Sarx

Rabbi Shapiro has posted a four part interview he did with a student. It’s very enjoyable. This is also the first time I’ve read the full header on his page. “At its heart is my conviction that, Dorothy not withstanding, when it comes to religion most of us are still very much in Kansas.”

Interview Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Among the many parts that I liked were these two questions:

Q: Doesn’t that make you a Christian?

R: Not at all. A Christian is one who makes a god of Jesus. For me he is a great sage, rabbi, and prophet, but not a god. When allowed to read the words of Jesus as they come down to us with the awareness of first century Jewish life under brutal Roman occupation, Jesus is clearly a son of his people, and a lover of God, neighbor, and stranger.

Q: I read that you take the Bible seriously but not literally. What does that mean?

R: I believe that the heart of the Bible is myth, and that myth is among the most powerful tools we humans have for excavating the deepest layers of consciousness where the awareness of the nonduality of God is felt most strongly. A literal reading of the Bible robs it of its mythic depth and reduces it to nonsense. While you cannot ignore the literal layer of the text— Moses encounters God at the Burning Bush not at Wal-Mart— sticking to the literal level alone has for centuries been a sign of illiteracy among Jews.