Ten Books That Are Keepers: 1. The Prophets, A J Heschel

A long time ago now, I came across references to A J Heschel in the early writings of Walter Brueggemann. For 40 years I have read both these men, each in their different ways virtuosi in their interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Brueggemann is for another post. For now I want to say something about Heschel's classic volume on The Prophets. 

I used to have a battered paperback copy, and one day I found this robust hardback copy in a used bookshop. The price was reasonable, but I would probably have bought it even if the price was unreasonable. I was reading some of it again today. It confirmed what I've thought for some time; Rabbi Heschel's own writing is informed by the poetic and prophetic, and is fuelled by pathos and passion.

Inside the front board is an ex libris label, with the name Stanley Gevirtz. I decided to go chasing this previous owner and this is what I found. He first studied drama and literature and became an expert in Semitic poetry, its syntax and style. He was "an outstanding classroom teacher and captivating public lecturer, whose public delivery bordered on the poetic."

That description can equally apply to Heschel, and I find it a poignant connection between these two remarkable teachers that they crafted sentences by using words the way a jeweller creates a setting and selects and positions the stones to their most startling effect. 

The Prophets is a rich book, quite unlike other treatments of the Hebrew prophetic consciousness. For example, Gerhard Von Rad's volume, The Message of the Prophets, has its own deserved reputation, but as an historical critical study that seeks to do justice to the theology and rhetorical traditions of the Hebrew prophets. It remains essential reading.

But Heschel is something else altogether. The most famous chapter in the book became set reading in many Protestant seminaries in the mid 1960's - 'The Theology of Pathos'. Years before Moltmann's The Crucified God, and the revived interest in post-Holocaust theology of in divine suffering as a serious and essential corrective to an exaggerated theology of divine impassibility, Heschel wrestled like Jacob with the theological nexus of tragedy, suffering, covenant faithfulness, steadfast love, and the witness of the Hebrew prophets to the passion and pathos of God.

Coincidentally I recently read an essay on the covenant between God and Israel, and how covenant theology is an essential dimension of Christian atonement theology. Amongst the insights pressed by the author was the relational basis of covenant, and in investment of faithful loyalty on both sides to ensure the integrity and durability of that relationship. Heschel's treatment of divine pathos takes with utmost seriousness the nature of divine love, mercy, judgement and wrath. God suffers when the covenant relationship is broken, and divine faithfulness is exploited, and trusting love becomes divine heartbreak. 

Here are the last words of Heschel's astonishing chapter:

"The divine pathos is the unity of the eternal and the temporal, of meaning and mystery, of the metaphysical and the historical. It is the real basis of the relation between God and man, of the correlation of Creator and creation, of the dialogue between the Holy One of Israel and His people. The characteristic of the prophets is not foreknowledge of the future, but insight into the present pathos of God."  (The Prophets, page 231) 

The bibliophile in me treasures the footprints of those who have gone before me in the journey through a book like this. That wee label inside the front board, tells me where the book was bought; and the Ex Libris tells me who bought it. Stanley Gervitz I have no doubt curated this book with respectful care. This scholar of Hebrew poetry, handled the magnum opus of the Rabbi who walked to Selma with MLK, who was frequently caught up in protesting the Vietnam War, and who wrote the classic work that expounds not only the prophetic texts of the Hebrew Bible, but also the aching, hopeful heart of the Holy One of Israel. 

 

Comments

[Jason Goroncy]

Beautiful post, Jim.

[Damien Lawrie]

This was a lovely read and a welcome reminder that I really do need to read Heschel.

Thanks for sharing, as always, and I look forward to the journey of your 10 books. - Damien