Marchadour, Alain 1937-

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Marchadour, Alain 1937-

PERSONAL:

Born 1937.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Jerusalem, Israel.

CAREER:

L'Institute Catholique de Toulouse, Toulouse, France, dean of theology, professor of scripture; Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu, Jerusalem, Israel, superior.

WRITINGS:

Un évangile a découvrir: la lecture de la Bible hier et aujourd'hui, Centurion (Paris, France), 1978.

Mort et vie dans la Bible, Cerf (Paris, France), 1979.

Lazare: Histoire d'un récit, récits d'une histoire, Cerf (Paris, France), 1988.

L'Évangile de Jean: Commentaire pastoral, Centurion (Paris, France), 1992.

Les Évangiles au feu de la critique, Bayard/Centurion (Paris, France), 1995.

Procès de Jésus, procès des Juifs: éclairage biblique et historique, Cerf (Paris, France), 1998.

Genèse, Centurion (Paris, France), 1999.

Les Personnages dans l'Évangile de Jean, Cerf (Paris, France), 2004.

(With David Neuhaus) The Land, the Bible, and History: Toward the Land That I Will Show You, foreword by Cardinal Carlo Martini, Fordham University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Alain Marchadour has for a number of years been the superior of the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu in Jerusalem, Israel. The church is located on the eastern slopes of Mount Zion on a site where ruins from the first century can be found. The first Christian church was erected in the sixth century, and the Church of St. Peter is a monument to his triple rejection of Christ, an event foretold by Jesus when he said that Peter would deny him three times before the cock crowed. Just as Peter denied knowing Jesus for the third time, the cock did crow. "Galli-cantu" means cock crow in Latin, and a golden cock sits atop a cross on the current building.

An earlier Byzantine shrine dedicated to Peter's betrayal was erected on the spot during the fifth century, but was later destroyed by Muslim invaders. The Crusaders rebuilt the chapel and named it St. Peter's in Gallicantu. Beneath the church are carved-out chambers, and since the Catholic Church takes the position that the palace of Caiaphas was located on this site, the possibility exists that Jesus may have been imprisoned in one of these chambers.

St. Peter's is owned and managed by the Assumptionist Fathers, an order to which Marchadour belongs, and which was established in 1887 and named for the assumption of Mary, mother of Jesus, into heaven. St. Peter is considered to be the first pope. Peter became a martyr when Nero blamed the Christians for the burning of Rome. Peter asked that he be crucified upside down.

Marchadour has written a number of books, including studies on the Gospel of St. John. He wrote The Land, the Bible, and History: Toward the Land That I Will Show You with Jesuit priest David Neuhaus. Neuhaus also lives and works in Israel and is a professor of scripture at the Catholic Seminary of the Holy Land and at Bethlehem University. Neuhaus is an advocate for peace between Israelis and Palestinians and is an active participant in the dialogue between Catholics and Jews.

The two biblical scholars analyze the Promised Land as it appears in Catholic doctrine. They provide readings of both the Old and New Testaments and study long-standing Christian attitudes toward the Jews as landless people. In the second half of the book, Marchadour and Neuhaus focus on "Redemptionis Anno," the 1984 apostolic letter written by Pope John Paul II that addresses several themes with regard to the occupation of Israel by various peoples that include Christians, the biblical interpretation of the land, the effect Jewish claims to the region have had on Christian-Jewish and Christian-Muslim dialogues, and the peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians. The letter is included in the appendix. The authors address the renewal of Catholic thought following the Second Vatican Council. What becomes obvious in reading this volume is that it would be a complicated dilemma if Christianity proclaimed that it had taken advantage of the Jews, and that, therefore, the Jews are entitled to claim Israel, when the Muslims also lay claim to the land and have a history of their own in that land.

In reviewing the book for the Catholic News Service Online, Allan Wright wrote: "As Alain Marchadour and David Neuhaus so ably point out, it is difficult to hold together the strong attachment of the Jews to this particular piece of land with the intractable tensions it has caused among their Palestinian neighbors. What is required is a theological lens that will allow the Christian to imagine a future where the rights of both populations are respected. This book presents clearly the elements for creating such a lens."