The Development and Influence of Gregory Baum's Theological Thought on the Post-Vatican II Relationship Between Christians and Jews in Canada and Internationally
Bibliographic record
Abstract
This dissertation, supported by a prestigious Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship, examines the development and influence of Gregory Baum’s theological thought on the post-Vatican II relationship between Christians and Jews in Canada and internationally. Following Vatican II’s landmark declaration Nostra aetate, the Catholic Church formally committed itself to dialogue with non-Christian religions, especially Judaism. While much scholarship has explored the Council’s transformation of Jewish-Christian relations, less attention has been devoted to the Canadian context and to significant Canadian theologians who contributed to this shift. Gregory Baum (1923-2017), himself of Jewish origin and an instrumental figure behind the initial drafting stages of Nostra aetate, stands out as a seminal, yet underexamined, voice in this arena. Drawing on extensive archival research, a thorough analysis of Baum’s published works, and a critical review of secondary sources, this study traces Baum’s evolving theological perspective and active contributions to Jewish-Christian relations from the postwar era into the 21st century. It situates his insights and contributions within Canada’s distinct religious and social milieu, while also considering their resonance on the international stage. This contextualization reveals Baum’s impact, as well as the limitations of his influence in the area of Jewish-Christian relations. By examining whether his impact resonated more strongly at the Canadian level or on the international stage, and by measuring the lasting importance of his contributions, this study offers a comprehensive evaluation of his role in fostering Jewish-Christian understanding in the post-Vatican II era. The contribution of this dissertation is threefold: it enriches the historiography of Jewish- Christian relations by adding a comprehensive examination of Baum’s contributions; it highlights the unique Canadian dimension of interfaith organizations and dialogues; and it informs contemporary theological discourse by recovering a model of theological engagement that remains relevant amid ongoing efforts to foster religious pluralism, interfaith understanding, and resistance to antisemitism. Collectively, these findings position this dissertation as a key resource for those committed to understanding religious pluralism, encouraging interfaith engagement, and combatting anti-Jewish hatred.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.005 | 0.007 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.003 | 0.005 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.031 | 0.047 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.013 | 0.003 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.005 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".