Professor notes Christianity, Islam and Judaism share reverence for Abraham

By Linda Linonis | July 2, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

By LINDA M. LINONIS

LIBERTY

Jon D. Levenson, guest lecturer for the 17th annual Rabbi Samuel Meyer Memorial Lecture, acknowledged that Christianity, Islam and Judaism have many differences but they shared “a reverence for Abraham.”

Levenson, the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard Divinity School, addressed about 50 people who attended the annual lecture, a tribute to the religious leader who promoted Jewish/Christian dialogue. The program was Wednesday night at Temple El Emeth, 3970 Logan Way.

Levenson’s topic was “Abrahamic Theology in an Inter-Religious Context: Some Questions.” Levenson said the goal of Abrahamic theology is a “good one” because it “cuts down religious barriers.” Abraham is a common denominator, he said, to promote interfaith dialogue.

He said Abraham is called “our father Abraham” in Judaism, “father of faith” and “father of all who believe” in Christianity and “prophet ... forerunner of Mohammed” in Islam. They share “an admiration of Abraham,” he said.

He mentioned the Abraham Path Initiative, which is an international nonprofit dedicated to establishing a cultural tourism route through the Middle East as an intercultural meeting place for people of all religions and nationalities. The Abraham Path symbolically retraces Abraham’s footsteps and passes through the historic sites and holy places of the Middle East. Harvard University’s Global Negotiation Initiative founded the initiative.

Levenson said Abraham is a key figure in the three religions in that he is the “father of monotheism.”

“Abraham’s path is an intercultural meeting place,” Levenson said of the Biblical figure who “lived before the central activities of each tradition took place.”

Abraham, said to have lived for 175 years, lived before “the revelation of the Torah on Sinai, before the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ and before the angel directed Mohammed.” Levenson, in a handout, pointed out that Abraham practiced the Torah before it was given. Genesis 26:5 reads, “inasmuch as Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge: My commandments, My laws and My teachings.”

What’s key and complicated, Levenson said, is that Abraham “is absorbed into the central action.” He said in traditional rabbinic literature, Abraham is observing the commandments of the Torah before they were given.

Where did Abraham learn the Torah? Psalm 16:7 reads, “I bless the Lord who has guided me; my kidneys admonish me at night.” Levenson said the kidneys were “a source of thought” in biblical interpretation and this was a way that God was directly teaching Abraham.

Levenson cited Genesis 26:2-5, which recounts the Lord speaking to Abraham, “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and give to your descendants all these lands so that all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your offspring.”

Practically speaking, Levenson said this was not possible in that Abraham was old and his wife, Sarah, barren, and they had no children. But, he noted, the reference may not be about biological descendants but “about those who have faith” ... like the faith in God that Abraham displayed.

Levenson said those who demonstrated a faith like Abraham would be a “descendant through faith.”

“Islam deeply honors Abraham as a forerunner of Mohammed ... and one who practiced Islam before Islam existed,” Levenson said.

Abraham dismissed idolatry, that is, God represented in material form. “God is not an object in the world but the author of the world,” Levenson said of the shared belief in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. “God is a necessary being and all is contingent on him.”

“Abraham was a monotheist who believed in the oneness of God,” Levenson said, which is a prominent in Judaism and Islam. “In Islam, the triune nature of God is not kosher,” Levenson said. Abraham believed “a covenant with God is unbreakable,” he said.

Judaism and Christianity, he continued, have Genesis in common but that’s not true for Islam. “Spiritually, it’s a common Abraham,” Levenson said. Islam has different narratives.

Rabbi Joseph Schonberger of Temple El Emeth welcomed the gathering and Rabbi Joel Berman, a board member of the Meyer lecture series, introduced the speaker. The Rev. Nick Mager, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Youngstown, moderated the question and answer session.

The Rev. George Balasko, Rabbi Schonberger and the Rev. Mr. Mager offered a threefold interfaith blessing to conclude the program.

About the lectures

Background: The Meyer Memorial Lecture Series is made possible by the Rabbi Samuel Meyer Memorial Trust. The trust was established in 1994 to honor the memory of the late Samuel Meyer, rabbi emeritus of Temple El Emeth in Liberty, who died in 1982. Rabbi Meyer served as rabbi of Temple El Emeth and its predecessor congregations in Youngstown from 1971 until his retirement in 1990.

Interfaith interest: Rabbi Meyer had an interest in Jewish-Christian dialogues and the lecture series takes place annually to foster continuing interfaith discussion in the Mahoning Valley. Rabbi Meyer and the Rev. George Balasko, pastor of St. Ann Church in East Palestine, co-founded the local Jewish-Christian Dialogue group nearly 40 years ago and it continues to this day.

2011 speaker: Jon D. Levenson, the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard Divinity School since 1988, was this year’s Meyer lecturer. Levenson is a specialist in the Hebrew Bible and he concentrates on its interpretation including its reinterpretations in the “rewritten Bible” of Second Temple Judaism and rabbinic midrash. He teaches a seminar in the use of medieval Jewish commentaries for purposes of modern biblical exegesis. Levenson is particularly interested in the philosophical and theological issues involved in biblical studies. Much of his work centers on the relationship of Judaism and Christianity. He has been active in Jewish-Christian dialogue.