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 3 of 41)
31. brian, it was not a rejection of divinity. Since jesus was a rabbi, he did not fulfill the old testament prophesy of his day. If the revelations were so great, why was it only the outsiders that were not involved with jesus, accept his so called divinity?
JefFlyingV at 1:29PM on Feb 4th 2008
32. In Jacob's "A Rabbi talks with Jesus " was a book that presents the correlations of Judaic beliefs and Christians beliefs.
Denish fails to quote Jacob's first sentence right:
"In this book I explain in a very STRAIGHTFORWARD AND UNAPOLOGETIC way why, if I had been in the Land of Israel in the first century, I would not have joined the circle of Jesus's disciples."
He addresses the reasons the Pharisees did not accept Jesus....yet he doesn't debate faith of the Christians.
He addresses the differences that separate the two, as the Judaic view of living right in the present while Christian's concern themselves with the future kingdom and afterlife. He also addresses what they have in common and hopes that both religions can come to respect each other. He points out that according to the book of Mathew (and only Mathew) Jesus is portrait as a teacher. Where as the other gospels see the Jews as evil wrong doers Mathews view of the Jews is more realistic.
He never agrees for the divinity of Jesus as quoted by "Meir Soloveichik" Just that the Christians have that view and he respects that view.
He actually says,
My goal is to help Christians become better Christians, because they may come in these pages to a clearer account of what they affirm in their faith: and to help Jews become better Jews, because they will realize here-so I hope- that god's torah is the only way (not only our way, but the way) to love and to serve one god. Creator of heaven and earth, who called us to serve the sanctify God's name. My point is simple. By the truth of the torah, much that Jesus said is wrong.
By criterion of the torah, Israel's religion in the time of Jesus was authentic and faithful, not requiring reform or renewal, demanding only faith and loyalty to god and the sanctification of life through carrying out gods will.
Basically that Jesus end of times view is not what the Torah teaches therefore his teachings are wrong.
Denish must have not read the book.........
goddess1prevail at 1:31PM on Feb 4th 2008
33. Mo:
Do hiz nude ass
Linda at 1:37PM on Feb 4th 2008
34. Linda,
I'd... I'd rather not.
Mokele-Mobembe at 1:44PM on Feb 4th 2008
35. Bottom Lines!
What is the Bottom Line of the "Old Testament"
"The Kingdom Of God Is Within You!" Simple..
For the New Testament?
"Love thy Neighbor As Thyself"
For Islam?
In The Koran it states
"IN MATTTERS OF FAITH THERE SHALL BE NO COERCIAN"
GOOGLE THIS!
Terrible how people have PERVERTED THE MEANING
Of The Ancient Scribes.. The Knowledge they had..
and tried to give to future generations.
Seems Like the TRUTH Is really Lost for now...
Chandler Yergin at 1:45PM on Feb 4th 2008
36. brian says:
you atheist should restrain yourselves from this conversation number one because you don't believe and number two it does not concern you whatsoever. so why not stay out of the matter. you deny even god, so why concern yourself with this blog. go to africa, spend a year or two or more.
Could it be, brian, that you don't like those pain the ass facts standing in your way? Or maybe it embarrasses you when an atheist knows more about your religion than you?
Some of us(atheists) grew up in christian homes, some jewish homes, yet fail to believe still. Does this preclude us from being useful to the dialogue?
mac at 1:50PM on Feb 4th 2008
37. Jews for Jesus is not a new concept.
It's stupid, but not new.
mac at 1:52PM on Feb 4th 2008
38. this whole jesus as god thing is pure religous schizophrenia. jesus was a renegade rabbi. he flaunted the conventional with fresh but far left ideas and ideals. he made promises he could not keep. he became a cult figure, declaring his way to be the right way. his own people refuted his teachings and conspired to have him silenced forever. jesus also did not the 3 criteria to be called "messiah." besides, ratzinger, know that god is an atheist but uses the concept as a convenient fiction to perpetuate the myth of jesus-as-god. oh, let's not forget that other personality, the holy ghost.
boredwell at 1:53PM on Feb 4th 2008
39. Thanks Linda for correcting me - you would have thought all those CCD classes would have paid off, guess I wasn't paying attention. Duh.
TJ at 1:58PM on Feb 4th 2008
40. Linda,
I'd... I'd rather not.
Mokele-Mobembe at 1:44PM on Feb 4th 2008
--
I don't know Mo, look at the ears.
I bet he gives good aural.
mac at 1:58PM on Feb 4th 2008
41. Ratzinger was a nazi. Benedict was Ratzinger. Therefor, the pope is a nazi!
mac at 2:05PM on Feb 4th 2008
42. "His D'ozed Anus"
I concur Dr. Mobembe
Botts at 2:25PM on Feb 4th 2008
43. Religious people of Jesus' day seem to have made the same mistake as religious people are making today. That is, taking their ancestors words as truth, and trying to make what is known today align with what was known in the past. Religious people are afraid to believe the latest information available if it does not align with mankind's first thoughts of the possibility of a God, who he/she was or what he/she thought. That flies in the face of all knowledge except religion. How absurd. Imagine making all of Einstein's discoveries align with what was known to the caveman. That is the main reason why religion drags behind the advancement of mankind, and the teachings of all organized religions require antiquated thinking. Worshiping the bible as the word of God is an example of buying into the past, and the antiquated thinking of the past, while ignoring the living God that dwells within man, and is ever ready to lead mankind on a continuing search for spiritual truth.
Jerry Brown at 2:25PM on Feb 4th 2008
44. Isn't there more to the story of Jesus of Nazareth than the theology?
When asked who he was, Jesus simply revealed a fundamental truth, which neither Jew nor Christian or any other faith can claim exclusive ownership. "I and My Father are one." (JN 8-30) Thus Jesus revealed a fundamental truth...We are all spiritual beings, "gods" living in a physical world with a divine purpose.
Jesus backed up his statement by reciting Psalm 82:6 "I said, You are gods," which states we are all "Sons of God."
Don Daniel Ortiz
Author
"The 99 Success Secrets of Jesus" (Xulon Press)
www.SuccessSecretsOfJesus.com
Don Daniel Ortiz at 2:28PM on Feb 4th 2008
45. Brian, are you saying that only believers in the Greek and Roman gods should write about the Greek and Roman gods? Then that would exclude St. Augustine who wrote an extensive critique of the pagan religions in "The City of God".
emelpe at 2:30PM on Feb 4th 2008