Pope Benedict has a favorite rabbi, none other than the distinguished Jewish scholar Jacob Neusner. At first glance this is a puzzle. Many years ago Neusner wrote a book called A Rabbi Talks With Jesus. In it, he noted, "I explain why, if I had been in the land of Israel in the first century, I would not have joined the circle of Jesus' disciples."
Neusner sent his book to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, asking him to write a blurb. Ratzinger agreed, and then even more remarkably, praised the book again when he became Pope Benedict. More than a dozen pages of Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth are devoted to discussing Neusner's argument. Benedict writes that Neusner's work "has opened my eyes to the greatness of Jesus' words and to the choice that the gospel places before us."
To understand what Benedict is getting at, recall atheist Richard Dawkins' famous claim that we are all atheists when it comes to other people's gods. For instance, I am an atheist when it comes to the gods of the ancient Greeks and Romans. By the same token Neusner is an atheist when it comes to the Christian notion of the divinity.
Even so, Neusner's treatment of Christ could not be more different than that of Dawkins. One of the main differences is that Dawkins is a biologist and Neusner is a scholar of ancient texts and history. Consequently Dawkins' historical and literary understanding is at the eighth grade level, while Neusner brings to his work a depth and sophistication worthy of a man regarded as perhaps the greatest living scholar of Judaism.
Neusner discusses Christ as a great and pure man whose teachings, especially at the Sermon on the Mount, embody unforgettable insight and wisdom. Taking up the oldest of Jewish prescriptions, they interpret and transform them in a powerful and surprising way. And yet Neusner notes that Christ violates the old law, as when he says that actions are permitted on the Sabbath that were regarded as forbidden on the Sabbath. This is the basis of Neusner's rejection of Christ as a fulfillment of the old covenant.
What gives Christ the right to change the old law? Neusner notes that Christ is not another liberal rabbi, seeking to bend the rules of the orthodox to make life easier for people. Rather, "Jesus' claim to authority is at issue." In effect, Christ claims to be "Lord of the Sabbath" and this provokes Neusner to ask, as if conversing with one of Christ's disciples, "Is your master God?"
Pope Benedict finds this a penetrating question. "The issue that is really at the heart of the debate," he writes, "is thus finally laid bare. Jesus understands himself as the Torah--as the word of God in person." In other words, Jesus claims to speak with a divine authority. If Jesus is God, then obviously he has the right to say what the old law really means. So ultimately Jesus confronts us with the choice of accepting or rejecting his claim to divinity.
In the January issue of First Things, a Jewish writer Meir Soloveichik takes Rabbi Neusner to task for his admiring words about Jesus. Soloveichik charges that Neusner, despite his denials, seems to accept the divinity of Christ. Why? Here Soloveichik borrows a famous argument from C.S. Lewis. Lewis argued that since Christ claimed to be God, either he was speaking the truth or he was an astounding liar. Lewis insisted that Christ does not give us the option of considering him a great and wise human teacher. Rather, Christ compels us to take him at his word that he is the son of God, or rather reject him as an impostor and a fraud.
Soloveichik goes with the latter option, as indeed he says all Jews must. "If we deny Christ's divinity," he writes, "then we can respond with nothing short of shock and dismay when we read the words of a man who puts himself in the place of God." Yet Soloveichik notes that this is not Neusner's reaction. Neusner treats Christ with deep respect; yet who can have respect for a liar? Neusner writes as a friend of Christ; yet who can befriend an impostor and fraud? Soloveichik concludes that "even as Neusner argues that Jesus is mistaken about his divinity and authority, it follows from much that Neusner has written that Jesus must be God."
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A Rabbi Talks With Jesus
Posted Feb 4th 2008 8:38AM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Religion, Christianity, Controversy, Atheism
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 41)
1. Christ as god, one hell of a jump in thought. If christ was god, why all the circus-carney tricks?
JefFlyingV at 9:55AM on Feb 4th 2008
2. A very misleading title to your story, should be,'a rabbi talks about jesus'.
JefFlyingV at 10:08AM on Feb 4th 2008
3. You're right JFV,
Wrong title.
"One of the main differences is that Dawkins is a biologist and Neusner is a scholar of ancient texts and history. Consequently Dawkins' historical and literary understanding is at the eighth grade level, while Neusner brings to his work a depth and sophistication worthy of a man regarded as perhaps the greatest living scholar of Judaism."
Consequently, DD's reasoning is at the eighth grade level. You can't find comedy gold like this on the telly!
Mokele-Mobembe at 10:44AM on Feb 4th 2008
4. I repeal my previous statement so that I may avoid insulting eighth graders everywhere.
Mokele-Mobembe at 10:46AM on Feb 4th 2008
5. http://evolutionfacts.blogspot.com
PROFESSOR X at 10:53AM on Feb 4th 2008
6. THE oldest debate between, Jews and Christians.
NOT one new idea or piece of information.
So, the Rabbi gives the exact same reason, EVERY single Jewish theologian has EVER given since the first century.
Come to think of it Dinesh, what NEW contributions do YOU offer? I read your book, and there is NOT ONE new idea, concept or argument that the JESUITS did not think of 500 years ago during the counter reformation.
Why do you pose as a scholar, when you are not one?
PLEASE STOP REPRESENTING CHRISTIANITY, YOU ARE NOT A SPOKESMAN.. LEAVE IT THE PROFESSIONALS, IE: POPE, OR JESUITS
T at 10:51AM on Feb 4th 2008
7. DoubleD, I would be more interested if you would post a story about Benedict being anti Vatican Council II.
JefFlyingV at 11:00AM on Feb 4th 2008
8. My thoughts exactly, Mo Mo. How ironic he uses the "8th grade" descripter!
I noticed that DD'Stupid uses hyperbole a great deal: "greatest living scholar of Judaism"???
DD says that doing things on the sabbath was "the basis of Neusner's rejection of Christ as a fulfillment of the old covenant."
That's DD's underhanded way of saying that "jesus" was the messiah.
What horseshit!
There are MANY more reasons why the jews could not, would not accept someone like "jesus" as god nor the messiah, too numerous to write here, and besides have been posted numerous times; but the MAIN reason is that "god" would not come to earth as a man!!! That's a pretty big one, don't you think? Much bigger than doing things on the sabbath.
As an ethnic jew, I take umbrage with DD's typical pile of horseshit.
Linda at 11:04AM on Feb 4th 2008
9. By the way, Jeff, my brothers and I had a meeting about our trip, and they are hot to go someplace new and exotic, so we are looking at a tour of Vietnam, from Saigon to Hanoi. Some hiking, not too strenuous. This one appealed to me:
http://www.infohub.com/vacation_packages/7920.html
Linda at 11:07AM on Feb 4th 2008
10. Linda, you know how to make me feel jealous, that would be a magnificent trip, especially with the new nature discoveries.
JefFlyingV at 11:11AM on Feb 4th 2008
11. prfssrx(?)
A FORMER ATHEIST
PROFESSOR X (explains the prfssrx alias),
Why do you always conjure up at arbitrary times in irrelevant contexts to annoy us with THE SAME LINK YOU ALWAYS POST!?! NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR STUPID BIASED SITE!!! "Exposing the public to just the scientific facts without the spin." - What a JOKE!
Linda,
Ask Richard Branson how space tourism is doing. THAT's a trip to give you a worldly perspective.
Mokele-Mobembe at 11:18AM on Feb 4th 2008
12. Thanks for the web link. Read through the itinerary.
JefFlyingV at 11:20AM on Feb 4th 2008
13. One of the parts of the trip is to explore the tunnels dug by the viet cong in saigon to hide from the US and the south. And to see China Beach, where "charlie don't surf" (Apocolypse Now)
Cool, huh?
Linda at 11:20AM on Feb 4th 2008
14. Hate to comment on this board since it only keeps DD going, but I have to agree with T. In effect, DD's article says that the big difference between Jews and Christians is that Jews don't think Christ was a "living" God while Christians do. Forget eighth grade, DD! That's the way the adults explained it to me when I was in kindergarten. Maybe my dad should have your position at Stanford, though given the nature of your myopic associates, I'm not sure he'd want it.
JD at 11:26AM on Feb 4th 2008
15. Mokele I agree,more like Poseur X, the pseudo-science web site for the faint of heart and intellect.
JefFlyingV at 11:28AM on Feb 4th 2008