Winter 1984 - 1985 - Quarterly Review

QUARTERLY REVIEW, WINTER 1984
repetition? Say simply 'the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/ The
prayer, however, must call God the God of each patriarch separately
because their experiences of the Eternal One were each different/'
Dialogue's function, for me, is not the eradication of different ways
to God or experiences of Him/Her, but a stirring opportunity to clarify
and rejuvenate one's own "standing before God" in a framework
which validates the rousing finale of Psalms, "Everything that hath
breath shall praise the Eternal" (Ps. 150:6). In dialogue we see one
another taking our faith, our religious heritages, and our beliefs
seriously. Dialogue cannot take place among "devil's advocates." It
can only occur between people with a passion for the particular and a
will to share the insights particular "ways to God" offer; but those
"ways" must really be their ways.
Dialogue is a process in which, for all our differences, we try to
understand and develop sensitivities. It is a means to get beyond
stereotypes which proclaim Christians cruel Crusaders and Jews and
others aspiritual infidels. It is a situation in which we come to
recognize that "those others really mean it" in terms of their faith
commitments, just as "we" do. Because that is so, we become more
compassionate and comprehending regarding our differences,
though we may never give them up.
The very term "dialogue" assumes two voices. Differences make
two voices, or more, possible. Once we value the people we talk with,
we get beyond trying to swallow them up into unrelieved sameness.
We behave as God did at the time of creation—we create diversity and
proclaim it "very good."
Jeremiah dreamed of an age where people would cease teaching
each other "know the Lord" in the voice of command and
domination. He foresaw a time when all would know God, the great
and the small, each in their own way. Perhaps, we have a chance to
help speed the fulfillment of that vision by open, sensitive,
nonmanipulative, and pluralistic dialogue.
NOTES
1. Jewish tradition teaches us that all of humanity is linked to God through the Noahidic
covenant, which obliges mankind to seven commandments regarding religion, societal
order, sexual morality, and kindness to animals.
2. The quotation from Pesikta Rabbati ends as follows: "If a heretic should say to you,
'There are two gods,' respond thus, 'He is the God who revealed Himself at the Red Sea; He
is the same God who appeared at Sinai.' "
3. The word wa-yinnafash in Hebrew is rendered as "and He rested." However, it is related
to the Hebrew word nefesh, soul, and could be translated "and He was souled."
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