Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Culture Quote of the Day - how does Jesus impact our religious identity?

"I have learned that when telling this story, I have to explain that I have not converted to Christianity. Yes, Naim Ateek had brought Jesus's message to me, and it was to my Jewish identity that his words spoke. I saw Jesus, in the words of theologian Marcus Borg, as 'a social prophet like the great social prophets of Israel' (1999, 72). After my return from Palestine and Israel that summer, I returned home one Sunday afternoon following a presentation to a church group. It was one of a string of appearances and meetings that month in churches and with Christian groups. My wife turned to me, and, only half joking (after thirty years of marriage she has learned to expect the unexpected), asked, 'Are you becoming Christian?' I had not been prepared for the question. But the answer was right there. I said, 'No, I'm becoming Jewish'."
Mark Braverman, Fatal Embrace: Christians, Jews, and the Search for Peace in the Holy Land

This quote is interesting, and the book is fascinating, the gripping story of an American Jew (the grandson of a fifth-generation Palestinian Jew) and his quest for his personal identity as a Jew, in light of becoming aware first-hand of the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians.

One of the interesting things about Braverman and his book, is that he has ventured out of the (ethnocentric) Jewish context of his early years, and the corresponding view of Zionism and Israel, to a much broader (ethnorelative) perspective and experience, in which he has gone - in his words - more deeply into his Jewish identity, but in the context of connecting with Arabs, Christians, Muslims, and different perspectives on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In his book, he quotes a wide range of authors and refers to a wide range of friends and acquaintances - a range that could leave the reader not certain of what exactly Braverman's identity is.

And in this particular quote, I find it interesting that time with Christians and exposure to (a Christian perspective on) Jesus, has had the impact in Braverman's life of a new, deeper, more full experience of being Jewish.

No comments:

Post a Comment