would like to be involved and would like the Zoom link for these online seminars.

Autumn 2024

Our working seminars are resuming in autumn 2024, as we continue a series giving critical consideration to the contributions and legacy of key figures in Christian-Jewish dialogue over the last century.

Monday 4 November

With our guest Dr Gregory Glazov, Professor and Chair of Biblical Studies at Seton Hall University, we explored the writings of Monsignor John Maria Oesterreicher, Catholic theologian and a leading advocate of Jewish–Catholic reconciliation. He was one of the architects of Nostra Aetate, the declaration issued by the Second Vatican Council in 1965 which repudiated antisemitism.

Please get in touch for access to the recording.

Thursday 12 December

Led by OCDJ steering group members Inga Leonova and Svetlana Panich, we explored the theology and engagement with Judaism of the "Paris school" focusing on Fr Sergius Bulgakov and Mother Maria Skobtsova. The latter has been glorified as St Maria of Paris for her martyrdom in a Nazi death camp.

Please get in touch for access to the recording.

Fr Alexander Men

December date TBD

We will explore the life and legacy of Fr Alexander Men, Soviet Russian Orthodox priest, dissident, theologian, and biblical scholar, profoundly shaped by the Judaism of his family. He was murdered in 1990. Our discussion be informed by one of Fr Alexander's disciples.

Summer 2024

In June 2024 we presented our work to date at the Orthodox Theological Society in America’s annual meeting at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.

Later that month, a workshop at the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ) 2024 conference in Salzburg, Austria, discussed the work of the OCDJ so far.

Spring 2024

In the next phase of our consultations, we gave critical consideration to the contributions and legacy of key figures in Christian-Jewish dialogue over the last century.

Jules Isaac

Thursday 7 March

With our guest Dr Norman Tobias, we reviewed the work and legacy of the Jewish historian Jules Isaac (1877-1963) who played a decisive role in Jewish-Christian relations after the Second World War and continues to exert influence today

To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net

Communion in the Messiah

Thursday 18 April

Led by Fr John Jillions, we reviewed the work and legacy of Father Lev Gillet (1893-1980), the French Orthodox Christian priest whose prophetic book Communion in the Messiah, written in 1941, presents ongoing theological and ecclesiological challenges

To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net

Cardinal Lustiger

Thursday 2 May

Led by Rivka Karplus, we reviewed the work and legacy of Cardinal Aron Jean-Marie Lustiger (1926-2007), the “Jewish Cardinal,” whose determination to hold to his Jewish identity as a follower of Jesus has profoundly influenced theological reflection on the Jewish heart of the Christian Church

To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net

Winter 2024

On Saturday 3 February 2024, we held a public presentation and discussion of the motivations, paths forward, and aspirations of our project, led by several members of our steering committee, including:

  • Rev Dr Michael Azar, University of Scranton
  • Rev Dr Bogdan Bucur, St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
  • Inga Leonova, Editor-in-Chief, The Wheel journal
  • Svetlana Panich, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto

 

Autumn 2023

In the autumn of 2023, we held a series of seminars to review aspects of the work in Christian-Jewish dialogue and theological reflection of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches, considering how the process and shape of this work may inform our own Orthodox Christian consideration of similar issues and themes.

God's Unfailing Word

2 November 2023

We reviewed God's Unfailing Word, written by the Faith and Order Commission of the Church of England

To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net

Preaching and Teaching “With Love and Respect for the Jewish People”

22 November 2023

We reviewed Preaching and Teaching “With Love and Respect for the Jewish People”, written by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net

7 December 2023

We reviewed documents from Catholic-Jewish encounter and dialogue, including the watershed Nostra Aetate, a section from Lumen Gentium, and the 2015 document, “A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic-Jewish Relations on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate.”

To see the video of this seminar, please contact info@ocdj.net