Sunday Gospel Commentaries

The weekly Sunday Gospel Commentaries are primarily written by the worldwide community of Bat Kol alumnae. Writers are requested to focus on the Jewish context of the Gospels. As an aid to this they pay special attention to these ecclesial statements:

“The Jews still remain most dear to God because of their fathers, for he does not repent of the gifts he makes nor of the calls he issues.” Nostra Aetate #4*

“The New Testament writings were never presented as something entirely new. On the contrary, they attest their rootedness in the long religious experience of the people of Israel…” The Jewish People #3*

“Without the Old Testament, the New Testament would be an incomprehensible book, a plant deprived of its roots and destined to dry up and wither.” The Jewish People #84*

“Our two traditions are so related that they cannot ignore each other. Mutual knowledge must be encouraged at every level.” Notes #35

“Jesus was and always remained a Jew.” Notes #20*

Sunday Commentaries Archives 


A Partial Bibliography

*Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration, Nostra Aetate, January 1975;
Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis of the Roman Catholic Church, 1985;
and, The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, 2002 .

The Ten Points of Seelisberg, 1947

Meier, J. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus 1991

Dunn, J. Jesus Remembered, 2003

Levine & Brettler, editors, The Jewish Annotated New Testament.

Crossan, J. The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Jewish Mediterranean Peasant. 1991

Levine, Amy-Jill. The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus, 2006

Vermes, G. The Authentic Gospel of Jesus. 2003