Unveiled Unfettered by "The Prophets"

"It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion — its message becomes meaningless."
"In regard to cruelties committed in the name of a free society, some are guilty, while all are responsible."

"When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people."

 
"Therefore, I would say the spirit of the prophet, the message of the prophet, is very much alive. The kind of men who combine very deep love, very powerful dissent, painful rebuke, with unwavering hope."--Abraham Joshua Heschel

Stern: But that raises the question, though, if you're saying that if God were to control every aspect of man's life, it would not be living, then that raises the question: why pray to God, then? If God is not going to interfere, if God is not going to intervene, if God is not going to help, what is the role of prayer?

Heschel: First of all, let us not misunderstand the nature of prayer, particularly in Jewish tradition. The primary purpose of prayer is not to make requests. The primary purpose of prayer is to praise, to sing, to chant. Because the essence of prayer is a song, and man cannot live without a song.

Prayer may not save us, but prayer may make us worthy of being saved. Prayer is not requesting. There is a partnership of God and man. God needs our help. I would define man as a divine need. God is in need of man.

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Warsaw-born American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians of the 20th century. His book The Prophets started out as his Ph.D. thesis in German, which he later expanded and translated into English. Originally published in a two-volume edition, this work studies the books of the Hebrew prophets. It covers their life and the historical context that their missions were set in, summarizes their work, and discusses their psychological state. In it Heschel forwards what would become a central idea in his theology: that the prophetic (and, ultimately, Jewish) view of God is best understood not as anthropomorphic (that God takes human form) but rather as anthropopathic — that God has human feelings.

In Unveiled I will be tracing the face of God through an anthropopathic lens. What was He feeling as the Story unfolds? In Part One I will develop the book using the traditional distinctions of the Jewish Scriptures from the Story (Teachings and Torah) to the Prophets (Conversation and Internal Thoughts) to the Writings (Wisdom Literature).

Part Two of Unveiled has to do with the resolution of God on the other side of silence. The resolution is like a rock rolling down a hill that culminates like an entry into the twilight zone. This is how we are to understand the perspective of anticipatory Jewry during the time of Jesus. This is the surprise ending to the mystery unveiled by the Christ, spoke of extensively by the Apostle Paul. The revelation of Jesus was likened unto the opening of a curtain on stage. Revealing, surprising and disorienting to the traditional powers. The Christ event is the commencement of one way (Christianity) and the conclusion of another (Judaism).

We can make the Bible about whatever we want it to be, we have in the past, we do in the present, and we may in the future, but I am convinced of this: The resolution of the dilemma of God, and the release of the cosmos from the tyranny of the fall, is the key question answered in the Bible. It is the purpose of the Bible. All else hinges on this issue...all else falls like so many dominos, once this issue is brought to terms and laid to rest. This is Biblical, Pauline language for the work of God in Christ. The curtain has fallen and the epilogue is being played out.

The Jewish names of The Tanakh (Hebrew: תנ״ך‎) (also Tanach, IPA: [taˈnax] or [təˈnax], Tenakh or Tenak) are formed through three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching," also known as the Five Books of Moses), the Nevi'im  ("Prophets"), and the Ketuvim ("Writings") which together form the TaNaKh. The culmination will be the central moment of the history of religion--at the cross, tomb, and appearences.

Enclosure