Abstract
Moderated by William McDonough, S.T.D., Associate Professor of Theology / Coordinator, M.A. in Theology Program, St. Catherine University
Mary C. Boys, Ph.D.
Dean of Academic Affairs / Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology, Union Theological Seminary
Mary C. Boys is dean of academic affairs and Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, where she has taught for twenty years, and is an adjunct faculty member of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, also in New York City. She previously served for seventeen years on the faculty of Boston College. Having received her master's and doctoral degrees from Columbia University in a joint program with Union Theological Seminary, Dr. Boys did advanced study at the Ecumenical Institute for Theological Research in Jerusalem, Israel, and received honorary doctorates from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Catholic Theological Union, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Gratz College. She is the author of six books, including Educating in Faith: Maps and Visions (1989), Has God Only One Blessing? Judaism as a Source of Christian Self-Understanding (2000), and Redeeming Our Sacred Story: The Death of Jesus and Relations between Jews and Christians (2013). She also has edited four books and published nearly 100 articles in scholarly and popular journals. A Seattle native, she has been a member since 1965 of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
Ruth Langer, Ph.D.
Professor of Jewish Studies / Associate Director, Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, Boston College
Ruth Langer is professor of Jewish studies in the theology department and associate director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College. She received rabbinic ordination in 1986 and a Ph.D. in Jewish Liturgy in 1994 from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. The current chair of the Council of Centers on Christian-Jewish Relations, she has for many years been co-editor of the council’s electronic scholarly journal Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations. Dr. Langer is the author of many scholarly articles and book chapters and her own book Cursing the Christians? A History of the Birkat HaMinim (2011) combines her two major scholarly interests: the development of Jewish liturgy and Jewish-Christian relations. This volume traces the transformations of a Jewish prayer that was, in its medieval forms, a curse of Christians, from its putative origins in the early rabbinic period, through its censorship by the church, into an inoffensive prayer that asks God to rid our world of evil. Dr. Langer is also the author of To Worship God Properly: Tensions between Liturgical Custom and Halakhah in Judaism (1998), the co-editor of Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue (2005).