I have learned over the years that theological reflection oscillates between personal isolation and communal participation. A theologian has to live an isolated life for much of the time because he or she is attempting to formulate a vision not yet seen by others of what lies beneath the surface of his or her tradition. But a theologian must also be a participant in a community or communities of discourse, being present in the attempt to answer some of the questions that have been raised by colleagues there. It is often impossible to identify the source of one's questions accurately, either inside or outside of oneself. Indeed, it seems better not to try to make any such identification. For too much identification with one's solitary vision might confuse theology with prophecy, and too much identification with one's communal response might confuse theology with ideology.

This book deals with a question that has concerned me for much of my life: What does it mean to be a Jew in the world, to be chosen by God, and is that true? And this book is equally about that same question as it concerns serious Jews – and non-Jews who have come in contact with Jews or Judaism or both. This question, whether mine or that of others, has obscure beginnings. I have been thinking about it since whenever I learned that my being a Jew means to be something distinct. The Jews – and many non-Jews – have been thinking about it since whenever the Jews became distinctly recognizable.

Nevertheless, the raising of this question that had led to the writing of this book does have some identifiable beginnings.