Winter 1984 - 1985 - Quarterly Review

HESCHEL'S SIGNIFICANCE
Karl Rahner, that" 'ultimately God effected the production of the Old
Testament books to the extent that they were to have a certain
function and authority in regard to the New Testament.' " 5 1
Against
such a view Heschel insisted, again and again, that the Hebrew Bible
is primary for Christians as much as Jews, because Jesus' understanding
of God was the Jewish understanding of God, Jesus'
preaching was about Torah and the Prophets, and the Christian
liturgy is permeated with the Psalms. Heschel's conviction is being
validated today by the best Christian biblical scholars. 52 We might ask,
however, is it really validation of Heschel, or instead, Heschel's
influence on these scholars?
My last point is closely related to the second. More perhaps than
anyone else Heschel has opened up to Christians the splendors of
Jewish tradition—of the Bible, the sabbath, Hassidism, the rich life of
East European Jews prior to the destruction, the mystical meaning of
Israel. "To encounter him was to 'feel' the force and spirit of Judaism,
the depth and grandeur of it. He led one, even thrust one, into the
mysterious greatness of the Jewish tradition." 53
Allow me to quote
here some words from the guiding spirit of this symposium, Dr. John
Merkle, In a letter to me, Dr. Merkle wrote, "Simply by living and
teaching as he did, Heschel may have done more to inspire an
enhanced appreciation of Judaism among non-Jews than any other
Jew in post-biblical times . . . ." 54
These words resonated in me at the time, I had a hunch they were
true; but I was then only just beginning my work on this paper. My
research over the past months has confirmed that hunch. If Dr. Merkle
is indeed correct, then this is, I believe, Abraham Heschel's greatest
contribution to the reconciliation of our two communities. For I have
long been convinced that the greatest hope for achieving this
reconciliation, the surest antidote against Christian anti-Judaism, is for
Christians to discover the splendor of a Jewish tradition alive today; so
profoundly alive that it can give birth to an Abraham Heschel.
Let me close with words which Heschel wrote about another man, a
dear friend, Reinhold Niebuhr, at the end of a penetrating critique of
Niebuhr's writings on the mystery of evil. The words seem to me to
apply also to the man who wrote them:
His spirituality combines heaven and earth, as it were. It does not
separate soul from body, or mind from the unity of man's physical
and spiritual life. His way is an example of one who does justly,
loves mercy, and walks humbly with his God, an example of the
unity of worship and living." 55
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