In late March, the ICJS scholars traveled to Cambridge, England to participate in an international consultation entitled, Jews and Christians in Conversation: A Cross-Generational Conference. This event was jointly sponsored by the Centre for Jewish-Christian Relations, the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, and the Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Center. Under the tutelage of Edward Kessler, Judith Banki, and John Pawlikowski, the conference brought together an extraordinary group of scholars and educators who have devoted their professional careers to the development of new understandings between Christians and Jews. The fifty participants came from North America, Eastern and Western Europe, as well as Israel, and the dialogue provided emerging leaders in the field of Jewish-Christian studies an opportunity to engage renowned veterans in discussions about future courses of action. Although the conference was brimming with memorable exchanges, there were two aspects of the event that captured the attention of the ICJS scholars.

1) Throughout the conference, participants from Western and Eastern Europe made repeated references to Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity. While there were spirited debates swirling around some of the more controversial affirmations in the statement, the document provided an important touchstone for sustained conversation. Dabru Emet signals a dramatic shift in the conditions and the terms of the encounter between Christians and Jews, namely, a movement from the political to the theological. There are critical religious challenges that are identified. Neither of our communities can escape the pressures of living in a disorient-ing world of conflicting truth claims. Christians and Jews are beginning to discover that we have something vital to teach and to learn from each other, and in this exchange we can better discern how to maintain our distinctiveness without disparaging the other.

2) People came to the conference with varied stories, and the struggles that define their work are profoundly determined by the social and political context in which they live. The possi-bilities of a creative encounter differ markedly from place to place. The promise of Jewish-Christian learning in Israel is constrained by territorial rivalries and the overwhelming urgency of engaging the Muslim population in a sustained relationship. European Christians have experienced the erosion of their own influence, and they must pursue their revival without the benefit of a large and dynamic Jewish community. The sobering fact is that we in North America have a unique opportunity and a weighty responsibility to redefine the character of Jewish-Christian relations. At the ICJS, we often take for granted the experiential learning that emerges from the probing interplay of Christians and Jews. The vitality of Jewish and Christian communities in North America enables us to explore territory inaccessible to most of the world. What we do will demonstrate the potential to live in creative tension with our religious diversity. The results of this experiment may prove one of the most valuable exports we have to offer. Much more depends upon the spiritual, ethical, and theological resources we develop than we North Americans assume.