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Pursuing the Dream: a Jewish-Christian Conversation

Author:	Dan Cohn-Sherbok and Mary Daly
Published By:	Darton, Longman and Todd (London)
Pages:	278
Price:	£15.95
ISBN:	0 232 52549 4

Reviewed by John V Matthews.

This unusual book consists of email correspondence between a Reformed Jewish rabbi and a Christian feminist theologian, written between June 2004 and June 2005. The Introduction says that, while the theme of the book is reconciliation, it soon became clear that (despite each of them being in the liberal stream of their respective traditions) they disagreed on nearly everything, except the general principle that their two traditions contain invaluable spiritual resources for creating a better world. The authors write personally and honestly, neither being afraid to say when they feel that the other is being unfair or has misunderstood.

Part One consists of five chapters, entitled God, Jesus, the Bible, Authority and Tradition, and Sin. The first of these discusses profound questions as to the nature of God, but ends just as the discussion is getting really interesting! This is one drawback of the restricted space available for each subject (each chapter, bar one, consists of eleven letters and about twenty pages). In the second chapter Cohn-Sherbok expresses the view that “the Christian Faith is inherently anti-Jewish” (p.28). And in the fifth he argues that “today we must accept that the Bible…is a cage which imprisons us ands limits our understanding” (p.99). Not uncontroversial then!

In Part Two there are chapters entitled War and Peace, The Environment, Gender, The Family and Community, Racism, Crime and Punishment, with a concluding chapter asking ‘What Have We Learned?’ These include a thought-provoking discussion of whether faithful love or reciprocal responsibility is the better model for family relationships (p.195) and the assertion that “the rigidity and inflexibility of Orthodoxy continues to stifle religious creativity and reflection” (p.221). This is said with regard to Judaism, but, to this reviewer, applies just as much to Christianity..

All in all, a book that is easy to read, informative and stimulating, and one that might also have its uses for sermons and discussion groups. Whether it is worth its price is more debatable.