The People Israel, Christianity, and the Covenantal Responsibility to History (original) (raw)

To be a member of God's covenant with the Jewish people — to be a ben berit — is to live in the unfolding of sacred history. The drama began at twilight of the sixth day, when God created Adam with a unique holiness, inscribing him with Tzelem Elohim (Imago Dei). It progressed through Noah, Abraham, and the revelation at Sinai. It continues through today, and will end in the messianic era, when all persons recognize the reality of God and his1 moral authority. And as the prophets Isaiah, Micah, and Zechariah taught, only when all the world lives in blessing and tranquility will the Jew-ish people fulfill the sacred covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants. The call of the covenant is to be a partner with the Divine in completing creation and an essential actor in the story of humanity. God's covenant with the Jewish people at Sinai would be meaningless without this historical mandate. A divine covenant with individuals whose purpose is personal redemption is possible without a historical dimension, but the God of history's covenant with an eternal people assumes purpose only if the covenantal people has an enduring mission over the sweep of time. 145 1. I use the masculine " his " in reference to God only as a linguistic convention, not implying any gender or gender preference to God. In the Jewish theological tradition God transcends gender, although in attempting to understand God it is helpful to ascribe to the Divine traits traditionally both associated with masculinity (e.g., authority and punishment) and femininity (e.g., compassion and nurturing). This has significant pedagogical implications: Imitatio Dei would demand that human beings also strive to develop a combination of personality traits as an ideal religious and ethical model. According to Jewish mystical thought, in the eschaton all these traits will merge into a perfect unity — both in God and his creatures.

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