THE GRACIOUS AMBIGUITY OF GRACE AGUILAR (1816–47): ANGLO-JEWISH THEOLOGIAN, NOVELIST, POET, AND PIONEER OF INTERFAITH RELATIONS

Abstract

Grace Aguilar was an early nineteenth-century Anglo-Jewish writer who concerned herself with the reform of Jewish religion and its relationship to Christianity in her theological works, novels, and poetry. She was interested in challenging the ways in which Jews and Christians represented each other in their teachings, tried to present both perspectives on the vexed question of Christian mission to the Jews, and sought to demonstrate that the theological barriers constructed between the two faiths were often less immoveable than tradition would have it. As a female Jewish theologian writing well before her time, she offered a remarkably innovative conception of female spirituality that allowed her to cross and re-cross the boundaries between the Jewish and Christian religious cultures she inhabited. Any student of the history of Jewish-Christian relations is interested in Jewish views of Christianity. These views include ‘relational theologies’, that is, focused attempts by Jews to create a theological space for Christianity or to highlight the special relationship between Judaism and Christianity. As anyone familiar with the history of Jewish-Christian intercourse will know, such relational theologies have rarely been positive, and have tended to concentrate upon the construction and maintenance of the barriers that separate the two faith systems.1 Over the centuries Jews have traditionally regarded the Christian as the idolatrous oppressor who denies the unity of God, prays to saints, worships icons, and abrogates the Torah. The Christian is perceived to have misinterpreted the scripture and to be profoundly mistaken in claiming that the messianic age has begun. At best, Christianity has been understood as an instrument of God to help prepare the pagan world for the coming of the Jewish messiah, or to test the faith of his Chosen People. Against this backdrop, a positive, or constructive, or appreciative Jewish view of Christianity stands out starkly. In particular, positive relational * Professor of the History of Jewish-Christian Relations at the University of Manchester. Email: daniel. Association for Jewish Studies (BAJS) in Birmingham in 2005. 1 Some well-known studies that emphasise the antagonistic nature of Jewish and Christian conceptions of the other include: James Parkes, (London: The Soncino Press, 1934) Jules Isaac, 1st ed. (New York: Holt, 1964) Rosemary Radford Ruether, (New York: Seabury Press, 1974) Hans Joachim Schoeps, [1st ed. (New York: Holt, 1963) Edward H. Flannery, (New York: Macmillan, 1965), Franklin H. Littell, , 1st ed. (New York: Harper & Row, 1975) Marc Saperstein, (London: SCM Press, 1989) Joel Carmichael, , 1st U.S. ed. (New York: Fromm International Pub. Corp., 1992) Leon Sheleff, (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2004). 2 MANCHESTER JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES are often regarded by Jewish commentators as inauthentic, or heretical, or unJewish. 2 or historians such as Joseph Klausner,3 or writers such as Scholem Asch4 and Franz Werfel.5 And this raises a host of questions about the nature of appreciative Jewish theologies of relation. What historical, social and personal factors account for such a theological endeavour? How do different ideological assumptions and different methodological approaches affect the reception of such an attempt? At the heart of the matter lies the issue of authenticity and a sense that the line has been crossed. What is it about the generation of an appreciative theology of relation which appears to undermine the theologian’s Jewishness? Or to put it another way, does the brush with Christianity leave an enduring trace, and is it this which accounts for such suspicions? This is the context for the following discussion of the theology of Grace Aguilar. Rather than offer a literary analysis or historical contextualization of her writings, which can be found elsewhere,6 the focus here will be on the theological meaning and implications of her positive appreciation of Christianity and Christians for her conception of Judaism. In her precise nature of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. While she offers a positive appreciation of Christianity on many levels, we must acknowledge from the start her