Ecclesia & Synagoga: then and now

These images tell us something about the Today there is a move to redeem such images impact of art and image on our life of faith, to reflect the healing that has taken place in including our approach to Scripture. the relationship between Christians and Depicted in these sculptures is the Church’s over the past fifty years since the Second journey out of its antisemitic past into a new Vatican Council’s declaration . era of respect and reconciliation with the The image above right shows a sculpture Jewish people. The two figures represent commissioned by St Joseph’s University, Ecclesia and Synagoga, church and Philadelphia.2 Here Synagoga and Ecclesia sit . Note the differences between the side by side, turned toward each other in artworks. friendship and as equal partners in a position The figures pictured above left are from the that suggests the chevruta method of Torah Cathedral in Strausbourg1 and are typical of study, one holding the Torah scroll, the other those which appeared repeatedly in church the Christian Bible. A miniature of this statue architecture and manuscripts of the Middle was presented to at the 2015 Ages. Lady Ecclesia is upright, regal, Annual Conference of the International victorious, holding a cross and the Christian Council of Christians and Jews held in Rome Scriptures. By contrast, Lady Synagoga is for the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate. downcast, blindfolded, dishevelled, holding a Pope Francis himself blessed the original broken staff, the tablets of the Jewish Law artwork on his 2015 visit to the USA. This slipping from her hand. The message taught beautiful sculpture is the work of Joshua by the Church to the illiterate masses was Koffman: www.joshuakoffman.com very clear.

Photo credits: 1. Unknown artist, photo CC BY-SA 2.0 fr (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/fr/deed.en )] 2. The original artwork ‘Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time’ by Joshua Koffman was commissioned by Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia to mark the golden jubilee of the Second Vatican Council declaration, Nostra Aetate. More information: www.sju.edu; joshuakoffman.com