Literature: Response to As A Driven Leaf





		This is also the story of religion coming of age. Each age must make sense of the "faith of their fathers" but in language meaningful to the present. Naïve reliance on a Watchmaker Diety must be put to the test of modernity: science, psychology and existentialism. But we can't just amputate faith experiences of the past because tucked into their limitation is something enduring as well. Elisha's tradition, when insisting on literal acceptance without questioning, becomes repressive. But cradled in that tradition is a vision of life lived in the presence of God, of rituals and practices that heighten awareness of that presence, and a valuing of all of life, because it reflects this presence. Ken Wilber admonishes us to transcend the past and then include it within our present; leave behind old forms of faith, but maintain the essence of their experience. The historical Elisha was said to have had an ecstatic experience that pointed towards a direct apprehension of God. In Steinberg's retelling, Elisha seems to give more attention to reason than to other modes of knowing. Perhaps the omission is Steinberg's bias. Or perhaps Steinberg wishes to evoke an experience in the reader. There is a hint that the solution of the Stoic's riddle lies in life lived as deeply as possible. The story compels me to honour the truth of both faith and reason, and at the same time nurture the tension between the two for the sake of what lies beyond both. At the end of his life Elisha realizes that "Faith and reason are not antagonists. On the contrary, salvation is through the commingling of the two, the former to establish first premises, the latter to purify them of confusion and to draw the fullness of their implications." Like Elisha's disciple, I wept at his grave. Elisha's life ended sadly, and yet in its suffering it offered much. With echoes of Isaiah's Suffering Servant, Elisha's agonizing quest was poured out for the benefit of others, for us as readers. Perhaps the riddle's water is not to be divided, but shared through suffering, uniting the seeker with both tradition and truth. Steinberg, Milton. As A Driven Leaf. New York: Behrman House, 1996. 480 pages. ISBN 0874411033. You can respond to the author here (responses may be posted) or on our messageboard. Previous 1 2 [3]