369 - God's People in Christ: New Testament Perspectives on the Church and Judaism & Jews and Christians in Dialogue: New Testament Foundations

God's People in Christ:
New Testament Perspectives
on the Church and Judaism
By Daniel J. Harrington, S.J.
Philadelphia, Fortress, 1980. 126 pp. $6.50.

Jews and Christians in Dialogue:
New Testament Foundations
By John Koenig
Philadelphia, Westminster, 1979. 185 pp. $7.95.

These two books with quite different aims complement each other in some interesting ways. Harrington's intention is to develop "a biblica-ltheological study of the church as the people of God" for the nonspecialist in biblical studies. By the nature of the subject, a predominantly Christian readership is envisioned. Jewish-Christian dialogue is not the major concern of the author but is of necessity a frequently discussed implication throughout the book.

The movement begun by Jesus is situated firmly within the Judaism of its day by helpful comparisons to inter-testamental literature which show the contemporary Jewish idea of the kingdom. The apocalypticism of the early church is compared and contrasted with that of Qumran to show how Christianity, as distinct from its Essene contemporary, rooted its eschatological expectation in the person of the earthly and risen Jesus. Paul's salvation history theology is revealed through careful explorations of Galatians 3 and Romans 9-11, and is shown to portray the inclusion of the Gentiles as children of Abraham along with the Jews, rather than the replacement of Israel by Christianity-which is more typical of some of the post-Pauline New Testament writings.

The appropriation of the Old Testament concept of the people of God by even predominantly Gentile-Christian churches is characteristic of certain parts of I Peter, Hebrews, and Revelation. From that point on, it became "part of Christianity's enduring self-consciousness." The conflict theology of Matthew and John, while carrying immense problems for ecumenical dialogue, witnesses as much to the " radical Jewishness of early Christian self-understanding" as it does to the conflict between church and synagogue at the time of writing.

Koenig, on the other hand, sets out explicitly to write an apologia for Judaism to Christians in the hope of reaching a Jewish audience as well. He works from the hypothesis that the New Testament, rightly understood, offers more resources than problems for Jewish-Christian dialogue. Such a bold claim is difficult to substantiate, and I am not

370 - God's People in Christ: New Testament Perspectives on the Church and Judaism & Jews and Christians in Dialogue: New Testament Foundations

convinced that the author succeeds. He rightly argues as does Harrington that Jesus was very much a Jew for Jews, though not without addressing a prophetic challenge to the religious institutions of his day. As with Harrington's book, one of the high points is the exposition of Romans 9-11 as Paul's finest attempt to understand the mystery of the inclusion of the Gentiles in the promise to Abraham. Subsequent chapters on the four evangelists explore problems and possibilities in each Gospel and the necessity to see their anti-Jewish polemic as reflective of the degenerating state of relationship between the two groups at the time of writing.

The claim is made that the value of the Gospel of John must be preserved while the Gospel is prevented from continuing to be the incentive to prejudice that it has historically been. The suggestion that this can be done by distinguishing levels of authority in the Gospel is a helpful one that is worth extending to the other biblical books as well. The final chapter contains other helpful suggestions for procedure in ecumenical dialogue.

Koenig at times glosses over exegetical difficulties to prove his point. I could not agree, for example, that the prophets in I Thessalonians 2:14-16 are only Christian prophets (pp. 46-48); that "Matthew finds the idea of a non-Jewish Christianity utterly incomprehensible" (p. 96); or that Luke intends Paul's turning to the Gentiles in Acts 13:16 as "nothing more than a temporary shift in Paul's missionary strategy" (p. 102). Nevertheless, his is a bold attempt that properly admits the difficulties involved.

Though they start from different places, both authors lead us to a point where we need to stay and ponder deeply: the ongoing relationship of Judaism and Christianity, and the scandal of that relationship's stormy past.

Carolyn Osiek, RSCJ
Catholic Theological Union
Chicago, Illinois