Abraham's Promise: Judaism and Jewish-Christian Relations (Radical Traditions Series) »

Abraham's Promise presents a selection of important writings by noted Jewish philosophertheologian Michael Wyschogrod, who is widely admired for his singular contributions to Jewish-Christian relations. Including several pieces never published before, this reader aptly captures the broad scope of Wyschogrod's work on Judaism and the Jewish-Christian encounter, collecting seminal essays, articles, and reviews that address such topics as the God of Abraham and the God of philosophy, sin and atonement, Judaism and the land, the Six Day War, Paul on Jews and Gentiles, and the theology of Karl Barth. An introductory essay by editor R. Kendall Soulen sets Wyschogrod's career and writings in context.

Library Journal

This collection of essays, articles, and reviews sums up the career of Wyschogrod (philosophy, emeritus, Baruch Coll., CUNY), an orthodox Jew who has written extensively on Jewish-Christian relations. The chapters, each of which opens with a summary of the issues treated here, range widely. One chapter, for instance, asserts that Judaism as a religion is not necessarily connected to a promised land. Others deal with the Six Day War, the Holocaust, Franz Rosenzweig, and Jewish-Christian relations. Of particular interest is the chapter on Protestant theologian Karl Barth. The author holds that Barth's writings provide religious shock therapy, plunging believers into a defenseless evaluation of their own religion. In addition, one of Wyschogrod's main points is that true Christians should also be good Jews. Soulen (systematic theology, Wesley Theological Seminary) provides a useful biographical and thematic introduction. Recommended for libraries with large Judaica collections. James A. Overbeck, Atlanta-Fulton P.L. Sports & Recreation Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.