A Theology of Jewish-Christian Relations

Elmer Josephson’s book deals with a special problem: the people of Israel and their task and aim in the history of mankind. It is written for Christians who believe that the Bible is a holy book.

The “Jewish problem” should not be on the periphery of Christianity though there have been many Christians who were sure that they were good Christians, yet almost never thought about the Jews. In reality, the Jewish problem is one of the central Christian problems: a wrong position toward the Jews means a distorted approach to God and his Word and a misunderstanding of the very claim of the Christian message. This I say, not because I myself am a believing Jew, but because I have learned and have taught the New Testament and early Christianity many years at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It would be easier for me to study and teach my subject as a detached, objective scholar, but when one is a serious scholar, such an attitude is false even when one occupies oneself with obsolete problems, for example, with the pagan Greek religion.