ABSTRACT
Authentic interfaith dialogue is, historically speaking, a new phenomenon. Ironically birthed by the Holocaust, this dialogue was initiated by two conferences, the second of which had world-wide impact. The International Emergency Conference on antisemitism was held in Seelisberg, Switzerland, in 1947. Participants included Jews, Protestants, and Catholics. Jules Isaac, the pre-eminent Jewish-French historian who lost most of his family in the Holocaust, and whose own life was saved by a Christian family who hid him, was a notable participant. Interfaith in the American cultural context emerged from a complex mix of events, three outstanding among them. First, post-war America continued its embrace of religious pluralism, the embryo of which began during the Second World War and which led eventually to the founding of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ). Christianity’s Teaching of Contempt for Jews and Judaism, coupled with its triumphalist theology, rendered authentic dialogue impossible.
