On Monday, March 29, the McAnulty College of Liberal Arts and the Office of the Provost of Duquesne University will sponsor a public talk by Dr. Mary C. Boys, S.N.J.M.. Dr. Boys’ talk is entitled, “Interpretations of the Passion and Death of Jesus: Implications for Jewish-Christian Relations.” Her talk will be followed by a short response by Rabbi Alvin Berkun of the Tree of Life Synagogue (Pittsburgh). The discussion period will be moderated by Dr. William Thompson-Uberuaga (Department of Theology, Duquesne).

This event is jointly hosted by Duquesne’s Center for Interpretive and Qualitative Research (C.I.Q.R.), the Jewish Faculty Federation (JFF), and Campus Ministry and has been arranged in collaboration with The First Century Project, an interfaith coalition in Pittsburgh.

The controversial film, The Passion of the Christ, is scheduled for release in Pittsburgh on February 25, Ash Wednesday. This movie has created quite a stir already in the public media with some critiques already appearing in Time, The New Yorker, and the New Republic. The February 16th edition of Newsweek has a cover story on this film. A panel of both Jewish and Christian scholars was invited to preview the movie in August 2003 and have publicly commented on the level of violence and the film’s problematic portrayal of the Jews. Most Christian viewers may not perceive anything amiss with the movie’s depiction of the Jews and may be confused by the controversy that this film has been generating. Dr. Boys’ talk, “Interpretations of the Passion and Death of Jesus: Implications for Jewish-Christian Relations” will unpack some of the serious issues that this movie raises for both Jewish and Christian communities. Dr. Boys’ will not be giving a review of the film, but rather discussing the key interpretive and historical issues that are raised by the film. Therefore, it will not be necessary for you to have viewed the film before her talk.

Dr. Boys is the Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary and currently serves as an adjunct member of the faculties at Jewish Theological Seminary of America and of Teachers College, Columbia University. Prior to her appointment at Union, she taught for seventeen years at Boston College. Dr. Boys has published four well received monographs on the topic of Jewish-Christian relations, the most recent one is entitled, Has God Only One Blessing? Judaism as a Source of Christian Self-Understanding (2000). Dr. Boys has also published numerous articles and has served on the boards of the Tanenbaum Foundation for Interreligious Understanding, the Suenens Foundation, the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University, and the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Dr. Boys received her graduate degrees (MA and PhD) from Columbia University-Union Theological Seminary and has been a member of the Sisters of the Holy Names (S.N.J.M.), a congregation of Roman Catholic women, since 1965.

Rabbi Alvin Berkun will respond to Dr. Boys’ presentation. Rabbi Berkun was most recently featured in the Pittsburgh Catholic (February 1, 2004) and in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in articles discussing the recent interfaith concert at the Vatican. He has been a prominent figure in the area of Jewish-Christian relations in Pittsburgh for many years and has shared the podium with Dr. Boys in previous settings. The talk will be moderated by Dr. William Thompson-Uberuaga (Theology, Duquesne) who was one of three keynote speakers at the recent interfaith conference, “Authority, Leadership and the Quest for Peace: An Inter-religious Conference,” held in Mishkenot Sha’ananim, Jerusalem, Israel (Summer 2003).

This event is scheduled from 10AM until noon in the Duquesne Room of the Student Union Building. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome; please encourage your fellow colleagues and students to attend.

Dr. Boys’ lecture at Duquesne University is one of a number of events that has been organized by the interfaith coalition, The First Century Project. On Sunday, March 28th, traditionally known by Christians as Passion Sunday, Sixth Presbyterian Church, Squirrel Hill will host a panel discussion at 3:00-5:30 PM (free and open to the public). Dr. Boys, S.N.J.M., Rev. Dr. Peter Pettit, Lutheran Pastor and Director of the Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, and Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn, former director of Interfaith Relations of the Anti-Defamation League, B’nai B’rith will participate in a panel presentation. Both Boys and Korn were on the original group of scholars who reviewed the movie script; Korn viewed a screening of the movie last August in Houston. Dr. Pettit has helped draft an ELCA (Lutheran) cautionary statement about the movie.

The organizers of The First Century Project would like to announce that in addition to the panel presentation on Passion Sunday, other universities in the Pittsburgh area have organized events* that may be of interest:

On Monday, March 29th, at 7PM, Seton Hill University will host a forum in Lynch Lecture Hall (L101), “Mel Gibson’s Movie ‘The Passion of the Christ’” and on Wednesday, March 31 at 7:30 PM, “Presentation on Images of the Jews in ‘Jesus’ Films” in the Administration Building Room 206.

On Monday, March 29th, from 2:30-4:30 PM, The Honors College and the

Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pittsburgh will host a joint

presentation by Dr. Mary Boys and Dr. Peter Pettit at the William Pitt Union, Kurtzman

Room. For more information, contact 412-624-7880 or 412-624-5990.