At our recent national conference, Dr. Douglas John Hall noted that churches "can no longer assume that generation after generation will be swept into their sanctuaries by sheer force of convention, and they must therefore engage in an original and ongoing struggle with their tradition and attempt to extend this struggle to all of their members. For without such 'learning and understanding' nothing can withstand the winnowing process that is by now well under way and will undoubtedly increase in the decades ahead." Hall insists that "the authority" of Christianity is now dependent on its internal capacity to educate both its own laity and clergy so that the entire Christian community takes far greater responsibility for learning and living the tradition. From all that my rabbinic colleagues tell me, there is an analogous challenge facing the Jewish community.

During the last year the ICJS undertook a variety of educational initiatives to meet this challenge and to reclaim the vitality of our respective religious heritages. As in years past, the ICJS coordinated several intensive seminars for clergy and religious educators. Dr. Douglas Ottati, Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, encour-aged participants to reexamine the ways in which Christians have traditionally developed their understandings of Christ. He then explored various reinterpretations of these doctrinal formulations that are emerging in response to the conflicting claims of a religiously plural world. Noam Zion, a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem, conducted a Beit Mid-rash that explored the ways in which Christians and Jews have read and interpreted the biblical story of Creation. Zack Braiterman, from Stanford University, led an inquiry into Jewish responses to the problem of evil and suffering. Not only have these programs enabled religious professionals to wrestle with innovative scholarship, but they have also provided clergy and lay leaders from diverse theological and religious backgrounds an opportunity to discuss crucial issues. Out of these encoun-ters have come startling insights, not to mention friendships with the power to endure disagreement and uncertainty.

This year our work with secondary school teachers reached new heights. The Lilly Project that brought Roman Catholic and Jewish educators from around the country to Baltimore for five three-day intensive study retreats was completed in early May, 1994. The preliminary evaluations indicate that all partic-ipants were challenged to ask new questions of themselves and of the other, and that this experience is profoundly influencing how they shape religious education. The leadership of Professors Mary Boys and Sara Lee has elicited a com-mitment to this process of interfaith learning that will no doubt generate many new ventures. Furthermore, the ICJS program on Schindler's List has put us in touch with dozens of area high schools. Finally, the ICJS trip to Israel in the Fall of 1993 included several educational leaders from Independent and Public Schools. This expedition afforded participants the op-portunity to trace biblical and historical struggles and to examine the complexities that arise as peoples from distinct religious traditions perch on the same mountain top. The lessons for schools and universities that are seeking to both affirm and transcend particular ethnic and religious allegiances are as inescapable as they are confounding.

The coming year holds even more challenges for us. In addition to a series of public events, clergy seminars, special programs for local and national educators, scholars' conferences, educa-tional initiatives in local congregations, and national programs, the ICJS Board has set up a subcommittee to explore the ways in which religion and race relations are interconnected.

Last year's scholar-in-residence, Dr. Carol Rittner, has accept-ed a distinguished lectureship at Stockton State College. The ICJS is delighted to welcome Dr. Rosann Catalano to its staff. She is no stranger to Baltimore, having taught Systematic Theology at St. Mary's Seminary & University for many years and conducted adult education programs throughout the city. She brings great energy and expertise, not to mention her irrepressible sense of humor, to our operation. These exciting developments are in large measure possible because of the continuing support that has come from Annual Giving and the establishment of an Endowment. A little more than one year into the endowment campaign, the ICJS has $3.8 million pledged to a $5 million goal. If we can meet this objective, I am confident that the impact of the ICJS will reverberate far beyond Baltimore. Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the pioneering efforts of this organization.