Opening the Covenant

A Jewish Theology of Christianity
Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-0-19-992620-6
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 300 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 459 g

The Vatican II Council of 1965 signaled a new era in the relationship of the Jewish and Christian faiths. Determined to free the Church of the anti-Jewish polemic which led to such widespread suffering of the innocent, Catholic authorities completely revised their conceptions of Jews and Judaism. Soon, many mainstream Protestant churches also issued a series of official statements that affirm the eternal nature of God's ancient covenant with Israel. An entirely
new category of theology emerged as part of the developing Jewish-Christian dialogue, and gradually Jewish theologians began to respond.

Opening the Covenant represents a significant advance in Jewish thinking about Christianity. Michael Kogan delves deep into the theologies of the two faiths to locate precise points of difference and convergence. He sees Christianity as the breaking open of the original Covenant to include Gentile peoples. God has brought this about, says Kogan, through the work of Jesus and his interpreters. If Christianity is a divinely inspired movement, then Judaism must reevaluate its
truth-claims. This will in no way compromise the truth of Judaism itself but will cause Jews to understand their own faith more fully by locating it in the larger context of God's universal redemptive plan.

Kogan calls for each tradition to receive the wisdom of the other as a means of self-understanding. Once each faith is freed to find God's purpose in the other, the way will be open to a liberating pluralism in which Jews and Christians come to see each other as Israelite siblings sharing a universal role as God's witnesses, the builders of God's Kingdom on Earth. Neither faith can do this world-redemptive work alone.

Kogan argues that an affirmation of one's own religion can still provide space for the truth of the "other," and presents a theory of multiple revelations of truth flowing from the one God of all.

Zielgruppe

Scholars of Christianity, Jewish Studies, Religious Studies; those involved in ecumenical dialogue.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kogan, Michael S.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Dialog & Beziehungen zwischen Religionen
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Sonstige Religionen Sonstige Religionen: Theologie, Doktrine
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction
1. Defining Our Terms
2. The Question of the Messiah
3. Three Jewish Theologians of Christianity
4. Affirming the Other's Theology: How Far Can Jews and Christians go?
5. The Forty Years' Peace: Christian Churches Reevaluate Judaism
6. Engaging Two Contemporary Theologians of the Dialogue
7. Into Another Intensity: Christian-Jewish Dialogue Moves Forward
8. Truth and Fact in Religious Narrative
9. Bringing the Dialogue Home
10. Does Politics Trump Theology? The Israeli-Palestinean Dispute Invades the Jewish-Christian Dialogue
11. Toward a Pluralist Theology of Judaism
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Michael Kogan is Professor of Religious Studies and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Montclair State University. He is an active participant in the Jewish-Christian theological dialogue.