2 of 6

This "new theology" (which is not all that new) is sometimes called "two-covenant theology"; much of it has grown out of the work of scholars involved in regular meetings of Jews and Christians over the last 20 years in what is sometimes called Jewish-Christian "encounter" or "dialogue."

A retreat from evangelization?

Even a brief survey of the literature produced by these theologians shows that the Willowbank Declaration's assessment of the theological state of affairs is polite understatement. Many church leaders and theologians have not only "retreated from embracing the task of evangelizing Jews," they have vehemently condemned the traditional understanding of the person and work of: Christ that undergirds evangelicalism.

Consider these examples:

• Protestant theologian Paul Van Buren has argued that Christians should not confront Jews with the gospel because for Christians—let alone for Jews—Jesus is not really the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, though is the "Christ of the Church."
  
  
• Rosemary Radford Ruether, whose Faith and Fratricide: The Theological Roots of Anti—Semitism is a seminal work in modern literature on Jewish-Christian relations, contends that the New Testament's own explanations of the meaning of Jesus' suffering and death are anti—Jewish at their core, especially those of the Gospel and epistles of John. Ruether asserts that "anti—Judaism is the left hand of Christology."
  
  
• Roy Eckardt, author of Jews and Christians: The Contemporary Meeting and other studies, has suggested that the doctrine of the Resurrection must be dropped from the credo if we are ever to correct the classical Christian distortion of Judaism.
  
  
• New Testament scholar Raymond E. Brown advises that the "anti-Jewish" passages in the Gospel of John be retained for public reading, but only if he readings are followed by sermons hat insist that the attitude of the apostle is wrong for Christians today.

While all these positions have not been formally endorsed by American denominations, the theological frame-work has been accepted by many. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ, and the Episcopal Church have all produced statements in the past two years that are informed by the two-covenant perspective.

"Two-covenant-communities theology" might be a better label, because these theologians argue in one form or another that we must understand Judaism as a divinely guided religion that is parallel to Christianity, not superseded by it or fulfilled within it. Christians ought not to try to convert Jews; that would be asking them to deny their election as members of the continuing covenant community of Israel.

Meanwhile, the covenant community of the church faces a huge problem, these theologians say. Christianity is 'infected" with radical anti—Judaism and anti—Semitism, the source of which is the New Testament itself. Much of he New Testament is seen as motivated by "a polemic against the Jews and Judaism," the necessity of which arose when the followers of Jesus were disappointed with the failure of Christ to usher in the kingdom of God as they had expected. As Ruether summarizes:

At the root of this dispute lies a fundamentally different understanding of the Messianic idea that developed in Christianity … Judaism looked to the Messianic coming as a public, world—historical event which unequivocally overthrew the forces of evil in the world and established the reign of God. Originally Christianity also understood Jesus' Messianic role in terms of an imminent occurrence of the coming reign of God. But when this event failed to materialize, Christianity pushed it off into an indefinite future, that is, the second coming, and reinterpreted Jesus' Messianic role in inward and personal ways that had little resemblance to what the Jewish tradition meant by the coming of the Messiah. An impasse developed between Christianity and Judaism, rooted in Christian claims to Messianic fulfillment and supersession of Judaism, that were not only unacceptable but incomprehensible in the Jewish tradition.

next page... |  2 of 6

share this page

August (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46