Christ and the Cross in Jewish Art and Literature
with Dr. Mark W. Weisstuch
Wednesdays, October 28, November 4, 11, 18, December 2, 9
6:30 – 8:00 PM
The Cross, representing the crucified Jesus, sits at the heart of Christian faith, symbolizing hope, resurrection, salvation and redemption. It also marks the hard border between Judaism and Christianity as for centuries it has inflamed Christian violence toward Jews who were identified as “Christ-killers.” Jews responded to the Cross with fear, disgust and hostility. Yet beginning in the late 19th century, Jewish artists, poets and novelists incorporated the image of the Cross and invoked a reclaimed Jewish Jesus as a symbol of Jewish suffering and an indictment of Christian anti-Semitic persecution of Jews.
Is the repurposing of the Cross a distortion of Jewish suffering and a diminishment of its Christian valences? How far can the sharing of fundamental religious symbols be stretched in the spirit of ecumenism? Are core symbols so iconic that recasting them in a foreign context serves to confuse meanings rather than illuminate understanding? Examine these questions through the work of visual artists like Marc Chagall and writers like Uri Zvi Greenberg and Sholem Asch.
Hortense Jordan Chair in Ethics
The Skirball Academy is currently offering classes virtually (over Zoom) for fall 2020.
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