He is a Christian, but he is also an academic...a scientist removed just enough in terms of objectivity to be able to approach the subject as an objective analyst.
Shapiro, like James Kugel (who is one of the finest human beings to have ever lived...and a professor), sounds like he is close to understanding the nature of Christ and that He is a Jew first.
Discussions like these tend to focus to much on the distinctions between the two religions -- as if they are simply two different options for anyone to accept. That's really not the case. Christianity and Judaism are philosophically at odds with each other for the simple reason that they are closely related in a way most of the people involved in these discussions never articulate well. Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism, which makes them inseparable on one level but incompatible on another. From a Christian perspective, Judaism is anachronistic at its root -- meaning it exists today outside of its appointed time and place in history.
Shapiro does raise an excellent point, though -- when he points out that variations among various Christian sects make it hard to use any of them for comparison to Judaism.
I wish Shapiro’s wife would sneak some Ritalin into his cream of wheat. The guy just cannot shut up and let somebody else speak! Even when I agree with him, he’s incredibly annoying. As a psychologist, Peterson, I’m sure, can see the guy refuses the obvious need for ADD meds, so he lets him dominate the conversation, but it’d be nice if he could get a word in edgewise.
Actually I’d say old European Christiandom had a much more aggressive relationship with Jews. Modern American Christians, especially evangelicals tend to love Jews, at least as an academic concept, far more than the typical secular Jew loves them. Thats one of the great American political ironies, the mainstream secular Jewish population tends to strongly align itself against one of its biggest fans, the Christian Right while aligning itself with elements of the left which literally hold as much hostility to it as Nazis. Religious and Orthodox Jews can be another story but they’re the current minority.
Thanks for posting. Interesting discussion. BUMP.
There are three words that set Christianity apart from all others religions.
He Is Risen
“As a child I received instruction in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene. No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.” Albert Einstein, Saturday Evening Post, Oct 26, 1929