Judaism: Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (Das Judentum) was published by R. Piper & Co. Verlag in 1991 (English translation by John Bowden published by Crossroad in 1992), and it is the first volume of Küng’s trilogy on the three Abrahamic religions. The book applies Küng’s paradigm-analysis method to Jewish history, identifying the major transformations through which Judaism has passed: the tribal religion of the patriarchs, the monarchical religion of the First Temple, the prophetic revolution, rabbinic Judaism after the destruction of the Second Temple, the medieval synthesis, the modern emancipation, and the contemporary situation.
Küng’s treatment of Judaism is notable for its refusal to view Jewish history through a Christian lens — he does not treat Judaism as a preparation for Christianity or as a tradition that reached its fulfillment (and therefore its end) in the coming of Christ. Instead, he treats it as a parallel tradition with its own legitimate development, its own theological achievements, and its own unresolved questions.
The book addresses the Holocaust directly, asking what responsibility Christianity bears for the catastrophe and what theological resources Judaism possesses for responding to it. Küng argues that Christian antisemitism — rooted in the New Testament’s polemics against “the Jews” and institutionalized in centuries of church teaching — bears significant responsibility for creating the conditions in which the Holocaust was possible.
Collecting Judaism: Between Yesterday and Tomorrow
First English edition (Crossroad, New York, 1992): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First English edition in dust jacket: $10–$25
- First German edition (Piper, 1991): $15–$35