Deeper waters

The Economist this week has an interesting piece on Jewish-Christian relations. It is a quick and fairly short treatment of the subject, if judged by the standards of theological publications, but does a better job on the issue than many in the secular press. And it ends with this wonderfully evocative passage:

In the mystical traditions of Christianity and Judaism (and indeed Islam) there is much reflection on the principle of “broken-heartedness”. This is not meant in the ordinary sense of sadness or despair. It is a spiritual state in which the hard shell of arrogance and self-centredness that encases the human heart somehow melts away in order for the light of divine love to come flooding in.

Through much of Christian history, Christians and Jews have encountered one another through the prism of arrogant, worldly power. If Christians can approach Jews with broken hearts—which is not the same as abandoning their own beliefs—the tragedies of history may, at some level, be transcended.

This is a wonderful point, and one to which I am especially sympathetic. And (I mean this as a compliment) it seems out of line - tragically out of line - with so much religion reporting in the mainstream secular press.
- posted by Anonymous @ 9:16 PM