Has the Vatican forgotten St Augustine?
SIR – Your report, “No institutional mission to Jews” (December 18), is welcome but (as also in much media reporting of the recent Vatican document) omits a significant part of the story. The new document, far from being a “breakthrough”, is actually a return to apparently forgotten medieval practice based on Augustine’s interpretation of Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Augustine taught at length that there should be no proselytising of Jews – especially in his book Against Faustus the Manichaean – and this teaching was followed by many medieval popes (often to the irritation of less theologically informed bishops). Whether or not those who drafted the present document were aware of this important teaching of the Church from at least the early 5th century, the fact that it is not mentioned in the document indicates at best a cavalier and sadly misleading attitude to the history of theology and Catholic practice. Yours faithfully, John Rist (Professor) Cambridge
