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Editorial
The Editors

An international symposium on the theme: The Future of Man - Man in the Perspective of the Kingdom - was held at Rome, February 20-22, 1978, attended by about sixty friends of SIDIC, both experts and participants. This particular theme was chosen because of the growing interest in our times in the well-being of man. Whether we consider his discoveries in the scientific and technical fields or the marvellous insights gained in the human sciences, the possibilities of the human person for creativity never fail to astonish us. Side by side with this, however, man is asking serious and anxious questions which can be summed up in one overriding problem: is the world, such as we know it today, really good? The human person, the centre of creation, seems more than ever threatened, crushed, neglected and manipulated as though the prodigious scientific evolution through which he is passing has been completely lost from view.
The natural resources of the world are being wasted in a dangerous manner and exploited beyond all reason. Pollution and the consumption of these resources become problems of the highest importance. Is there any relation between the two spectres that haunt us all - our abuses in our way of life and the threat which is hanging over human society itself?
There is a third factor to be considered - the crisis of faith. Is this related to the two preceding? Does a lack of respect and of love for the human person go hand in hand with destructive tendencies towards creation? Does this disregard shown to man and creation destroy both faith in man and faith in God? Or can it be that the traditional faith in God, especially Jewish and Christian faith, is not sufficiently strong or sufficiently committed to save man and the world?
People everywhere are becoming sensitive to this state of affairs. Congresses; colloquies, study sessions are taking place to make us aware of the danger and to look for ways of saving both man and his world from a final disaster. Does this mean that the traditional faith of Jews and of Christians is being looked at more realistically? Could it also mean that present-day problems are actually creating a real mistrust in God, Creator and Father? If such indeed be the case, could our times, with their upsetting questions, become the very springboard which would project man towards the re-discovery of forgotten values, those which concern the human person, his environment and his relationship with God who is both transcendent and immanent?
We are convinced that the Jewish and Christian traditions are rich in insights and perspectives which are of the utmost importance for the future of the world and of man. Have these perspectives been sufficiently examined and understood? Have they been really lived? Could it be possible that the break between Judaism and Christianity at the end of the first and the beginning of the second centuries has caused more harm to the human person and to his world than has ordinarily been thought?
The aim of the symposium was to study certain aspects of the problem. The papers which were delivered are now offered to our readers - firstly man and creation from the Jewish and Christian points of view, then man and society, and lastly, man and God.
We hope that the publication of the conferences of the symposium will contribute to a better appreciation of the teachings of Judaism and Christianity and of what they have to offer to humanity today. We trust that it will play its part in helping to repair the damage caused by the initial break between Church and Synagogue. In so doing, may we discover the enormous responsibility that Jews and Christians together should assume with regard to man, to creation and to God.