Things Not Seen Podcast #2117 - The Beautiful Life of Abraham Joshua Heschel: Martin Doblmeier
Apr 25, 2021
In this conversation, filmmaker Martin Doblmeier shares insights about Abraham Joshua Heschel, whom he previously featured in his documentary 'Spiritual Audacity.' He discusses the powerful friendship between Heschel and Martin Luther King Jr., highlighting their shared commitment to justice and prophetic teachings. The impact of Heschel's experiences during the Holocaust on his activism is explored, as well as his belief in religious plurality and interfaith respect. Doblmeier also reflects on the significance of the Sabbath and its broader implications for humanity.
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Prophets Framed His Moral Imagination
- Heschel's lifelong study of the biblical prophets framed social action as divine pathos: God suffers with the oppressed.
- He rewrote his 1930s German work into English in the 1960s to mobilize prophetic teaching for civil rights.
Prophetic Silence Enabled Atrocity
- German Christians' rejection of the Hebrew Bible during Nazism removed a moral resource that might have countered Nazism's rise.
- Heschel saw that abandonment of the prophets as a catastrophic spiritual failure in Europe.
Indifference As The Central Evil
- The evil Heschel most feared was indifference, shaped by his personal losses in the Holocaust.
- That experience committed him to public witness and to ending societal passivity toward suffering.
