The Catholic Church and the Jews: Introduction To This Special Section of Shofar.

At a Western States Jewish Studies Association Conference in Tempe, Arizona a small group of Jewish and Christian scholars came together to discuss the implications of the release of the Vatican's "Statement, Dominus Iesus" in the year 2000. The first paper, written by Samuel Edelman, Director of Modern Jewish and Israel Studies at the California State University, Chico, was meant to offer the context of Christian/Catholic discussion over the last 60 plus years. This paper, "Supersessionism Rears Its Ugly Head," categorizes the Jewish-Catholic dialogue as one centered around ambiguity and ambivalence, pitting right-wing Catholic against left-wing Catholic in a behind-the-scene conflict in spite of the current Pope's public and positive embrace of Jews and Judaism in ways few in the Catholic Church have done since Pope John XXIII.