109 - The Genesis of Faith: The Depth Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel & Mutuality: The Vision of Martin Buber

The Genesis of Faith: The Depth
Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel
By John C. Merkle
New York, Macmillan, 1995. 292 pp. $19.95.

Mutuality: The Vision of Martin Buber
By Donald L. Berry
Albany, State University of New York Press, 1985. 121 pp. $29.50.

The two books under consideration in this review are strikingly similar on several counts, and those similarities can lead us both to the very qualities that make both of these books well worth our attention and also the particular issue we might raise in contention with the approach of the two authors. Nevertheless, the similarities also cover over the real differences between them. Aside from the different subjects of concern, differences in style, purpose, and complexity make recommendations different for each volume.

John Merkle, who presents here his second book on Heschel, provides a central thematic to explore Heschel's scholarly life, writing, and project, namely, depth theology. Merkle's effort is extraordinary for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the painstaking coverage of Heschel's corpus. For the uninitiated, Merkle sketches such an extensive review of Heschel's thought and the reflections of commentators that one cannot long remain uninitiated. The long chapter on "The Jewish

110 - The Genesis of Faith: The Depth Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel & Mutuality: The Vision of Martin Buber

Tradition" is especially noteworthy. In it, Merkle strives to bridge the gap between the obviously academic pursuit suggested by the thematic of a depth theology and the world of Judaism that hardly places great emphasis on systematic organization of thought.

The notion of depth theology, gleaned from Heschel's writings, flavors the entire book, making Heschel's method of doing theology more obvious than is usually the case in Heschel's own work. Depth theology is that method that plumbs the sources of religious faith; for Heschel, particularly Jewish faith. This method has obvious similarity to phenomenology of religion, since the point is to search the phenomena of faith in order to discover its deeper logic. By exploring Heschel as he does, Merkle achieves a subtle but significant insight, that Heschel stands within a larger, academically accepted sphere of scholarship. For Merkle, Heschel becomes the bridge between the particular world of Judaism and the academic world and, correspondingly, between the private world of religion and the public realm of reason.

Donald Berry's effort to unfold new areas of Martin Buber's thought also seeks to focus on method as a way of interlocking diverse areas of Buber's work. Berry chooses to call this method a theology (or philosophy?) of mutuality, a mutuality that applies equally to the world of nature as to the world of the human. Mutuality is that character of interrelating that can become a style of relation most notably expressed by Buber's phrase "I-Thou." Naturally, to make nature a "thou" is clearly a different matter than to assume that a neighbor, a spouse, a friend is a "thou." Nevertheless, Berry contends that the character of mutuality can be applied, and is applied by Buber, to the relation of human beings to nature.

Like Merkle, Berry covers a wide range of scholarship, both Buber's work and the work of commentators. In fact, the research represented in the book is so extensive, despite the short length of the treatise, that it can be recommended on the strength of its notes and bibliography alone. Also, like Merkle, Berry sketches a picture of Buber that clearly places Buber within the larger sphere of scholarship, notably among those philosophers who have attempted to construct a philosophy of nature. Berry does this not with a naive acceptance of Buber's work, but rather in order to create the basis for real dialogue on the issues that Buber has raised for us.

The systematic presentations found in these two books mark them as notable achievements well worth our attention. However, I was struck in both cases, but especially by Merkle's treatment of Heschel, that the effort to view the scholar tended to obscure the religious men and leaders that these two great Jewish scholars were. We are so accustomed to the reality that scholars actually walk in two worlds that such a criticism may seem trivial; however, in this case, I am convinced that to obscure the Jewishness of these two giants is to miss what is central to the theologies of both. And here I do not mean their attention to Judaism, but rather the Jewish character of their thought. In fact, Merkle tends to

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use far more non-Jewish commentators on Heschel than Jewish commentators.

What we get from Berry and Merkle is an obvious effort to use these two great thinkers as examples of the academic struggle that all of us face-how to legitimize faith in the sphere of reason and discipline. How do we tame the wild beasts? The arguments presented in these two volumes are persuasive and, insofar as they are taken, legitimate. These two books are valuable contributions to scholarship, efforts that bring the insights of two notable scholars to light for the sake of enhancing the cause of scholarship. However, if the reader is looking for a way into the unique Jewish world that shaped the thought of these two men, then the reader will be, for the most part, disappointed.

On the other hand, I would still recommend these two volumes highly. Because the two texts are quite different in approach, I would suggest that they would be most useful for different audiences. Merkle's volume is a solid introduction to Heschel's thought that could serve as a fine text, together with some of Heschel's own works, as an introduction to the world of this great Jewish thinker. The text is readable, clearly organized, and well documented. Berry, on the other hand, writes for the scholar even though his writing is clear enough to be read by the beginner. The scholar, however, would be especially helped by Berry's extensive research as evidenced in the text and the style that poses critique within exposition. In addition, Berry's sketch of the potential of Buber's thought for Jewish-Christian dialogue, clearly a most significant section of the book and the most Jewish treatment of Buber in the book, is a vision that could be managed only by those initiated to dialogue and the achievements of the most recent dialogues. Despite the limitations of their respective approaches, there is good reason to rejoice in the appearance of these two surveys.

James F. Moore
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, Indiana