In 1996 Fortress Press published a remarkable book titled The God of Israel and Christian Theology, written by the Methodist theologian, R. Kendall Soulen, Assistant Professor of System-atic Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C. In it, Soulen identifies Christian supersessionism as a serious and enduring theological problem that has long haunted the church. Supersessionism is the erroneous Christian teaching that the church has replaced the Jewish people as God’s covenantal partner, and that God has revoked the promises made to Israel and dismissed Judaism as merely preparatory to the enduring covenant that God has made in and through Jesus Christ. In The God of Israel and Christian Theology, Soulen offers his own constructive proposal to redress Chris-tian supersessionism.

With Soulen’s book as centerpiece, the ICJS developed a three-part program for Christian clergy designed to examine the history of Christian supersessionism, to address the theo-logical problems it poses, and to offer some pastoral, practical ways in which the problem might be redressed. The Clergy Project was comprised of three one-day programs. The first meeting invited clergy from a single denomination to study together Soulen’s book; the second meeting included a day-long study session with Dr. Soulen, who addressed issues and concerns that clergy had raised in the first session; the final meeting took place at the denominational seminary and included instruction by seminary faculty and discussion among faculty and clergy. In all, the Clergy Project engaged approx-imately one hundred Christian clergy representing four Protestant denominations -- Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian.

Professor Soulen has provided a reflection on his experience of working with this project. A participating faculty member, Pro-fessor Thomas E. Breidenthal, responds to Soulen’s book.