FAIRFIELD, CT--Ron Miller, Ph.D., scholar, author, professor of comparative religions, and chair of the Religion Department at Lake Forest College, Illinois, recently presented two public lectures during his visit to the Center for Christian Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. The lectures are a part of a series to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Nostra Aetate. The series is representative of the Center's ongoing efforts to encourage discussion and promote understanding on issues of interfaith dialogue. 

Left to right: David Coppola, associate executive director of the CCJU; Dr. Ron Miller, Dr. Karen Scialabba CCJU coordinator of programs and publications; and Barbara Jean Daly Horell Director of Campus Ministry.

On Friday, December 2, Dr. Miller spoke about his newly released book, Healing the Jewish-Christian Rift: Growing beyond Our Wounded History. The talk was held at the University's Pitt Center Boardroom and reflected his recent study of passages from the Gospel of Matthew in which he draws a distinction between the authentic voice of Jesus of Nazareth and the words of Matthew's community. “Context is vital to understanding truths in sacred texts,” he told his audience of students, faculty and staff. “I selected Matthew's Gospel as a focus for discussion of interfaith dialogue because it is paradoxically the most Jewish and the most anti-Jewish book in the Christian Testament and it contains the largest body of teaching material attributed to the historical Jesus.”

As an example of the importance of context in interfaith dialogue, he shared a story about an incident with his co-author, Laura Bernstein, a devout Jew trained in a Jewish seminary. Both had agreed that she would read and personally respond to passages of the New Testament in order to add more depth to their book, Healing the Jewish-Christian Rift. He was surprised at the level and depth of anti-Jewish bias that she discovered. “She found so much anti-Jewishness that she became very discouraged and did not even know if she could continue with the project,” he said. “And the irony in all of this,” says Dr. Miller, “is that Christians just don't see this.” 

He explained that on the surface, people tend to see things through their own lenses. On a deeper level, they allow their fears and insecurities to move them towards an enclave or “basement” consciousness. Dr. Miller added that when we “face the history in ourselves” and become educated in areas of stereotyping or prejudice, we stretch ourselves enough to “appreciate and incorporate a greater vision—one that embraces all of humanity as one family.”

The purpose of Dr. Miller's book is to help Christians recognize and deal with the anti-Jewish “spin” in some of the Christian stories by understanding its historical context while also facilitating Jewish dialogue about Jesus from within his original Jewish cultural and religious context.

Later that day, Dr. Miller presented a second lecture at the Jewish Community Center of the UJA Federation, Bridgeport, CT. Although this lecture also focused on his most recent book and the importance of context in understanding the truths in sacred scripture, the afternoon discussion delved more deeply into how interfaith dialogue should be approached, why some formats work better than others, and what leaders can do to ensure its success.

Dr. Miller emphasized that dialogue is not ordinary conversation – it is a discipline that unearths the neutral center in order to expose the common ground. He listed three key components needed for dialogue to take place: (1) Deep listening to the “other,” (2) a willingness to confront and transform personal deep-rooted prejudices, and (3) the courage to re-envision some of the things we tend to cherish and protect so it can be replaced by the greater good of understanding how to approach others in a fair and reasonable way.  “Dialogue leads to new interpretation,” said Dr. Miller. One challenge for Jews is to be open to the universal truths of Jesus' teaching “unsullied by the atrocities committed in his name,” and for Christians to “come to terms with anti-Jewish bias, put it into historical context, and teach new generations of Christians how to understand this material better.”

Dr. Miller's work in interfaith dialogue began with his doctoral studies at Northwestern University, where he did research in the area of comparative religions with a concentration in Jewish-Christian dialogue. As a professor of comparative religions for more than thirty-one years, he has contributed to the educational and academic community through his numerous books and articles, including The Hidden Gospel of Matthew (Skylight Paths), The Gospel of Thomas: A Guidebook for Spiritual Practice (Skylight Paths), Dialogue and Disagreements: Franz Rosenzweig's Contribution to Jewish-Christian Dialogue (University Press of America) and Wisdom of the Carpenter (Ulysses Press).

As an international leader in interreligious understanding, Dr. Miller founded Common Ground in 1975, a notable adult educational center for interreligious study and dialogue (www.cg.org). Currently, he is vice president of the Interreligious Engagement Project 21; a center devoted to furthering the engagement of religious and spiritual communities around the world with each other – and with secular agencies – in confronting critical issues facing the global community.