A Rabbi Talks with Jesus

I've just finished reading the second chapter of "A Rabbi Talks with Jesus," and I can see why it was recommended by Pope Benedict. It is serious discussion of another faith by a man, Rabbi Jacob Neusner, who takes faith seriously. The discussion does not start from the premise that, at heart, we all believe the same things anyway. Rather, Rabbi Neusner points out the Christ's teachings only make sense if you accept that he is the Christ, the Son of God.

Now, Neusner praises certain of Christ's teachings as being in accord with Judaism -- and even deepening his Jewish faith. Jesus' commandments to avoid not only murder, adultery and theft, but also anger, lust and envy are, as Neusner says, a way of putting a "fence around the Torah." However, Jesus also makes the shocking (to a non-Christian) claim that He has "come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother...."

Consider that the Old Testament prescribes death for those who dishonor their mother or father. This is parallel to the honor due to God. If Christ demands that we place Himself above even our families, and He also claims to fulfill the Torah, then He must be God. He cannot simply be a rabbi or a prophet. To follow Jesus, then, cannot mean simply cherry-picking or admiring those teachings which we like. To be a follower of Jesus, we must accept Him in his entirety.

This parallels what Pope Benedict writes in "Charity in Truth."

What eclecticism and cultural levelling have in common is the separation of culture from human nature. Thus, cultures can no longer define themselves within a nature that transcends them, and man ends up being reduced to a mere cultural statistic. When this happens, humanity runs new risks of enslavement and manipulation.

Cultures, like faiths, cannot be endlessly jumbled and recombined without losing their meaning. Cultures can come into contact with one another, and there is such a thing as healthy cultural exchange. Cultures have context and meaning. They shape the way people think and live. If we flatten cultures, and ignore the significance of their differences, then we lose the ability to judge what is good or bad in each of them. We become, as Vaclav Havel warned, so open-minded that our brains fall out of our heads.

Neusner avoids the temptation of dismissing differences as unimportant. We all want to be "tolerant." Unfortunately, there is an unspoken assumption is that respect and tolerance means never challenging others. Rabbi Neusner is certainly respectful in his comments on Christ. He is also challenging. His challenge, though, is one that affirms his respect for the faith of others. In doing so, he enriches his audience, regardless of their beliefs, by respecting them enough to be open, honest and clear about what it is that he believes.