Dr. Ellen Charry, Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Systematic Theology Emerita at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Summer issue 57.3 of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies is now available. For each issue, the Diablogue features one author and makes available a full-text version of their article for 30 days. This issue, we are featuring “Paul M. van Buren's A Theology of the Jewish-Christian Reality” by Dr. Ellen Charry, Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Systematic Theology Emerita at Princeton Theological Seminary. Dr. Charry has taught interfaith theology and historical and systematic theology. She earned her PhD from Temple University and is a former student of Prof. Leonard Swidler, co-founder of the J.E.S.
In two sentences, what is the argument of your J.E.S. article?
The argument of my JES article on my beloved mentor, Paul M. van Buren, is that he is far more radical than associating him with the “death of God” movement recognized. He never understood himself as proclaiming “the death of God,” but as recognizing that classical Greek metaphysics could not account for history that is essential for rendering Christianity understandable.
How does your article help us better understand Jewish-Christian relations?
Paul’s radicality lies in his recognition that the Jewish No to Christ is a Yes to God that Christians need to take seriously. He was the first Christian theologian not only to recognize this but to work it through Christian theology, particularly through Christology that remained a central concern throughout his career. His three-volume Theology of the Jewish-Christian Reality (1980-88) remains the premier Christian theology proposing how Christian contempt for Judaism can dissolve into companioning Judaism in its walk with God alongside Christianity.
How did you get interested in the topic?
I have engaged this topic since I was three years old. It became the intellectual core of my life struggle.
What is your next project?
My current project is Who is the Israel of God? It is a peace proposal for putting down the mutual enmity that characterizes two thousand years of the Christian-Jewish relationship.
Article Abstract:
Paul M. van Buren was the first Christian theologian to argue that the Jewish No to Jesus is a Yes to God. He offered Christians and Jews fresh ways of understanding both themselves and the other. His trilogy, A Theology of the Jewish-Christian Reality, begins by honoring God's enduring covenant with the Jews and then proceeds to identify false turns both traditions have taken in their walks with God. He called both to critical self-reflection in theological conversation with the other's identity and missteps. He turned the church from being against the Jews to being alongside them and called Jews to return to God's covenant with them in order that Christian rethinking not be theologically empty.
The full text article can be accessed via Project Muse HERE.
