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Editorial
The Editors
n 1997 it will be 25 years since Abraham Joshua Heschel died - time for a new generation to emerge. He is known as a wise teacher, an inspired writer and revered spiritual guide. His influence extended beyond his own community during his life-time - his part in the Second Vatican Council is well known.
The books he published and the articles he wrote are still in circulation but the problems of the 1990s are different from those of the 60s and 70s. Society has changed. This issue of Sidic seeks to discover how this impressive man still influences Jews and Christians two decades after his death.
The term Prophet is used rather loosely today. In its biblical context it means one who spoke the word of the Lord and who interceded with God for the people. The Prophetical books had an enormous influence on Heschel. In his book The Prophets, he wrote:
This book is about some of the most disturbing people who have ever lived: the men whose inspiration brought the Bible into being - the men whose image is our refuge in distress, and whose voice and vision sustain our faith. (1)
He also wrote:
What the prophets proclaim is God's intimate relatedness to man. It is this fact that puts all of life in a divine perspective, in which the rights of man become, as it were, divine prerogatives. Man stands under God's concern. (2)
This issue of Sidic reveals that Rabbi Heschel proclaimed this same message by his life and work. In this sense he is a Prophet.
Heschel's influence on two crucial areas of modern society are examined here. Rabbi Weiner calls this man whom he never met "his teacher", in the sense that he is the disciple of this master. It seems clear that Heschel still influences the Jewish Community in what Christians might call "Jewish Spirituality" but what Heschel calls "Depth Theology".
Professor Baccarini focuses on what is perhaps the most striking characteristic of our times: the fact of pluralism and the struggle to become a society that welcomes and esteems its richness. Rabbi Heschel grounds this ideal in God who is the "essence" of every human person. Through this conviction A.J. Heschel has an essential teaching for contemporary society. This great human being is relevant not only for Jews and Christians but for all who are dedicated to esteeming the "other" as a person and an image of God and to ensuring a future for our world.
(1) Abraham J. Heschel, The Prophets, Harper & Row, 1962, p.ix.
(2) Ibid. p. 219.
