Drinking at the Sources: An Appeal to the Jew and the Christian to Note Their Common Beginnings

204 Pages·1981·22.5 MB·English

by  Jacques B. Doukhan

Drinking at the Sources
An appeal to the Jew and the Christian
to note their common beginnings
Jacques B. Doukhan
Pacific Press® Publishing Association
Nampa, Idaho
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
www.pacificpress.com
Cover design by Gerald Monks
Originally published in 1981.
Translated from the French Boire aux Sources. Permission to pub
lish in English granted by Editions S. D. T., 77190 Dammarie les
Lys, France.
The author assumes full responsibility for the accuracy of all facts
and quotations as cited in this book.
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ISBN: 978-0-8163-3934-1 0-8163-3934-1
Foreword
The reader will have no difficulty sensing the depth and the
complexity of the drama that Jacques Doukhan analyzes in this
volume. He thinks of his effort as an anguished cry born of de
spair - an impassioned search for the way out of a dilemma. But
on what plane does he operate? Is it that of theology, or psycholo
gy? Or both?
The schism between Israel and the Church is rooted in the
most profound realities of history; it cannot be understood unless
one has constantly in mind the historical perspectives of that
schism. The worst temptation that can befall one - here, as else
where - is to project into the past, conditions as they exist at
present; that is, to proceed as if at the time of Jesus Christianity
and Judaism existed as they do today or as they did following the
conversion of Constantine in the fourth century.
Another error, just as palpable and consequential, is to consid
er the trial of Jesus divorced from context and thus make of it an
academic debate solely between experts. But Philo had declared
before the four Gospels were written that the high priest of the
temple of Jerusalem was the Son of God and of Wisdom. Was he
crucified for that?
When Jesus said that He was the Messiah, \Vas His contention
not to have consequences in a land occupied by Roman legions
since 66 B.C.? In a land \¥here leaders of resistance movements
had regularly been proclaimed king and messiah of Israel by their
troops? Alas, messianic adventures were not uncommon in those
times! Many of them ended in atrocious massacres - from Judas
the Galilean, \¥ho preached revolt against Rome when Jesus was a
child, to Bar-Kokhba.
Because Israel lived constantly under the threat of extermina
tion by pagan, barbarian, and imperial Rome, were not the men
responsible for her well-being and destiny to be extremely con
cerned by the rising tide of another messianic movement? And
especially since this latest manifestation was led by a self-pro
claimed Christ with an overpowering personality? The word from
Caiaphas that it was to their advantage that one man should die
to save the nation must be understood in the light of the stark re
ality of Roman repression, which, according to Tacitus, was re
sponsible for 600,000 crucified victims.
Furthermore, it is absurd to set Christianity against Judaism
before the second century. Israel, at the time of Christ, was divid
ed into a multitude of schools and sects, which opposed one an
other in bitter struggles. The ferocity of contention was fueled by
each camp's desire to be the spiritual leader of the Jewish people.
Only two sects survived the Roman massacres of A.D. 70 and
A.D. 134 - the Pharisees and the Christians. The first was to lead
the survivors of the Jev1ish-Roman war in saving the vestiges of
the past while awaiting the salvation of Israel. The second was
driven from the synagogues by the Pharisees, who eventually as
su1ned monolithic control over Judaism.
The schism between these two groups underwent a change of
character after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in A.D.
70. Relations between Pharisaic Judaism and the Christians wors
ened significantly in A.D. 134 following the attempt at genocide
perpetrated under Hadrian. But the schism widened to grievous
dimensions following the conversion of Constantine in the fourth
century, when Christianity was made the official religion of an
empire which Judaism hated not only because (1) it was pagan,
but still more because (2) the Roman Empire had put an end to
the kingdom of Judea - the last terrestrial hope of Israel before
the av1aited hour of her "resurrection."
Rome had devastated Athens, destroyed the sources of Gallic
culture, and almost succeeded in its attempted genocide against
the Jews before it became officially Christian and the seat of pa
pal authority. After the fourth century the Judeo Christian con
flict took on the characteristics denounced by Jacques Doukhan.
But even then theological controversies masked the real reasons
for the schism, \.Yhich can be found only in the historical situa
tions and aspirations of both the Church and Israel:
The Church set out to win the Greco-Latin \.Yorld to the
Christ-King. Israel, for all practical purposes, shut itself off from
that world in an effort to preserve the language and culture of the
Hebrew tradition, as set forth in the Hebre\.Y Scriptures. Israel's
hopes leaned forward to the hour of her redemption as a people
and a place centering in Jerusalem.
This volume that Jacques Doukhan offers for our meditation
produces an eerie feeling. I finished reading it here in Jerusalem,
the capital of the state of Israel and of a resurrected Hebrew cul
ture.
The antiSemitism \.Yhich causes Jacques Doukhan's cruel suf
fering (and which has resulted in so many victims) does not exist
here. Our Jewish children today find it difficult to understand
what that disease meant to their forebears. In Israel, the Chris
tians and the Musli1ns constitute the minorities. They suffer at
times, not only because of the minority phenomenon (which op
erates here as else\.Yhere), but also because of the state of war
and its dire consequences which continue to rage in the Near
East.
On the other hand, the sentence that Jacques Doukhan quotes
from Albert Memmi, which causes him obvious hurt - "The con
verted one is a destroyer and a traitor who deserves any and all
punishments" - doesn't make too much sense here. Jewish ex
tremists bent on the defense of Diaspora orthodoxy may appear
to take such statements at face value. But in the eyes of 1nost citi
zens of Israel the reality is quite different: Religious liberty exists
here. Jews converted to Christianity may still retain total citizen
ship in the state of Israel. No one \vould think of inflicting on
them "any and all punishments." On the contrary, some of them
are entrusted with useful functions in the country, notably in an
essential and continuing 1nediation between Israel and Christiani
ty.
This change of attitude becomes all the more meaningful as
the Pharisees continue to lose the monopoly they have held for
2000 years over the spiritual life of a people they succeeded in
holding together during the con·osive centuries in exile. Israel,
resurrected on her own land, has found again a pluralism which
rejects the dogmatism and the unyielding doctrinal uniformity
which \Vere necessary during the Diaspora - a time when dangers
from within and without threatened the very existence of the
Jewish people. On the political plane, Israel harbors possibly
more parties, opinions, and viewpoints than any other nation. In
the area of religion, in the absence of a supreme magisterium,
every Jew creates his or her own personal religion within the rich
traditions of the fathers.
Therefore, a substantial portion ofJ acques Doukhan's analysis
applies to Diaspora conditions. This is very evident concerning
the Jews, but it is also true for Christians. I have already pointed
out that Christians are a minority in Israel. But that minority is in
no wise monolithic. In Jerusalem thirty-three Christian confes
sions coexist without anything much in common, unless it be the
fact they call themselves Christians. Their dogmas, their theolo
gies, their religious rites, their cultures, their history, even their
calendars vary. To step from one Christian church to another, the
observer must take a leap much more considerable than, for in
stance, to move from a Catholic or a Protestant church to a syna
gogue in Paris or Nev; York City. In many ways, a coptic bishop
and an American pastor, a Russian Orthodox and a South Ameri
can Roman Catholic, strike one as less alike than if they had
come from distinctly different religious worlds. Because of this
modern situation, historical perspectives cast in the mold of exile
times (pre-1948) are brought back again to haunt us.
Jacques Doukhan is right when, at the end of his presentation,
he suddenly appears to be beset by a doubt. This is when he deals
with one aspect of the problems he sets before us - problems,
moreover, that run deeper and are more awesome than even he
says. These problems really condition the total future of
mankind, not merely our religious or spiritual future.
Rather than to persevere along the old-fashioned paths of clas
sical apologetics, religions today, as Dr. Doukhan emphasizes,
should apply themselves to measure the extent of past failures.
No religious group has delivered convincingly what it promised
the \A/Orld: justice, peace, salvation, love.
Christianity, like Judaism, is no longer practiced except by a
minority of the faithful; and the number of these faithful ones is
on a steady decline. Judeo-Christian societies continue to be
overrun by a neopaganism, \A/hose idols are more deadly than
those decried by the prophets in the days of long ago.
The Judeo-Christian world constitutes a minority in a total
world community which appears content to drift toward the un
speakable possibility of atomic annihilation. Both Jews and Chris
tians pretend to be the elect of God, the representatives on earth
of the Master of the universe. Yet they have not been able to
transmit their saving message to Asia, to Africa, never mind the
more and more paganized masses of Europe and America. In fact,
Christianity since Constantine and Judaism since its hellenization
have not been able to liberate themselves from the Greco-Latin
ghetto of Hebraism where the essential events of their history
took place.
The despair that Jacques Doukhan expresses in his Epilogue is
justified, not only because of the Judeo-Christian drama (tragic
but laughable), but also because of the common failure of Rome
and Jerusalem, who appear today at history's judgment bar. The
great conqueror is Babel, whose death-dealing legions seem
stronger and more terrible today than ever in history. And the
Molochs of modern times, whom we all serve too often, are no
longer satisfied with the charred flesh of a few children sacrificed
on their high altars; they demand and prepare for the apocalyptic
sacrifice of millions upon millions who, in the titanic blast of nu
clear warheads, may perish in a cataclysm whose darkening thun
derhead already overshadows planet Earth.
If there remains even an infinitesimal chance of survival for
mankind, it can possibly be found in a reconciliation of Rome and
Jerusalem. Jacques Doukhan seems to understand this. His quest
takes him beyond mere theology and myth to a future aglow with
hope and peace.
Andre Chouraqui