Description: This is a work of Christian theology that Karl Barth
might call an ad hoc or secondary apologetic. Relying on a
paraphrase of Anselm--""faith seeking the ethical""--Boesel engages
modern and postmodern theologians and philosophers--from
Kierkegaard to Barth, Ruether, Hegel, Derrida, and Levinas--to
analyze the imperialistic dynamics entailed in the church's
theological interpretations of the Jewish neighbor. He demonstrates
the dimensions of the problem as they are paradigmatically visible
in the evangelical theological assumptions of Karl Barth. Turning
to Ruether's exemplary remedy of the problem, Boesel illumines the
ways her analysis and critique are funded by a specific cluster of
modern assumptions that constitute what he calls ""modern ethical
desire."" Employing a reading of Levinas and Derrida, Boesel shows
that these assumptions constitute an imperialistic discourse of a
different order, with its own specific hostility toward the
Abrahamic tradition. In light of these postmodern critiques, Boesel
returns to Barth to suggest that his evangelical theological
assumptions, while indeed amounting to a form of Christian
interpretive imperialism in relation to the Jewish neighbor, may
nevertheless determine and delimit the knowledge and speech of
Christian faith in such a way that resists more toxic forms of
Christian imperialism. Broader implications of the argument follow:
The ethical faces a radical limit, both in general and in relation
to concrete faith. Therefore, no human remedy for the imperialistic
discourse of Christian faith presents itself that does not entail
an interpretive imperialism. To paraphrase Derrida: there is always
an interpretive imperialism. Ethically, then, there is only
discernment between different forms of interpretive imperialism.
Theologically, an understanding of Christian faith as irreducible
to the ethical may offer surprising though always risky ethical
resourcement within this predicament of radically limited ethical
possibility. Endorsements: ""In Risking Proclamation, Respecting
Difference, Chris Boesel has dared to host a dialogue among Karl
Barth, radical postmodernists, religious Jews, and those Christian
theologians who seek both to follow Christ and not turn their backs
on the People Israel. This is one of the essential dialogues we
need to have today, and Boesel is a most able host. He has set the
table and served his delicious meal--with provisions for our
various diets and with an invitation to eat according to our own
tastes. Now it is time for us to converse "" --Peter Ochs,
University of Virginia ""This book is at once vigorous and
vulnerable. Respecting the Jewish neighbor invites the Christian to
learn anew the strangeness of Christianity. For Boesel,
proclamation has a chance of becoming authentic when it realizes it
inevitably involves ethical risk."" --Walter Lowe, Emory University
(Professor Emeritus) ""Can Christian proclamation be made ethically
safe for the Jewish neighbor? Or does the question itself harbor a
hidden danger as serious as the one it seeks to remedy? In Chris
Boesel's skillful hands, these questions become highly sensitive
diagnostic tools for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of two
major approaches to a Christian theology of Judaism, those
exemplified by Rosemary Radford Ruether and Karl Barth.In clear,
surefooted, and subtle prose, Boesel shows that the strengths and
weaknesses of these approaches are seldom what they appear to be at
first glance.Boesel makes an important contribution to our
understanding of systematics, ethics, and homiletics at the
intersection of Jewish-Christian relations."" --Kendall Soulen,
Wesley Theological Seminary About the Contributor(s): CHRIS BOESEL
is Assistant Professor of Christian Theology at Drew University's
Theological School and Graduate Division of Religion.
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