Covenantal Metaphors and Interreligious Reality

There are many dimensions to doing philosophy, and theology. One does not typically consider metaphor a major part of doing theology. Yet, our religious thought is deeply conditioned by metaphors. Thomas Aquinas opens his Summa Theologica with a justification for the use of metaphors in theological thinking. Since God uses metaphors in sacred scripture, they must have a role in revelation and that “therefore this sacred science (theology) may use metaphors”.1 It takes a particular theological mind to work constructively with metaphors, exploring them, applying them, bringing out their potential and, often hidden, implications. It requires a mind that is sensitive to literary subtleties, to beauty and form and to the ways in which these can be put in the service of a philosophical and theological quest. Such is the creative mind of Staszek Krajewski, as I have come to appreciate his contribution to interreligious relations and in particular to Jewish theology of religions. I have had the good fortune of working with him on several projects, including two of his contributions to edited volumes that I have put together. In conversation, in group dialogue and in the written form, I am time and gain impressed by the beauty of his mind and approach, a beauty that draws significantly on literary dimensions, and especially on how we apply metaphors to our theological thinking. His essay “Can Another Religion Be