James E. Wood

Theological and Historical Foundations of Religious Liberty

The emergence of religious liberty as a valid principle, as one of those axiomatic commitments that is almost universally rec ognized, is surely one of the major achievements of our time. In spite of the fact that there is overwhelming evidence to indicate that religious liberty is far from being a reality in much of todays world, perhaps nowhere fully realized, religious liberty has become a normative principle for almost all nations, and, conversely, the denial of religious liberty is virtually everywhere viewed as morally and legally invalid. Consequently, guarantees of religious liberty presently appear in most national constitu tions throughout the world, including those governments com mitted to atheism or irreligion. While religious liberty can hardly be said to be descriptive of conditions as they are in many countries throughout the world today, there is profound sig nificance to be found in that the concept of religious liberty has come almost universally to have normative value. Despite this universal commitment to religious liberty, there is no univeral consensus as to its basis, either between religion and secularism or among the great world religions themselves. Modern man while categorically advocating religious liberty has remained largely oblivious to its philosophical or religious bases, as well as its historical roots.

A Selected and Annotated Bibliography on Jewish-Christian Relations

Abrahams, Israel. Jewish Life in the Middle Ages. New York: Meridian Books, 1958. Many printings have appeared since this work was originally published in 1896 by a renowned scholar. A panorama of the little-known, rich, social, and cultural life of the Jews during this period. . Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1917-1924. Originally designed as an appendix to C. G. Montefiores commentary on the synoptic gospels, this work profoundly altered scholarly under standing of the character and development of the Pharisaic movement.