In the aftermath of the publication of Dabru Emet in Sep-tember 2000, the ICJS initiated a series of conversations with a diverse and significant cross section of scholars, rabbis, clergy, religious educators, and adult learners, locally, region-ally, and nationally. The topic was Dabru Emet: its meaning and significance for Jews, for Christians, and for the future of the Jewish-Christian encounter.

Among the more provocative observations that surfaced in the course of those two-year discussions, one in particular recurred with striking regularity. Although articulated some-what differently by rabbis and Christian clergy, the observation is that both Judaism and Christianity, at least as they are being lived out in a significant cross section of synagogues and churches across the United States, are experiencing an evident migration of considerable numbers of congregants from the "centers" of their respective communities toward one of two extremes along the religious spectrum. One extreme reflects withdrawal, self-imposed ghettoization, and eventually isolation from the challenges of living in a religiously and ethnically diverse society. The opposite extreme reflects an uncritical, unreflective, simplistic, and naive "spirituality." Increasing numbers of well-educated and deeply committed congregants are disoriented and confused by this polarization. Attracted to neither extreme, they seek instead a theologically and intellectually viable religious home. Finding none, they are assimilating, in increasing numbers, into the secular society at large.

Rabbis and Christian clergy alike cite the failure of both the church and the synagogue to develop a coherent and theol-ogically credible response to the dissonance and disorientation created by increasing religious diversity as the single greatest factor in both the "loss of the center" and the migration to the polar extremes within their communities.

Reflecting on the theological breadth, depth, and daring of those conversations in the context of our country and our world since September 2000, ICJS scholars Charles Arian, Rosann Catalano, and Christopher Leighton began to ponder the notion that a "next step" of scholarly inquiry might well be in order.

The main lines of that inquiry turn on a series of assumptions and observations about being religious in America. If Judaism and Christianity are to have viable, long-term futures in an increasingly religiously diverse America; if, both individually and collectively, Judaism and Christianity are to function as a source and resource for the common good, and as an im-portant contributor to the democratic process; then each tradition must find new and creative ways to regain and hold the centers of their respective communities. To accomplish this, they must provide reasoned and viable religious alterna-tives to the polar extremes of isolation and assimilation.

For such alternatives to emerge, both Judaism and Christianity must address the following challenges: They must confront the religious and theological disorientation and dissonance posed by religious pluralism; they must identity specifically the reli-gious and theological challenges posed by religious pluralism -- those most immediate, as well as those at the horizon of the religious landscape; they must articulate a range of theol-ogical responses to these challenges; and they must calculate the impact of these responses on the future shape of our respective communities and the world at large.

In light of both the import and the complexity of these issues, the ICJS decided to launch a new initiative that explores in greater depth the questions evoked by Dabru Emet. Thanks to the generosity of two Atlanta congregations -- First Presbyterian Church and The Temple/Hebrew Benevolent Con-gregation -- the ICJS brought together a small group of distinguished Jewish and Christian scholars to begin the process of exploring a new theological model that might better respond to the challenges facing our respective communities. The innovative turn of this particular model lies in two facets of its design: It responds to a real problem of the living tradi-tion, taking as its point of departure not ideas generated in the academy, but rather challenges that face the synagogue and the church in contemporary American society. It is done collaboratively rather than in isolation -- that is, Jewish and Christian scholars, learning together and from each other how to meet and respond to challenges facing their own communities.

The initial meeting of what has come to be known as the "Reclaiming the Center" project took place at the First Presby-terian Church, Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to our ICJS scholars, the meeting included participating scholars: Tikva Frymer-Kensky, University of Chicago Divinity School; Douglas John Hall, McGill University; Charles Kimball, Wake Forest Uni-versity; Walt Lowe, Emory University; David Novak, University of Toronto; Mary Aquin O'Neill, RSM, Mount Saint Agnes Theological Center for Women; Peter Ochs, University of Vir-ginia; Michael Signer, University of Notre Dame; and Kendall Soulen, Wesley Theological Seminary. Also present were reli-gion writer Gus Niebuhr, our Atlanta hosts Rabbi Alvin Sugarman and Dr. George Wirth, and ICJS board co-chair Rabbi Joel Zaiman. David Berger, from Brooklyn College & CUNY Graduate Center, participated via telephone hook-up.