The main focus of this lecture will be on Ambrose of Milan, spiritual father of St. Augustine and very influent on the theology of the Middle Ages.
He is well-known for his role in the so-called Callinicum-affair, in which he defended some Christians who burned a synagogue in Callinicum. Less research has been done on what he has written about the Jews. This lecture will first address his interaction with the Jewish community in Milan, as well as the context of his rhetoric against Jews. From there, we’ll move to Nostra Aetate and discuss how we deal with the history of Jewish-Christian relations.
Geert de Korte (1986) studied theology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. In 2009, he was appointed as a teacher of Religious Education and, in parallel started PhD-research on Ambrose of Milan and the Jews, which he hopes to finish within two years. In 2023, he was appointed as Israel representative for the Dutch Center for Israel Studies. In this role, he represents two Dutch churches in Jewish-Christian dialogue: the Protestant Church in the Netherlands and the Christian Reformed Churches. In his work for the Center for Israel Studies, he studies at the Fuchsberg Center, the Schechter Institute and Hartman Institute.