implied) about the church’s failures, and he reminded me of the New Testament’s high opinion of the church and the optimism it holds about it. I felt suitably chastised while also confused; I thought I was right in what I had said (!), though I also knew he was right about the high view the Scriptures have of the importance of the church. The Scriptures manifest a similar ambivalence about Israel. It is God’s people, God’s chosen, God’s means of reaching the world, a body God definitely intends to