SOURCE: “Opportunities Missed,” in Commonweal, Vol. CXX, No. 2, January 29, 1993, pp. 29-30.

In the following review of Judaism, Fisher and Bemporad complain that “Jewish readers—with good cause—are likely to find [the work insensitive and inaccurate.”]

When a scholar of great stature enters a new, albeit related field of endeavor to his own, it is an event of significance for both his usual followers and those in the field itself. For the potential for creative insights is great. So it is with anticipation that one approaches Küng's monumental volume on Judaism and Jewish-Christian relations. Küng attempts here a critical survey of all of Jewish history and thought, as well as an analysis of and major contribution to the present historic dialogue between Christians and Jews.

As he notes in his introduction, Küng utilizes “paradigm theory” as a means of organizing the enormous body of literature...