Is Christianity showing its age?

Reimagining our faith

(Note: in this blog I will use “Jews” to refer to “religious Jews.”)

For many if not most Christians, the Bible is central to their faith. But to be honest, it would be helpful if Christians were more Jewish in how they approach their sacred texts. Religious Jews view the Hebrew Bible as the ultimate source of all Jewish existence. And yet, over the centuries, generations of Jewish people yielded their Bible to sweeping interpretations and adaptations.

CHANGING TO STAY THE SAME

Professor Isaiah M. Gafni of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem lists some of the adaptations and reinterpretations that stand out in the history of Judaism:

• The Hebrew Bible mandates worship through animals slaughtered and burnt on an altar. Yet for 2000 years Jews refrained from such practice.
• Worship was to be in one central location, the Temple in Jerusalem. Yet for 2000 years Jews have worshipped in synagogues wherever a Jewish community is present.
• Leadership in Judaism uses a rabbinic model, even though there is no mention of rabbis in the Hebrew Bible.
• Throughout most of their history, Jews have expected a restoration to the glory days of David and Solomon. This apocalyptic event is to be led by a David-like figure known as a messiah. However, the actual details of this anticipated phenomenon are not laid out anywhere in biblical literature.
• Many Jews firmly believe in an afterlife with divine rewards and punishment. But once again the concept of heaven and hell is not formed in the Hebrew Scriptures.
• To be a religious Jew today is to believe in a coming resurrection of the dead, something not articulated in their scriptures.

All the above-mentioned adaptations are foundational building blocks in much of rabbinic Judaism. And the inconvenience of these additions not being explicit in the biblical literature is inconsequential to Jewish life and practice.

“Adapt or Die”

Gafni is relentless in making this point: Judaism survived because Judaism adapted. The Hebrew Bible never ceased to be reinterpreted by each generation of Jews. The challenges of an ever-changing world demanded the hard work of retelling and reimagining the biblical text.

I’d invite you to think with me on this question: How does the source (the Bible) remain sacred and yet updated and therefore relevant to every generation? My hope for 21st Century Christianity is that Christians can reimagine their faith tradition while still tethered to their sacred text and shared past.

An old story of two old men

The truth is that much of rabbinic Judaism’s adaptations have no clear scriptural basis. The rabbinic community finds playful ways to acknowledge this potentially embarrassing reality. For example, there’s a well-told tale about one of Judaism’s greatest rabbis—Akiva. This old sage lived and taught a generation after Jesus. The story is found in the Babylonian Talmud, a massive volume of work put together in the 6th Century C.E.:

When Moses ascended on high to receive the Torah, he found the blessed Holy One, sitting and attaching little crowns to the letters. Moses said to him: “Master of the Universe, what is holding you back from giving the Torah?”

God answered, “There will be a man in the future, at the end of a number of generations, and Akiva the son of Joseph is his name. He will interpret heaps and heaps of laws from just the tips of these crowns.”

Moses said, “Master of the Universe, show him to me!”

God replied, “Turn around!”

Moses went and sat down in the back row of Akiva’s classroom. But he did not understand what they were saying and he was distressed. When they came upon a certain matter the students asked Rabbi Akiva: “Master, from where do you know this?” and he said to them, “It is a law given to Moses at Sinai” and Moses was comforted.

Moses returned and came before the blessed Holy One and said, “Master of the Universe, you have a man like that and you’re giving the Torah through me!” God replied, “Quiet! This is what I have decided. . . .”

My interpretation

Here is what I think of this story from the Talmud. Moses went up the mountain to receive the Torah, and he found God applying finishing touches of the document. In the traditional calligraphy of a Torah scroll, eight different letters in the Hebrew alphabet have special tips called “crowns.” In our story, God is waiting until he finishes this calligraphic finesse before handing the Torah over to Moses. Moses is confused. How can it be that the entire revelation of Torah is being delayed because of this small matter!

But, God explains, these “crowns” are not merely for show. In the future a man named Akiva will come along who will be able to use these little crowns to interpret “heaps and heaps” of laws. Moses is amazed and longs to see this singular individual. So in the blink of an eye Moses is transported to the back of Akiva’s classroom.

Sitting there, Moses is disturbed. Akiva is teaching from the Torah, but Moses understands nothing that is being said. How is that possible? Moses is the one who brought the Torah down to the people after the Sinai revelation. It is only when Akiva cites Moses as the source that Moses feels better. We’re not told why this mention “comforts” him, only that it does.

Why the story matters to me

The compilers of the Talmud seek to put the stamp of approval on what Akiva has done. The old rabbi is reinterpreting foundational texts in the presence of Moses who does not understand the interpretation. And what’s even more striking, Moses doesn’t complain to God about what Akiva is teaching. In fact, Moses is humbled by the fact that this old sage has moved forward with a deeper understanding of the Sinai revelation.

Barry W. Holtz of Yale: “Every time I revisit this story, I remain amazed that the rabbis who composed it so long ago were well aware of the necessary evolution of Torah over time. Even Moses—the person closest to God’s revelation—even Moses will not be able to understand the Torah as its interpretations grow through history.”

Will Christianity adapt?

How do Christians get to the place where they are humbled by another’s interpretation of the sacred texts? Not threatened, but humbled!

The Talmudic rabbis saw the Torah as the work of God through the heart and mind of a human being, Moses. The sacred text was authoritative and immeasurably deep. And because both are true, Holtz concludes, “The Torah could be endlessly deciphered because it was not to be taken at face value.”

What? Did he say “not to be taken at face value”? He did!

Or die?

If Christianity is to evolve, then Christians must be set free to reinterpret our sacred texts for our time. The Moses/Akiva story asserts that a foundational text critical for our collective identity as humans cannot remain stagnant.

Finally, at the end of our story about two old men, why doesn’t God answer Moses’ question about sending the Torah through Akiva? Here’s Holtz’s reflection: “I think the answer is because that would suggest that interpretation would end with Akiva. But the point is that it doesn’t end with Akiva, nor with the rabbis who edited the Talmud years after Akiva. It never ends.”