working for the unity of the church and the wholeness of communities through collegiality, collaboration, and connectedness
Download or order our new book, The Root Is Holy
Register for an upcoming text study or sermon workshop
Dismantling antisemitism is work for Christians to do. Because Christians have perpetuated this form of oppression for centuries, so must we be the ones to end it. To do that, we first must reckon with the ways antisemitism has lived within our traditions and even inside ourselves.
Reckoning with Antisemitism as Christians, co-founded by Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania and the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, provides support for Christians of all denominations to wrestle with the complex legacy of antisemitism in the Christian tradition, and offers practical tools for clergy and lay leaders to dismantle antisemitism in their communities.
Our inaugural program in June 2024, “Reckoning with Antisemitism as Christians,” featured three Christian leaders who shared their journeys to understanding that anti-Jewish perspectives have distorted the Christian tradition and their work to undo this oppression in their own lives and walks of faith. Our second program in November 2024, "Reckoning with Antisemitism: Listening to Jewish Voices," brought contemporary and historical voices of our Jewish neighbors into the conversation, helping us understand the impact of antisemitism on our community. In spring 2025, we offered a series of text studies, equipping Christian leaders to wrestle with complicated texts from the Christian Bible.
Throughout the 2025-2026 program year, we continued to encourage Christians to see, confront, and disrupt antisemitism in themselves and their faith communities, and to move into renewed relationship with Jewish neighbors. We continue to explore Biblical texts, and challenge preachers to reckon with antisemitism from the pulpit. We offer micro grants to bring Jewish and Christian neighbors into relationship. We invite Christian neighbors deeper into this journey of reckoning through introspection, dialogue, and action.
To stay connected to this project, please subscribe to our email list by completing the form below.
Get Your Copy of The Root Is Holy
The Root Is Holy: Reckoning with Antisemitism as Christians is a collection of 26 sermons and essays by Christian leaders from across Southwest Pennsylvania. The authors directly confront texts from the Christian Bible that have historically been used for harm, explore the Jewish context of the New Testament, and discuss their own personal stories of reckoning with antisemitism. It is a resource for Christian preachers and a conversation starter for Sunday School classes and small groups.
Choose from two options to receive The Root Is Holy. Both are free while supplies last! Complete the forms below to order a printed copy, or to download a PDF.
Reckoning with Antisemitism as Christians: Text & Topic Studies
We are kicking off our fall calendar with a program reflecting on our published sermon book, The Root is Holy: Reckoning with Antisemitism as Christians.
Join us on October 20th at 10am by Zoom to hear from two book contributors, Pastor Ryan Pusch and Rev. Charissa Howe. They’ll take us inside their process of preparing and preaching these sermons, from their initial ideas, through their research and writing, to their pulpit proclamation. We’ll explore the Gospel passages that inspired them, discover their motivation for tackling this challenging project, and find fresh inspiration for our own journeys of reckoning with antisemitism from the pulpit.
The hour will include plenty of time for our own discussion, questions, and sharing. If you love the craft of homiletics and want to compare notes with fellow preachers, this is a conversation for you! Please register here.
Accept the Preaching Challenge!
Christian Associates of Southwest PA and the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh are challenging preachers in our region to model reckoning with antisemitism from the pulpit: to give a sermon that reckons with ways that the scripture has been interpreted in anti-Jewish ways and reimagines readings of these texts that help us better love our neighbors.
The first collection of these sermons, The Root Is Holy, is now available.
Your sermon might:
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Reflect on your personal journey of reckoning with antisemitism in the Christian tradition
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Deepen your parish’s understanding of the Jewish context of the New Testament
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Connect specific interpretations of Christian texts to concrete antisemitic actions towards the Jewish community, across history and in the present day
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Name and explore the emotional experience (discomfort, anger, sorrow, defensiveness, deflection, etc) of wrestling with cherished scriptures that have nevertheless been used for harm
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and/or offer fresh readings of texts that move beyond the surface interpretations that have led to anti-Jewish perspectives taking hold in Christian communities
Sermons may be submitted as a text document, or as an audio or video recording. Essays, memoirs, newsletter articles, and other pieces of writing are also appropriate for submission. Send your submission to Liddy Barlow, lbarlow@casp.org.
Preachers whose pieces are selected for publication will receive a printed copy of the book; due to limited space, we may not be able to include all submissions.
