Roy H. Schoeman (born in 1951 in New York City) is a Catholic and author who has converted from Judaism to the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. Due to his decision of faith, he gave up a career in the field of economics and is now devoted to the
Christian mission.
Life
Roy Schoeman's Jewish parents fled from
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
to New York, where he was born and grew up. He received his Jewish education from non-Orthodox rabbis such as
Arthur Hertzberg
Arthur Hertzberg (June 9, 1921 – April 17, 2006) was a Conservative rabbi and prominent Jewish-American scholar and activist.
Biography
Avraham Hertzberg was born in Lubaczów, Poland, the eldest of five children, and left Europe in 1926 with ...
and Arthur Green, who taught at a "non-denominational" rabbinical college in the United States. The charismatic-Hasidic rabbi
Shlomo Carlebach
Shlomo Carlebach ( he, שלמה קרליבך; 14 January 1925 – 20 October 1994), known as Reb Shlomo to his followers, was a rabbi, religious teacher, spiritual leader, composer, and singer dubbed "the singing rabbi" during his lifetime.
...
also influenced him.
He studied at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT) and
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
, where he received an MBA magna cum laude and lectured on marketing. In retrospect, he describes his childhood and youth as very religious, but he left this belief behind in the course of his career. He also speaks of a growing feeling of senselessness despite his success. He attributes his devotion to Christianity to the influence of
apparitions of the Virgin Mary
A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance by Mary, the mother of Jesus, or a series of related such appearances during a period of time.
In the Catholic Church, in order for a reported appearance to be classified as a Marian ap ...
. He counts the Carthusian priest
Marcellin Theeuwes among his Christian teachers.
[''Danksagung'', S. 9f., und ''Nachwort'', S. 299–304, in: ''Das Heil kommt von den Juden'' (2007).]
Today he gives lectures and appears as a conference speaker and on television shows in Christian media.
Religious theses
In his work ''The Salvation comes from the Jews'', Schoeman has detailed his views on the role of Judaism in Christian
salvation history
Salvation history (german: Heilsgeschichte) seeks to understand the personal redemptive activity of God within human history in order to effect his eternal saving intentions.
This approach to history is found in parts of the Old Testament writte ...
. He sees in Christianity the completion of Judaism and therefore invites Jews to become Jewish Christians and thereby to continue to cultivate Jewish culture.
In the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
he suspects diabolic influence and entertains the interpretation that this suffering is expiatory in preparation for the coming return of Christ (
parousia). He also traces the influence of
National Socialist
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
ideas on Arab rulers and warns of the influence of Muslim
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
.
Praise and criticism
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
Raymond Leo Burke praised Schoeman's book, ''Honey from the Rock'':
Schoeman's statements on the mission to the Jews were also criticized from various sides. Though Schoeman's statements are
philosemitic
Philosemitism is a notable interest in, respect for, and appreciation of the Jews, Jewish people, Jewish history, their history, and the influence of Judaism, particularly on the part of a Gentile, non-Jew. In the aftermath of World War II, the ph ...
, he has also been criticized by Jews for his interpretation of Judaism.
Publications
* Role of Judaism in salvation history, Steubenville, Ohio: Franciscan University of Steubenville, 2004.
* Salvation Is from the Jews, Ignatius Press, 2004, , German: Salvation comes from the Jews. God's plan for his people (Augsburg 2007).
* https://web.archive.org/web/20071029044625/http://www.christenundjuden.org///de/?item=589
* Honey from the rock. Sixteen Jews Find the Sweetness of Christ, Ignatius Press, 2007, .
* Judaism: from the Catholic perspective, London: Catholic Truth Society, 2008, .
References
External links
Schoemans Homepage salvationisfromthejews.comChannelon YouTube
* ''"Jews Demand Signs" An Interview with Roy Schoeman by Carl E. Olson'' (2007), o
ignatiusinsight.com* ''Interview with Roy Schoeman'' o
* ''Conversion Story'' o
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoeman, Roy
1951 births
20th-century American Jews
American Roman Catholics
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism
Harvard University faculty
Harvard Business School alumni
Living people
21st-century American Jews