Is Covenant a Necessary Component of Greenberg’s Theology of Religions?

Rabbi Irving Yitz Greenberg is at the forefront of Jewish reflection on Christianity and, more broadly, on Jewish relations with other faiths. His work seeks to offer a positive valuation of other religions. To do so, he develops a theological structure with "covenant" at its heart. Playing out the covenants with Noah, Abraham and the covenant at Sinai, he sets up a view of other religions as covenantal, and therfore as sharing with Judaism in a covenantal partnership. The lecture will examine the complex uses of covenant in this context. It will consider whether his use can be reconciled with biblical usage, whether it would be recognizable to Christian conversaion partners and whether it is really necessary. The thesis will be put forth that whaever Greenberg seeks to affirm can be stated, and in fact is stated, without appeal to covenant. Covenant ends up being largely redundant, when one considers the substance of his thought. This also emerges from his still to be published latest manuscript, where views of other religions are stated without or with little appeal to "covenant". I will therefore argue that in terms of Greenberg`s own theological needs, and consequently in terms of how his thourhg is received by both Jewis and Christians, his thought edifice may be better served in other ways than bey appealing to covenant.