Christianity in Jewish Terms: A Project to Redefine the Relationship 2000 (original) (raw)

2000, CrossCurrents WINTER 2000/2001, Vol. 50, No. 4

Christianity in Jewish Terms is a theology offered both about and in response to Christian theologies that themselves arose from within, about, and in response to Judaism. It also recognizes that, since the dawn of Christianity, Jewish theologies have often been a response to Christianity In the past, these mutual influences have been obscured by a rhetoric of rejection. It is only recently that scholars and theologians have become aware of the almost symbiotic relationship between the two traditions. This Jewish theology is offered, moreover, in response to efforts by courageous Christians who, in the years since the Shoah, have exposed those aspects of their tradition that helped create Western antisemitism and who offered new Christian visions that affirm the rightful place of Jews and Judaism in the cosmic order. Our theological project has been dialogic in form, part of an ongoing history of responses to responses; in keeping with that theme, we introduce the project here by illustrating how our editorial group responded and to what we responded, with what effects.