Refusing to accept anything but ever-increasing levels of human
responsibility within a religious framework, covenantal thinkers
audaciously suggest that the covenant empowers humanity as it binds and
inhibits divinity. This is a reformulation of recurrent issues within
the Jewish tradition, and one which pays homage to the modern context
from which it emerges. Hartman and Borowitz grew up in the same
mid-century American academic and social environment, and the product of
that upbringing has a significant impact on the subsequent theories
which they promote. Both thinkers have attracted a considerable
following, but very few scholars have discussed them together. Cooper
here for the first time works toward understanding their work in
comparison with each other, and with covenant as the central focus and
framework.