Covenant and Hope:

Christian and Jewish Reflections

 Essays in Constructive

Theology from

The Institute for Theological Inquiry

Robert W. Jenson & Eugene B. Korn

Jewish and Christian religious life is grounded in God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants as it unfolds over human history. The covenant mediates the  daily religious life for Christians and Jews, and their theological, moral and eschatological aspirations. Thus fulfilling God’s covenant as Jews and Christians understand it is the mission of both Jewish and Christian life.

In their essays each ITI scholar analyzes his faith’s concept of covenant, how it determines his religious commitments and behavior, and how his covenantal theology shapes his relations with people outside his faith community. Christian scholars examine the implications of Christian covenantal theology for relations with Jews and Judaism, while Jews probe the covenantal implications for Jewish relations with Christians and their faith.

Conviction in the promise of the messianic era commits Jews and Christians to the belief in the betterment of humanity and moral progress in history. The prophetic vision of messianic redemption obligates Jews and Christians to take responsibility for the human future. Yet facing the massmurder, genocide, nuclear warfare, social injustices and religious violence of the 20^th century and the still young 21^stcentury discourages any rational belief in human progress.In this volume ITI scholars present their understanding of the possibility of religious hope for the future and how it can be sustained, and to outline the nature of the philosophical and practical responsibility to ensure the improvement of future human life and culture.

ITI is an ongoing theological enterprise that is a division of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation in Israel. Its American partner is the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, NJ. The Institute engages world-class theologians to break new theological ground on focused research projects in areas critical to Judaism, Christianity and culture.

ITI aims to develop new foundations for Jewish-Christian understanding, as well as spiritual and moral values that can bear on global religious, cultural and political life in the 21^st century.  ITI intends for its research to utilized as teaching tools in educational settings.

Eugene Korn and Robert Jenson serve as co-directors of ITI’s theology projects.

What Kind of God Can Make A Covenant?
Robert W. Jenson

Covenant, Mission and Relating to the Other
Gerald McDermott

Covenant and Mission
David Novak

Covenant Renewed: Josef Ratzinger, Theologian and Pastor
Richard Sklba

Three Forms of Otherness
Naftali Rothenberg

Covenant and Conversion: The United Mission to Redeem the World
Shlomo Riskin

Judaism, the Political and the Monarchy
Michael Wyschogrod

The Antinomian Threat to Human Flourishing
Russell Reno

God, Hope and Human Flourishing
Miroslav Volf

The Assembly with the Promise of God
Douglas Knight

Messianic Hope
Alan Mittleman

Moral Agency, Sin, and Grace
Darlene Weaver

Zionism as Jewish Hope and Responsibility
Deborah Weissman

Future Challenges for Christians and Jews
Robert W. Jenson,