Abrahams Promise by Michael Wyschogrod - Essay Example

Abraham’s Promise by Michael Wyschogrod Book Review Candi Number: _____________ College _________ d: 03-31-2009 Book Review: Abraham’s Promise by Michael Wyschogrod Kendall presents Wyschogrods thoughts in a reflective manner that introduces his purely biblical Christian theology as an orthodox Jewish researcher. This book entails two sections, Judaism and Jewish-Christian relations which indicates that this book is worth reading for both the religions followers. First section is focused on the Jews perspective of Judaism, their theologies, believes and expectations from God whereas the other section mentions Jewish-Christians relations in the light of dialogues held so far. In brief this section analyses Jewish perspectives of Christianity in the light of old testament as well as new testament. This book is also an attempt by the author to bring Jews and Christians together and this he has done by raising logical questions that reflect upon their profound sameness rather than their deep differences. Kendall has not argued about the similarities or differences that Christians eagerly claim their Jewish faith roots, but he has endeavored a reason to consider that what escorts Jews to understand Christian theological concepts and why there is a need for the Christians to learn about treating minorities with dignity. This book reveals how the gap that has built over centuries should be bridged in order to gain an in depth understanding of both communities. Declaring the reason behind Gods love, Kendall points out what God expect from humans is the divine acknowledgement of their relation of their bodies with their souls, and since God believes in a free love, he has never limited humans. As a matter of fact, God himself is never limited to any particular genealogy. He had always possessed the right not to select Abrahams descendants as chosen ones or to replace his chosen ones with any other people not chosen. Kendall portrays Abraham, Issac and Jacobs God and presents before the readers a notion that God selected Israel as he loved Abraham descendants and chose them from among all groups. According to Kendall “God wanted a people who could not leave him” (Kendall, 2004: 50). For this reason Kendall points out that God favored and loved Israel in the same manner as a man loves a woman or his wife. What Kendall wants the reader to contemplate upon is the question he addresses that what caused God to choose a biological family rather than a community of faith (ibid). Jewish Unity Wyschogrods perspective of the Jewish community is an answer to the above question, that suggests that God chose community of family is that of Abrahams descendants that elucidates Gods school of thought to select a community of descendants and not community of faith or religion. Again a question arises as to why Wyschogrod talks particularly about Jewish community and not their faith? Answer is simple that unlike other religions, since Jewish society is based upon two strong bonds of family and the community, therefore their relationship encompasses the rules and maxims that make up the old testament while underlining their differences by providing separate and sometimes conflicting guidance (Lange, 2000: 84). Wyschogrod discusses post-supersessionist Christianity that emerged as a new Christian theology that gave pace to Jewish identity. This way the readers can shape Wyschogrods theological visions of Judaism in context with a new relationship that Jews hold with God. It is through this relationship that Wyschogrod believe Jews perceive that there is no way that escorts any faith or religion to God, but through Jewish identity. What the author tries to elucidate is the theory that fulfillment of Christian beliefs is through emancipating God unique relationship of mutual love with Judaism. This mutual commitment is between God and people of Israel and is formally embodied in a binding legal agreement, which Bible names as the covenant . Moulton (1901) in the chapter Prologue to the Old Testament points out that God appears repeatedly as referring to his covenant with Abraham, and at successive stages in the history of Israel the covenant is renewed (Moulton, 1901: 23). Here the word testament is used which throughout history has changed its meaning until it is replaced by the sacred literature of Israel as The Old Testament (ibid). The Holocaust consequences for Jewish Theology The author has mentioned what Fackenheim proposes that Holocaust from a human point of view has created difficulties in believing in the biblical God because for this blasphemy Jews can neither forgive him nor love him (Kendall, 2004: 112). While examining the Jewish anger, Kendall mentions what Jews think after holocaust is that God has betrayed their belief. The holocaust for many Jews who lived through this catastrophe, has not escorted them to put an end to belief in God, since their survival was the main reason which strengthened their faith but on the contrary there are atheist survivors who found their faith on the crossroads of disbelief. This issue has been pointed out by Lange (2000) who raises the interrogation in the following words: “How could a God who is good and omnipotent let the Holocaust happen”? (Lange, 2000: 160). Such a devastating crisis on Jewish community has no doubt shattered the theologies of millions of Jews, with the same extent of concerns have been raised each and every time a sufferer was interviewed, however it has been marked as an answer to Gods negative natural theology. Response from Christianity Harries (2003) points out that it was the Holocaust that astonished many Christian churches after taking into account its responsibility for what happened and about its historic relationship to Judaism (Harries, 2003: 8). Furthermore Harries support the Jewish scholars like Norman Solomon, for making attempts to relate Christianitys new relationship to Judaism being built upon a sense of guilt for the Holocaust (ibid). God in the course of history, has bought an event of catastrophe which Jews would not in any case forgive or forget, therefore this notion as a starting point for any consideration of suffering and its relationship to God has changed the way people used to love him. Phillips & Kelner (2006) reshaped secular Jews in the salience of holocaust to Jewish communities throughout history. In fact these authors believe that it was after holocaust that Jews look forward to acquire another reflection of the fact that joined another faith through the passage of history and was seen as “an active renunciation of Jewish identity, whereas being a secularist Jew has not” (Phillips & Kelner, 2006). Therefore the root cause behind Jewish religious switching to many is the Holocaust. Wyschogrods understanding of the Jewish-Christian dialogue does not coincide with the general concept of the Christian attitude towards Jews. In fact he does not agree on the point that it is because of holocaust that have escalated Christian interest in Judaism. What Kendall (2004) writes in view of Wyschogrods perspective is that even in case Holocaust had not occurred, it is not like that Christian theology would have taken coercive measures to deal more seriously with the Jewish roots of Christianity” (Kendall, 2004: 149). A sense of Defeat Kendall talks about the monotheistic religions in context with defeat and mentions how Judaism relates to Islam in the discourse of historical wounds the religions have witnessed. He points out the main similarity between Judaism and Islam is that both have experienced worldly injuries, Islam in the form of Arab-Israeli conflict whereas Judaism in the form of Holocaust massacre. Jewish secularisation under the influence of modernisation has suffered when even before the holocaust it found itself injured, thus the holocaust proved that enlightened dangers for Jews in the modern era were not smaller but much greater than before (Kendall, 2004: 153). In order to analyse Jewish injuries, let us examine the Jewish theology personally under the first two principles of the Ten Commandments. In the light of Torah, Jewish theology is the first three of the Ten Commandments which highlights the relationship between man and God. Here the main point is that no nature of God has been defined in Judaism, what Jews of the pre-theological era believed is that the Torah itself is an answer to the relationship between Jews and God. The first of the Commandments according to Rosen (2003) asserts that YHVH is the God who took the Children of Israel out of Egypt and only He deserves the right to be worshiped (Rosen, 2003: 100). This is mentioned in Exodus, Chapter 20 as “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Bible, Exodus 20: 2). The second principle is the monotheistic perceptions of God i.e., Abrahamic religions who believe in oneness of God, however Rosen (2003) points out that the most unique idea that goes with the religion is that God responds to good and bad behavior (ibid). Samuelson (2001) points out what Rabbinic Judaism perceives this world to be, which God had created as good, but since the world itself is neither perfect nor holy, so this imperfect world requires the intentional acts of humans, who follow Gods commands by performing prescribed rituals (Samuelson, 2001). An orthodox Jew put faith in the notion that it is only through observance of religious rituals that Jews enter into an intimate relationship with God (Samuelson, 2001). To many Jews holocaust was the negative response of God towards them, this also caused many transformations in the Jewish behavior under what Kendall describes it as “the secularisation that swept over Europe during European Jewry” (Kendall, 2004: 152). While other Jews were outrageous over the attitude they experience by God and ultimately the late nineteenth-century witnessed migration to which the Jewish majority were able to trace their roots. It would be better to say that Jewish history should either account the story of the Jewish people or as Braude (2004) suggests should limit itself to more specifically religious phenomena by turning to Jews themselves to determine what they consider to constitute Judaism (Braude, 2004). Judaism from the perspective of a secular Jew, embeds certain limitations in concepts, like a Jew entails no individuality in his concepts but a sense of collective thinking which induce their identity and history, this way Jews tend to construe Judaism in broader terms. Many Jews after Holocaust believe that it is this sense of collectivity that brought before them a negative God that destructed their faiths. Jewish view of Christianity Kendall suggests that todays Judaism is a fragmented entity for the reason that after Holocaust only a significant portion of Judaism i.e., the orthodox Jews refuses to engage in any dialogue with Christianity (Kendall, 2004: 154). The orthodox branch including the right-wing perceive Christianity as such a foreign religion which can only result in division or conflicts between the faiths. This has been the main situation in which up till now Judaism and Christianity have gone wide apart and instead of cooperating with one another, both faiths have damaged one another by creating a wall of mistrust. Judaism denies the trinity and incarnation whereas Christians respond the denial as a personal cause. Here Kendall has provided many similarities and differences between the divine existence of the Hebrew Bible which is perceived by the two faiths in two divergent dimensions. The Hebrew Bible comprehends Israels God to be the supreme and most divinely powerful than other superhuman powers. He is the one who is omnipotent and omniscience. Bible verse on Trinity suggests in Isaiah, chapter 42 “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles” (Bible, Isaiah 42: 1). Christians believe it as a special relationship that exists between man, God and the chosen one i.e., Jesus Christ. On the contrary Jews do not believe in trinity and that there is no one between man and God. The above stated difference is the key reason why contemporary Jews consider Christians outside their religious boundaries. Another difference is the way Christians perceive Torah. Both faiths have different means of salvation, Kendall (2004) points out that Christianity teaches salvation through Jesus Christ whereas Judaism teaches salvation through obeying Torah and Moses (Kendall, 2004: 160). Similarly both religions have different perspectives of law. In the end, Kendall while presenting a hopeful attitude of Christians towards Jews, suggests that it would be better in the interest of the Christians to view their roots not in the context of a biased dialogue, but on the basis of Jewish foundations that witness a significant effect on being a Christian. On the other hand Jews must understand the role God has chosen for their Christian brothers. Therefore a sympathising attitude will help overcoming the past. References Bible, King James. Exodus, from The holy Bible, King James version Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. Braude Ann, (2004) American Judaism: A History, American Jewish History. Volume: 92. Issue: 1, p. 150. Harries Richard, (2003) After the Evil: Christianity and Judaism in the Shadow of the Holocaust: Oxford University Press: Oxford. Kendall R. Soulen, (2004) Abraham’s Promise: Judaism and Christian-Jewish Relations Michael Wyschogrod. Lange De Nicholas, (2000) An Introduction to Judaism: Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, England. Moulton G. Richard, (1901) A Short Introduction to the Literature of the Bible: D.C.Heath: Boston. Phillips T. Benjamin & Kelner Shaul, (2006) Reconceptualizing Religious Change: Ethno-Apostasy and Change in Religion among American Jews, Sociology of Religion. Volume: 67. Issue: 4, p. 507. Rosen Jeremy, (2003) Understanding Judaism: Dunedin Academic Press: Edinburgh. Samuelson Hava. Tirosh, (2001) Nature in the Sources of Judaism, Daedalus. Volume: 130. Issue: 4, p. 99. Read More