The Jewish Christian relationship: parent and child or siblings?

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The Jewish Christian relationship: parent and child or siblings?

Canon Guy Wilkinson CBE • Bristol

Whilst the Church of England from 1942 with the formation of the Council of Christians and Jews has issued numerous statements condemning antisemitism, it was not until 2019 that the C of E’s Faith and Order Commission published its formal guidance on how the C of E’s relationship with Judaism should theologically and practically be understood. ‘God’s Unfailing Word’ states that it should be understood from the perspective that ‘the Christian–Jewish relationship is a gift of God to the Church.’ I will look at the ‘Difficult history’ and the ‘Distinctive relationship’ which it considers. It should be emphasised that although there is an afterword by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, this is not a joint document, but one which represents the current view of the Church of England.

Guy Wilkinson has worked on aid programmes in Africa, and in the European Commission in Brussels. He then attended theological college, was ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1987 and served in several parishes before becoming Archdeacon of Bradford. He served as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s and C of E’s Inter Religious Affairs Adviser before serving as Inter Faith Adviser to the bishop of Salisbury and now to the bishop of Bristol. He is married to Tessa and they have five children.