Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Heschel at 100: Be Kind Not Smart
Thursday, February 1, 2007

Surely the last article I expected to see in USA Today on the way home last night was an homage to the beloved and, at times, abstruse Jewish philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. (Shown at right with MLK; Heschel is the one on the right with the Mosaic beard.) I quote from his book, The Prophets, quite a bit in WHERE GOD WAS BORN but probably the idea of his I must appreciate is the notion that God is looking for man as much as we are looking for him (see God in Search of Man).

"Heschel's central idea … was a God of pathos, a God of emotions, a God who cares about human history and what human beings do, even individuals," says biographer Edward Kaplan of Brandeis. "It's a kind of astounding doctrine."

Beyond academia, Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder of the Berkeley-based Network of Spiritual Progressives and author of 2006 best seller The Left Hand of God, calls himself a Heschel "disciple."

"We are following in his footsteps," Lerner says. "We're manifestations of his legacy."

Richard John Neuhaus joined with Heschel and peace activist Daniel Berrigan in 1965 to establish the influential anti-war group Clergy Concerned About Vietnam. But today Neuhaus, a Catholic priest and editor of the religion journal First Things, says Heschel's influence on him and society is most clearly felt in Jewish-Christian relations, which Heschel shaped through his role as Judaic consultant to Vatican II at a time when Heschel's Hasidic community forbade theological dialogue with Christians.

Here's a classic Heschel quote: "When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people."

Labels: Christianity, Interfaith Relations, Judaism

Posted by B Feiler at 7:58 AM
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