Rabbi James Rudin’s book was previously reviewed by our Journal of Ecumenical Studies in Volume 57, which can be accessed HERE. Rabbi Rudin is also Sir James Rudin because he was honored by Pope Francis in 2022 with the Papal Knighthood of St. Gregory the Great for his decades of work building positive Catholic-Jewish relations worldwide. We are delighted to provide a second review of this important book by Joseph Stoutzenberger, Professor Emeritus, Holy Family University, Philadelphia, PA.
James Rudin (with contributions from David Rosen, Marvin R. Wilson, and Mary C. Boys), The People in the Room: Rabbis, Nuns, Pastors, Popes, and Presidents. Mesa, AZ: iPub Global Connection, 2022. Pp. 282. $21.99, paper; $12.99, Kindle. Visit the publishers’s website HERE.
In this book, Rabbi Rudin tells the story of Jewish-Christian relations since the 1960s. As Interreligious Director of the American Jewish Committee for thirty-two years, he is best suited to tell that story. His life before taking that position prepared him for his involvement with Christians. He grew up among Southern Baptists in Alexandria, Virginia. He later served as a chaplain in the United States Air Force, where he regularly interacted with Christian chaplains and service members of all denominations. His book provides an insider’s view of the major questions and crises faced by Jews and Christians during this period of groundbreaking developments in ecumenical relations.
Each chapter offers a relatively brief account of a particular incident in Jewish-Christian relations over the past sixty years and of the author’s pivotal role in addressing the problems and progress in relation to the incident. While he brings a gentle touch to his descriptions of the people involved, he is not afraid to speak the truth when hurtful misrepresentations exist. He has much to say about developments in Catholic teaching on Judaism following the 1965 Vatican Council II document, Nostra Aetate, which rejected the Antisemitism inherent in Catholic teachings. Rudin points out that, even afterward, the Catholic Church still demonstrated insensitivity, such as when a document on the Holocaust declared that some Christians collaborated with the Nazi agenda while others opposed it as if there were equal numbers on both sides.
This book is a memoir with substance. As the title suggests, during over thirty pivotal years, he was there in the room where Jews and Christians addressed issues between them, in particular when Christian groups misunderstood and misrepresented Judaism in often unintentional but hurtful ways. Rudin was a voice of sensitivity and common sense in whatever gathering he found himself, such as when a group was designing a nondenominational chapel at Camp David, and all the others thought nothing of having all but one stained-glass window depicting Christian themes. When a group of well-meaning Carmelite nuns built a monastery on the grounds of the concentration camp at Auschwitz, Rudin was instrumental in getting the monastery moved to a nearby location. He led a group to eliminate antisemitic tropes in the famous Oberammergau Passion Play and spoke out against Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ, in which Jews are presented as the evil ones while Jesus is being sadistically tortured. Rudin met with evangelical Christian leader Billy Graham, who was overheard discussing with President Nixon how Jews control the media in America—resulting in Graham’s apologizing for his insensitivity and misstatements. He worked with Mainline Protestants as well as Black Christian leaders, all of whom had different issues to deal with in their perspectives on Jews and Judaism.
This book cannot be read today without thinking about the current crisis between Israel and Palestine. Rudin did speak about the times years ago when he challenged Mainline Protestants who were critical of Israel but without addressing government policies. Concerned people today are trying to navigate how to bring peace to a region where conflicting interests collide and when criticism of the government is not necessarily antisemitism but, rather, a search for peace and justice serving the best interests of both groups. Rudin’s book offers insight into how differing groups can meet and talk in openness and goodwill. His book is a chronicle of the years he spent doing just that.
Joseph Stoutzenberger, Professor Emeritus, Holy Family University, Philadelphia, PA
