Performing the Sign of God in the Presence of the Other: Reflections on the Theological Dimension of Jewish-Christian Dialogue
What Jews and Christians understand by "God" depends on the sacred writings they share with the Tanach or the Old Testament. At the same time, they are integrated into a living tradition of intellectual, ritual and ethical reference to "God". The sign "God" has developed historically.
In the Jewish-Christian dialogue, the evolutionary dynamics of "God", i.e. of the use of signs for the common and at the same time differentiated belief in God, must be taken into account. This is true because a history of reference to God has taken place and continues to take place between the two religious communities. The Jewish-Christian dialogue is thus confronted with the question of the level at which the unifying differences in the respective reference to God are brought to bear.
Is it a religious-scientific, cultural-historical perspective with which the dialogue partners perceive and observe each other?
Or is it a question of realizing in dialogue the reality of the one whom Jews and Christians address as GOD, i.e. who they performatively acclaim and claim as decisive factor?