Fackenheim, Kierkegaard, and Job

Emil Fackenheim (ז״ל) is one of my favorite Jewish philosophers. He taught at U of Toronto while I was a student there. My notion of history of western philosophy at the time was heavily influenced by Francis Schaeffer. In other words, I knew worse than nothing about the subject matter, and was left prejudiced against the idea of taking Fackenheim’s Hegel class.

It was only later, while a student in Europe, that I began seriously reading western philosophy. I’m convinced now that Hegel and Kant are best read in high school (as is done in many parts of Europe), not at the graduate level. They are that important.

I know a Fackenheim anecdote worth retelling. I just verified it with an old friend, Brian Walsh (check out his book, which he wrote with NT scholar Sylvia Keesmaat, entitled Colossians Remixed), who did take Fackenheim’s Hegel class, and heard the anecdote from the other person figuring in the story.

Hendrik Hart, on the faculty of the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto (where an open-minded Calvinism has always reigned), wanted to have a chat with Fackenheim, philosopher-to-philosopher. Fackenheim agreed, and by arrangement, after lunch together, Hart was to accompany Fackenheim in a taxi to Fackenheim's dentist.

Hart and Fackenheim enjoyed lunch together. The conversation centered on all things Hegel, and Hart mostly listened. But in the taxi on the way to the dentist, Hart asked a pointed question, “But do you really believe this Hegelian stuff? Given the absolute evil of the Holocaust, can you believe it?” Perhaps the question was unexpected. Fackenheim closed his eyes and spoke no more. When the taxi arrived at the dentist, Hart said, “We’ve arrived Prof. Fackenheim. I enjoyed our visit together. When can we have lunch again?” Fackenheim replied, “Thank you, but we have nothing in common about which to talk.”

Fackenheim was a brilliant philosopher. I think his essay entitled “New Hearts and the Old Covenant” should be on the required reading list of all Christian intellectuals.[1]

In that essay, while expounding Job and the restoration of children to Job - but not the ones he lost - in light of the Holocaust, Fackenheim quotes Rudolf Otto (Das Heilige) as a negative foil to a presentation of Kierkegaard’s position. Kierkegaard, a “greater (and far more Biblical) Christian thinker [than Otto],” according to Fackenheim, “is not concerned with ‘problems’ to be ‘solved’ (as they are for Otto) in a process of religious ‘evolution’ but rather with a human predicament which is not just Job’s but his own as well. Hence he writes:

Did Job lose his case? Yes, eternally: for he can appeal to no higher court than that which judged him. Did Job gain his case? Yes, eternally . . . for the fact that he loses his case before God.[2]”

 Now that is a choice Kierkegaard quote. I aspire to no more in my life: to lose my case before God. Losing your case before a God of grace is the same thing, ultimately, as winning it.

For my friends who wish I would not associate myself with TULIPism, here is Brian Walsh’s comment on reading the Ezekiel the TULIP post: “TULIP, my ….. I never taught you that stuff!” No Brian, but you taught me many other things, and I am grateful.

For another great Kierkegaard on Job quote, go here (HT: Dave Beldman).

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[1] Emil Fackenheim, “New Hearts and the Old Covenant: On Some Possibilities of a Fraternal Jewish-Christian Reading of the Jewish Bible Today,” in The Jewish Thought of Emil Fackenheim: A Reader (ed. and introd. Michael L. Morgan; Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1987) 223-234; reprinted from The Divine Helmsman: Studies on God’s Control of Human Events presented to Lou H. Silberman (eds. James L. Crenshaw and Samuel Sandmel; New York: Ktav, 1980) 191-205. The quotations are from Paragraph 9 of the essay.

[2] Soren Kierkegaard, Repetition: An Essay in Experimental Psychology (trans. with introduction and notes by Walter Lowrie; New York: Harper & Row, 1964, c1941) 133.

Comments

[Bob MacDonald]

worse than nothing! - I love it

[voxstefani]

Ah, there are those anecdotes! How thrilling. Many thanks for sharing. :-)

(And how did I know that you had to be a friend of Brian Walsh?!)