Jewish Spirituality : A Brief Introduction for Christians [Paperback]

Lawrence Kushner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2001

A window into the Jewish soul--written especially for Christians.

"I invite you to explore with me some of the rich and varied expressions of the Jewish spiritual imagination. It is a tradition that may at times, for Christians, feel strangely familiar and will, for Christians and Jews, always challenge you to see yourself and your world through a new lens." --from the Introduction

Jewish spirituality is an approach to life that encourages us to become aware of God's presence and purpose, even in unlikely places. "This world and everything in it is a manifestation of God's presence," says Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. "Our challenge and goal is to find it and then act in such a way as to help others find it too."

In this special book, Kushner guides Christians through the rich wisdom of Jewish spirituality. He tailors his unique style to address Christians' questions, and, in doing so, opens new windows on their own faith.

Jewish Spirituality is a window into the Jewish soul that people of all faiths can understand and enjoy. From the Talmud and Torah, to "repentance" (teshuva) and "repairing the world" (tikkun olam), Kushner shows all of us how we can use the fundamentals of Jewish spirituality to enrich our own lives.

This intriguing book offers an entry into the center of Jewish spirituality. Kushner explains its key elements and the ways in which Christians--and people of all faiths and backgrounds--can bring them into their everyday lives.

In Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Introduction for Christians you will explore:

* Holy things that happen around us every day
* Invisible lines of relation that connect us to each other and to God
* Torah--a blueprint for all of creation
* Everyday, holy deeds that mend the world
* God's Oneness
* How the Jewish experience of Teshuva is similar to the Christian experience of Jesus

...and much more.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One of the defining religious trends of our time is the gradual reconciliation of Christianity and Judaism, which usually takes the form of churches (most notably, the Vatican) accepting responsibility for the anti-Semitic aspects of their worship, theology, and history. No amount of official proclamation, however, can reconcile these religions until individual Christians and Jews recognize their common religious heritage and learn to respect the differences between their traditions. Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Introduction for Christians is an important resource for cultivating such awareness. The author, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, has long been known for his sophisticated, accessible books on Jewish spirituality (including Honey from the Rock and God Was in This Place and I, I Did Not Know). His definition of spirituality, which loops and spirals in rabbinic fashion, includes the following observations: "Spirituality is religion experienced intimately.... Spirituality is where you and God meet--and what you do about it." And Jewish spirituality, he writes, is distinguished as "an approach to life in which we strive to become aware of God's presence and purpose--even and especially in what might strike the casual observer as gross or material things." This, he points out, is a fact that bridges the gap between Judaism and Christianity: the incarnation of Christ, as one pastor explains to Kushner, demands that believers "continuously seek to find God in every person." Beginning with a summary of Jewish ideas about Creation, and then exploring topics such as the Torah, the Commandments, and the nature of God, Kushner expertly defines many of the similarities and differences between the religions. His lively, storytelling style makes Jewish Spirituality a pleasurable and challenging book that would serve well as a personal devotional, a Bible-study or Sunday-school text, or an occasion for Jewish and Christian friends to set aside time to learn more about each other's faith. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly

As the dust-jacket blurbs from Peter Gomes and Joan Chittister suggest, Rabbi Kushner's explorations of Jewish mysticism and spirituality have long attracted Christian readers. At last, he has written a book designed especially for Christians. However, it's not quite clear how this book's content differs from Kushner's other volumes (Honey from the Rock; Invisible Lines of Connection). Much of the content the midrash about Reuven and Shimon crossing the Red Sea, for example, or the discussion of Torah as a "blueprint for creation" will be familiar to Kushner fans; they are among his favorite motifs. The afterword does explain some of the differences between Judaism and Christianity: Kushner sketches a distinction between Jewish Torah and Christian nomos; he reminds readers that Judaism has no incarnate God; and he explains that Judaism is not a proselytizing religion. Christian readers may find some sections of this afterword illuminating, but they may take issue with other passages, such as Kushner's insistence that Judaism is this-worldly and Christianity is other-worldly. This short book is in many ways classic Kushner: the writing is felicitous, the spiritual insights often profound and the rendering of complicated kabbalistic ideas into simple prose (intelligible not only to Christians but also to Jews not steeped in Jewish text) praiseworthy. The book's flaw is also that it is too much classic Kushner a promising project that recycles old ideas for a new, ecumenical audience.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing (August 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580231500
• ISBN-13: 978-1580231503
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #374,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Good Company, December 16, 2005

By 

JAD (The Sunshine State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jewish Spirituality : A Brief Introduction for Christians (Paperback)

Along comes an illustrious and highly respected rabbi, with a book to give us a look at Biblical roots of the spirituality of our Jewish sisters and brothers. The primary argument of the book is that Christians can appreciate and benefit from Jewish spirituality, so that the fresh insights found there might well inform our own spiritual lives. Timid and cautious, we may ask, "Dare we read it? Not to worry! We will feel right at home, if we have a high view of God whose Word speaks to us in Scripture, as well as a sense of playfulness about our own journey of faith. Why these? Because these are key elements in Jewish spirituality as introduced to Christians by Lawrence Kushner.

Lawrence Kushner was for about 30 years the rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Sudbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Widely regarded as one of the most creative religious writers in America, he is the author of numerous articles and ten books about personal and institutional spiritual renewal within Judaism, including Eyes Remade for Wonder, God Was In This Place and I Did Not Know It and Honey in the Rock. Now rabbi in residence of Hebrew Union College in New York, he is a regular commentator on NPR's "All Things Considered."

The book is arranged in four sections dealing with the broad topics of Creation, Torah, Commandment, and The Holy One. In a series of brief and highly readable chapters within each section, Rabbi Kushner draws us in to the realm of stories-delightful, entertaining, evocative stories with a purpose. Parable might be the term we know best for these tales that deliver new ideas, insights and questions about the God we love and serve. As we engage our imagination with these stories, they allow God to guide our awareness of the "...one world that is simultaneously material and spiritual."

Particularly helpful is a section on Biblical interpretation, in which Kushner relates that there are four ways of meeting God's written Word. These he lists in a section entitled "Orchard of Words". The reader of Torah is encouraged to find four layers in every pericope, based on the four letters of the Hebrew word for orchard, (pardes). Layer One is the surface meaning-or simple story. Layer Two offers a hint of something in our own lives that intersect with the text. Layer Three is interpreting-finding lessons that can inform our lives. The Fourth Layer is the secret layer, according to Kushner, "even when seen, its meaning remains mysterious." Even though Kushner confines his description of these layers to Torah, these same layers of awareness could be applied by preachers, teachers and Bible students throughout the larger landscape of Biblical truth.

This book stems from a lifelong friendship and ongoing conversation between the author and an Episcopalian rector, who for many years served a congregation near Kushner's own. The touching story of their empathy and friendship is chronicled in the book's introduction, where Kushner responds to his friend's compassion in this way: "And then it dawned on me...that's what it means to say that God can take the form of a human being... Right here across the table from me was a truly holy man, one in whom the spirit had become flesh." (Page 16). On your own spiritual journey, you would be in good company with Lawrence Kushner as a fellow traveler.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A complete accessible text, January 9, 2002

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jewish Spirituality : A Brief Introduction for Christians (Paperback)

In Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Introduction For Christians, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner assists members of the Christian community to better understand Judaism in general, and basic Jewish concepts of spirituality in particular. In a complete accessible text, Rabbi Kushner explores how we are all connected to each other and to God, how the Torah is a blueprint for all of creation, how "holy deeds" are required every day by each of us in order to successfully mend the world, the nature of God's "Oneness", how the Jewish experience of teshuva is similar to the Christian experience of Jesus, and a great deal more. Rabbi Kushner also dispels a number of misconceptions about Judaism common among Christians. Jewish Spirituality is an enthusiastically recommended introduction for those with Christian backgrounds who are seeking a better understanding of Judaism and its relation to their own Christian faith from a Jewish perspective.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Theology, December 22, 2003

By 

J. Miller (LA, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jewish Spirituality : A Brief Introduction for Christians (Paperback)

Rabbi Kushner's "Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Introduction for Christians" is a light introduction to Jewish meditations, but I'm not so sure it's Jewish spirituality. At its most profound moments, it doesn't seem Jewish at all. It's more like Buddha with a yarmulka on.

Make no mistakes: it's a fun and easy read. In less than 100 pages Kushner introduces us to playful Jewish reflections on the Torah (like the story of the two men walking through the Red Sea without realizing where they are), thoughtful word plays (like the acronym on the Hebrew word for "garden"), and motivational meditations on our need to serve others and let God work through us (like the story of the rich man leaving bread at the synagogue. This is a cute collection of stories and illustrations, a few of which will give you pause for reflection.

However, at it's heart, I'm not sure that most orthodox Jews would embrace every word of this. While Kushner notes that it is difficult to define Judaism, he nonetheless includes sweeping sentences like "Jews think this" and "Jewish mysticism teaches that." And the things he credits to all Judaism include, in referece to creation, the belief that "It's all God." Or he will say, you must be fused into the divine until the "borders of your self are erased." While this is spirituality, I'm not so sure it's Jewish.

In the end, it's a quick, easy, fun read. But if this is your first exposure to Judaism, don't stop reading.