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Seton Hall University
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Research and Publication


The Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies has been fostering a positive understanding of Judaism and the Jewish people and promoting mutual Jewish-Christian understanding through scholarly research and publications since its inception.

Online Archive

In addition to the numerous articles and monographs published in both English and German by our founder since our earliest days, the Institute began publishing The Bridge. This is a series of five volumes of research in various areas of Catholic-Jewish relations by noted scholars and theologians from 1955 to 1970.

When The Bridge series concluded, the Institute broadened its research interests and founded Teshuvah Institute Papers at Seton Hall University. These papers have built critical academic bases for Jewish-Christian awareness and encounters among Jewish and Christian specialists in biblical exegesis, theology, history and sociology for more than 40 years.

All five volumes of The Bridge and most of the Teshuvah Institute Papers can freely be assessed from our online archive or eRepository here. Our eRepository collection has nine other series that feature current lectures and historic work including photographs, videos and audio recordings.

Special Archives

When the Institute’s founder, Monsignor John M. Oesterreicher, died on April 18, 1993, he willed his personal library in several languages and the archives of the Institute to the Walsh Library at Seton Hall University, which is now housed in the Monsignor William Noé Field Archives and Special Collections Center.

 In addition to The Monsignor John M. Oesterreicher Collection, the Institute has added four important additional collections of papers and publications by:

  • The late Dr. Michael Wyschogrod, former head of the Philosophy Department at Baruch College of the City University of New York, former Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Houston and author of The Body of Faith: God and the People Israel and Abraham's Promise: Judaism and Jewish-Christian Relations. Active in Jewish-Christian dialogue for more than 60 years, Dr. Wyschogrod’s extensive collection of papers and books emphasize Jewish involvement in dialogue with both Catholics and Protestants.

  • The late Reverend Edward H. Flannery, the first Executive Secretary for the United States Catholic Conference, former President of the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel and author of The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-Three Centuries of Antisemitism. Father Flannery devoted his life to the reconciliation of Christians and Jews and his papers constitute an important resource for the Catholic contribution to Jewish-Christian relations.

  • The late Reverend Nancy Forsberg, minister of the First Congregational Church - United Church of Christ in Union, NJ, and one of the founders of the Union Interfaith Committee on Holocaust Awareness and life time member of Hadassah. The Reverend Forsberg's papers offer a special insight into Protestant-Jewish relations from the 1960s -1980s.

  • The Jeifa Family Collection dates from 1907 to 1947 and consists of articles, ephemera, photographs, and personal documents relating to the Jeifa family's life before and after the Holocaust. The majority of the materials are in French, with occasional occurrences of German, English and Hebrew. The collection was primarily assembled by Michel Jeifa, and the majority of the materials pertain to him and his parents Bernard and Adele Jeifa. This collection shows aspects of the Jeifa family’s life before the war, such as Bernard Jeifa’s business cards and pre-war photographs, as well as evidence of the persecution and tragedy they experienced during the war, such as a sign used to identify their business as being owned by Jews, deportation orders for Bernard and Adele and false identification documents used by Michel to avoid arrest.

Areas of study of the Institute’s archives include: 

  • the European scene in the 1930s and later
  • antisemitism and the Shoah (Holocaust)
  • Christian-Jewish relations and the State of Israel
  • the Second Vatican Council and its aftermath
  • European and American scholars and thinkers who fostered Christian-Jewish amity

Resources not only include scholarly essays, articles and books, but also the theological and personal reflections of Monsignor Oesterreicher, Father Flannery, Dr. Wyschogrod and the Reverend Forsberg at various stages in their careers as well as the Schemata and other materials relating to the Council’s statement on The Church’s Bond with the Jewish People (Nostra Aetate, No. 4).

Our Impact

We have laid the academic foundations necessary for Jewish-Christian understanding and appreciation among countless specialists in biblical exegesis, theology, history and sociology throughout the world as well as among students, teachers and the general public by:

  • Publishing more than 100 scholarly articles through our two publication series beginning with The Bridge from 1955 to 1970 and continuing with Teshuvah Institute Papers from 1970 through the present.

  • Authoring, translating or editing more than 20 books, which have been published in Dutch, English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.

  • Writing more than 200 essays and articles, which have been published by the Institute and in various books, journals, encyclopedias, magazines and newspapers.

  • Providing scholars and students an exclusive opportunity to investigate one-of-kind publications and resources that cover the history of Judaeo-Christian studies and Jewish-Christian relations in Europe and the U.S. over the past century through our unique archive collections from Jewish, Catholic and Protestant scholars, theologians and activists.

Read the selected scholarly works of the Institute's current director, Lawrence E. Frizzell »