Susan Talve and Carla Mae Streeter, Avoiding the Sin of Certitude: A Rabbi and a Theologian in Feminine Interfaith Conversations from Disputation to Dialogue. St. Louis MI, Central Reform Congregation and Aquinas Institute of Theology, 2020, 14 × 20 cm, xv-172 p., ISBN 978-0-57880-788-1

This book is the dialogue between its two authors, who both live in St. Louis, Missouri; one of them is a rabbi and the other one is a Catholic theologian. It is the outcome of twenty-eight years of conversations between them. The Introduction opens with several provocative questions, the first one being, “How does one disagree and not just ‘agree to disagree’?” (p. ix). The answer comes a bit later: “It is at this soul level that we truly dialogue? […] At this level we may not agree but we can hear and understand.” (p. 7-8)

The book enunciates sound principles of interreligious dialogue and spells out the authors’ living context: the reciprocal hospitality that they enjoyed at each other’s homes during their exchanges; the feminine consciousness – both are women – marked by a social agenda whose standard, they claim, is still male; the set of meanings and values, termed “the garment,” which each of the partners has received from her tradition; beneath the garment, the body (the laws, rituals and stories), which are relative to varying perspectives; in the body, the soul (the essence of the beliefs that animate persons); and the Soul of the soul (the greater whole thanks to which all humans are connected, namely the Mystery).

While the garment and the body are visible, the soul and the Soul of the soul are invisible. Consequently the sacred texts that refer to the garment and the body are not meant to be taken literally. The difference between the visible and the invisible throughout every tradition helps people recognize similar degrees of importance in various religious streams; as the rabbi correctly asserts, at the level of the Soul of the soul “we are One in the Mystery. We are not completely ‘other’.” (p. 8).

The writers insist on the centrality of listening to one another and to God, rather than engaging in confrontations whereby one would endeavour to consolidate one’s home turf. Listening in humility ensures that all are learning from each other and, as a result, that they enrich the understanding of their own tradition. The volume provides the readers with many instances of gaining knowledge about the other’s faith. To traditional narratives, its authors add some of their own, which fittingly update the traditional ones. Furthermore, they discuss quite a few other topics, such as suffering, salvation, proselytism or evangelization, sexuality, racism, and women in ministry.

A caveat: I am not sure that the title Avoiding the Sin of Certitude is adequate. Regrettably the authors’ construal of certitude is always negative, although I agree that certitude is at times a distortion of faith, which amounts to an idolatry in those who absolutize their religious opinions. For example, Streeter rightly states: “If we ever think we know it all we are in danger of falling into unwarranted certitude. Certitude is stopping too soon with too little.” (p. 105) And Talve rightly declares: “If our beliefs and our doctrines become so absolute, so certain, they do not leave space for the listening.” (p. 111) However, these two assertions are ambiguous. In this respect, to my mind the four steps taken from Lonergan (described on p. 101) apply to science and to common sense, but not to divine revelation, which is not the mere outcome of human experience, thinking and judging, according to the traditional Roman Catholic view and to the view of many Jews.

In my reading, what is missing in Talve’s and Streeter’s account is the distinction between truth and meaning. Insofar as truth is concerned, it is revealed by God and received by believers on the third level of human intentionality (faith’s assent); insofar as meaning is concerned, it consists in an appropriation of a tradition, which is ever moving forward on the second level of intentionality (theology). Moreover, adhesion to a revealed message requires a religious love, which Lonergan places on the fourth level of intentionality (the heart’s consent). Such a differentiation of various levels allows us to realize that we need a positive construal of certitude.

For Catholics and Jews who want to receive truth from God – truth that is dear to them –, is such truth negotiable? And are Talve and Streeter prepared to give up the several cases of convictions on which they have strongly agreed? So, doesn’t sincere and fruitful dialogue require a number of certainties (truths) that enable the partners to be flexible regarding the numerous meanings of those certainties? In other words, aren’t truths absolute, hence non-negotiable, and aren’t meanings relative, hence susceptible of being improved?

Despite this weakness about the partners’ exchanges, I would say that readers will find much wisdom in this book, with the advantage that most of it is an easy read. Entire sections are so helpful that they are worth pondering again. It is refreshing to hear each of these two voices – Jewish and Catholic – reinterpret her own tradition in the light of both the Scriptures and the contemporary need to overcome cultural, social and political biases. By doing so, they practise tikkun olam, that is, they repair our planet, which is in poor shape. I believe Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti (mentioned on p. 171 of Talve’s and Streeter’s book) amount to the Catholic version of this great challenge.