2/1/2006 Vol. 3, No. 1

Professional Practice

Commander Glen A. Krans on diverse responses to an accidental death

When Necessary Use Words

I was on my way back to work from lunch when my cell phone rang. It was a call from my office, informing me that “a chaplain”was needed to respond to an emergency.

The caller’s voice trembled with urgency. A young man, the son of a Marine family from the nearby Marine Corps Air Station, had drowned. The rescue squad was already waiting for me to arrive so they could drive me out to the scene. The family, it was thought, would appreciate having a chaplain present. The emergency workers had made a decision for the family –to call for the chaplain. However, when emergency workers call for the chaplain without the family’s knowledge, my presence is often a surprise and sometimes not entirely welcome. I began to prepare myself for any eventuality.

I usually search my own thoughts and feelings. I try to anticipate possible questions, responses, and needs the family might have. I attempt to discern how I might react if I were in the same situation so that I might be better able to place myself in a helping frame of mind and spirit. Much of that work was done in dialogue with the fire department officer who drove me to the beach.

When we got to the scene, scores of emergency workers, both civilian and Marine, were hurrying about doing what they were trained to do. One of the paramedics briefed me, explaining that the search effort was continuing since the young man was still missing after about an hour’s searching and was presumed dead. He pointed out the drowned boy’s mother who was being cared for by a couple of women who were there when they realized that Michael was missing.

Linda was moaning and crying out, “Lord, Lord; Lord, have mercy; Lord, help him,”in her own spontaneous way keeping up a litany of prayer to the only One whom she thought could help. Linda kept herself turned to the ocean. Her vigil was fierce and unrelenting but not hopeful. Watching her was one of the most dramatic moments I experienced that afternoon.

Linda’s husband, Michael, who was a Marine, was walking energetically, purposefully, back and forth across the beach. His eyes were not fixed hopefully on the surf, but on the beach, where sand met water, as if conducting his own search for the body of his son.

Linda saw me coming toward her. My uniform made it clear that I was the Chaplain. She wanted nothing to do with me. I began to try to make contact with her by circling around, trying to get in front of her so I could address her. She circled with me, keeping her back to me at all times. I understood perfectly. In the military, chaplains are often bearers of bad news. Talking to me would probably feel to her as an admission that her son was dead. I finally stopped circling, put a hand lightly on her shoulder, and asked, “Linda, do you want to talk with me?”Her immediate response was, “No, no.”

I managed to talk with Michael’s dad. He had slowed down his pace a little and had begun to gravitate more toward his wife. He was mostly silent, fearful, but with emotions held solidly in check. He was inexpressive except for an occasional single tear making its slow way down his cheek.

I talked with Michael’s two sisters, as well as a cousin who was with them. They were blown away by what was happening. There was nothing I could do except express my sorrow for their pain and tell them I would stay by them.

I began to feel my ministry to the family floundering until I remembered the words attributed to St. Francis, “Proclaim the Gospel at all times; when necessary use words.”My ministry was to be present to them and with them and in so doing represent God’s presence.

And for that moment, that was enough.

Do you have thoughts about professional practice you’d like to share with your colleagues? Send an e-mail info@PlainViews.org.

Advocacy

Chaplain Mark LaRocca-Pitts on "agape" care

Love Is All We Need

It can be rather difficult to get a firm hold on what we chaplains do. Do we provide pastoral care or is it spiritual care? Is the language we use based primarily on psychology or theology? Or, do we simply confine our expertise to the realm of religious care and speak only in terms of faith? Is it all of the above, some of the above, or none? Heated debates as well as organizational fractures have occurred in our profession over these questions. In a follow up article, I will address part of this debate, but in this article I want to cut through our collective dissonance and put forth a simple and direct definition that seems to have been lost in the shuffle: the care that chaplains provide is love.

Now, some might object to this on the grounds that defining love is as difficult to define as spiritual care. Others might reject love as our defining characteristic because anyone or everyone in healthcare may understand their work as one of love. Finally, there might be those who resist defining our work as love because it makes them uncomfortable. As for me, I hesitate to highlight love as the essence of our work because we might appear trite in the eyes of such spiritual care “scientific”gurus as Benson, Larson, Koenig, Puchalski, etc.[1]

Though these objections have some merit, I cannot escape the fact that nearly all chaplains come from a religious, spiritual, and/or philosophical tradition in which love and/or compassion is an ideal. Whether we call our care pastoral, spiritual, soul, religious or humanistic, the wellspring from which all our care arises is love. As representatives of our various traditions who work within a healthcare setting, we are to love all people regardless of ethnicity, disease-process, gender, age, religion, etc. To use seminary Greek, one is to have an agape love that transcends an eros or philia love. Our love is therapeutic in that it engages patients where they are and journeys with them toward hope and healing as needs, contexts, and capacities change. Our love is also clinical in that it occurs within the context of a care involving assessment, interventions, outcomes and communication with other clinical members. This agape care we chaplains practice—that is both therapeutic and clinical—is neither common nor trite, but is nurtured, nuanced and developed through personal spiritual discipline and professionally supervised training.

It may sound hackneyed to say “all we need is love,”but this love that we provide and for which we are trained as professional chaplains sets our care apart from the care provided by other clinical professionals. Indeed, others love, but it is chaplains who are accountable to and for love and who have developed love into a therapeutic and clinical art. And, if you question the operational benefit of defining our care as love, then in the next difficult clinical situation ask yourself the following: “If I am here to provide pastoral or spiritual care, then I will …but, if I am here to love them, then I will ….”For me, I have found that the former question only results in further questions, while the latter one centers me and empowers me to be fully present with the patient in a supportive, therapeutic and clinical role.

In the next article, I will consider how defining our care as “agape care”affects the debate concerning pastoral care versus spiritual care.

[1] I want to thank the virtual community of chaplains at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pastoralcare/ who provided valuable feedback when I raised this question on the list for discussion. If you are a chaplain and are interested in joining this list, send a request to pastoralcare-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Do you have thoughts about advocacy you’d like to share with your colleagues? Send an e-mail to info@PlainViews.org.

Education & Research

The Rev. Valerie Storms on everything old being new again

Reflections on a Move North

“You’re not from here, are you?”“Where are you from?”“Do I detect a Southern accent?”“You left Florida to come here??”Since the middle of July 2005, these are questions asked of me almost daily. If I had a dollar for every time one of these questions was asked, I probably could retire! Why am I asked these questions and others similar to them? On July 11th, 2005, I began a new chapter in my life’s journey and in my career when I stepped into an office as the Director of Pastoral Care and Education at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, Long Island, New York. Yes –you did read that accurately –Long Island, New York!

Moving from one region of the country to another is a definite learning experience! I knew there would be cultural differences, and prepared as best as I could for them. However, there are always things one cannot anticipate. For instance, whoever would have thought that a trip to the grocery store would be an occasion to feel homesick? A lot of the foods are different and displayed in different ways, and there are new brands and different store brands, and few of the “old stand-bys.”How would my favorite recipes work with these new items? What if things didn’t taste the same? What if my “comfort foods”no longer comforted me?

Leaving the physical for a moment to look at things spiritual, how could faith traditions with the same names as those in Florida be like brand new faith groups to me? I thought I knew the Catholic faith traditions fairly well, but the way the Catholic faith is practiced in Florida looks much different from the faith practiced by an Italian family that has lived for generations on Long Island. There are Orthodox Jews in Florida, but the Orthodox Jews I have met on Long Island live out their faith in ways I never saw exhibited in Florida. The knowledge Long Islanders have of faith groups differing from theirs is astounding, and persons raised here know the traditions of others and respect them, for the most part, thinking nothing of closing schools for the Jewish high holidays as well as the Christian holidays, and finding the means to show respect for Muslims observing Ramadan. As a person with responsibilities for addressing the spiritual needs of patients and employees at Winthrop-University Hospital, I am learning in my daily encounters what it truly means to minister from an interfaith perspective.

In the midst of all the change and “culture shock”there are some constants that I have found in hospital ministry in both places. People are anxious and scared by the unknown and seek comfort and reassurance. People are concerned for their loved ones and go to extraordinary means to address their needs. All benefit from having someone trained in the art of pastoral care to walk with them literally and figuratively through the experience of hospitalization.

In adjusting to my new home, I am finding that as I embrace the differences, I am also embracing what is second nature to me - serving those who are in need of a reminder of God’s presence, with or without a Southern accent.

Do you have thoughts about education & research you’d like to share with your colleagues? Send an e-mail to info@PlainViews.org.

Spiritual Development

Chaplain Roger Boss on patients as encouragers

Cancer Is a Disease that Other People Get

“Cancer is a disease that other people get. I never expected or thought it would be me.”This is a comment made by many cancer patients as they begin their journey toward healing. The journey takes them to a new awareness of life and their spirituality. A cancer diagnosis turns their world upside down. It seems life becomes centered on health care procedures. It is as though the patient no longer has a life of his or her own. Life is out of control.

What did I do to bring this on? What is happening to me? Where is it going to end? All these questions and a multitude more flood the mind of the patient. A quest for spiritual renewal begins. Who am I? What is the purpose of this in my life?

The journey is intimate and private. The experiences cannot be adequately described with words. Emotions surface giving evidence of the deep unspoken concerns of the heart. The loss of health creates one of many grieving experiences. Each person responds in the uniqueness of his or her spirituality. The resources of family, friends, faith and social groups are very important in providing a compassionate and loving presence. Physicians are the trustees of the patient’s future. Faith and hope are the greatest assets of the patient. Listening is the greatest asset of the caregiver.

A sunset, sunrise, blades of grass, pedals on a flower bring new meaning to life. Nature nourishes the soul. Relationships take on new significance. Priorities are rearranged. The spiritual dimension of the person becomes accentuated. The patient expressing himself/herself becomes a very important part of the healing process. “Listen, listen, love, love”becomes the caregiver’s motto.

Many patients express gratitude and appreciation for the journey. In ways beyond their understanding and mine, their life has been changed. New inner resources are being discovered which bring renewed abilities to cope. A greater sense of the Transcendent encourages a belief in a Higher being that is expressed in hope and faith.

Patients often become the encouragers. Openness in sharing their life journey bonds relationships and offers support to the caregivers who may feel helpless. Courage, determination and perseverance are characteristics the patient displays so admirably.

Do you have thoughts about spiritual development you’d like to share with your colleagues? Send an e-mail of any length to info@PlainViews.org.

EthicsWalk

EthicsWalk addresses spiritual care as an ethical enterprise. It explores why relationships between spiritual care providers and those they serve need protection, and examines what that protection entails. PlainViews invites our readers to share their responses to each EthicsWalk column, which will be published in the following issue.

If you’d like to respond to EthicsWalk, please send a comment of no more than 100 words. You can use the e-form below (click on "hearing from you," link) or submit your commentary to the editors in the body of an e-mail (or as a Microsoft Word attachment) sent to Info@PlainViews.org. Please put the phrase “EthicsWalk” in your subject line.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Theology, Science, and The First Amendment
Intelligent Design, Darwin, And Religious Freedom
Part 2: Contextualizing the Conflict

Religious people disagree about many faith issues, beginning with the naming and worshiping of Divinity. Yet no doctrinal issue in contemporary American religion is as contentious as the Intelligent Design (ID) controversy.[1]

Spiritual care providers may work with patients and families who feel strongly about ID’s merits. Hence the importance of understanding the constitutional issues raised by affirming ID in public schools (last month’s column); the historical context of the contention (this month’s column); and the relatively peaceful coexistence in American society of other controversial religious doctrines (next month). Such understanding may facilitate open listening and respectful ministering to patients and colleagues.

The U.S. constitution constrains teaching religiously grounded doctrines as “fact”or, for that matter, denigrating them as “fiction”in public schools. Some hope to read Federal Judge John E. Jones’December 20 decision [2] in Kitzmiller as permitting ID discussions in elective philosophy or religion classes [3] even though his holding specifically forbids ID in science classes. [4] Cases winding their way through courts in Kansas and Georgia may determine whether ID discussions are ever permissible in public schools.

Within weeks of Jones’decision, a California school district cancelled an elective “Philosophy of Design”class to settle a law suit.[5] It promised “never again to offer a course that promotes or endorses creationism, creation science or intelligent design.”[6] Its decision reflects Kitzmiller’s finding that ID “cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents,”rooted in nineteenth century American Protestant Fundamentalism. [7] The activist history of the particular religious antecedents illuminate ID’s troubles.

Christian Fundamentalists' efforts to block teaching evolution in public schools were far-reaching until halted by the Scopes [8] “monkey trial.”After Scopes, creation proponents campaigned for “balanced treatment”laws giving equal time to biblical creation accounts. When those failed constitutional scrutiny, they adopted “scientific-sounding language”[9] and lobbied schools to teach “creation science”or “scientific creationism”as an evolution alternative. In 1987, the Supreme Court ruled this also unconstitutional. [10] Hence, the impact on ID of Kitzmiller’s holding that it is simply another form of creation science.

The cancelled “Philosophy of Design,”unlike Kitzmiller, was not mandatory or a science class. Complainants sued because the “course was motivated by primarily religious purpose as reflected in the course description,”the original Syllabi which listed 23 of 24 videos produced by religious organizations promoting ID [11] and the teacher’s statement “I believe this is the class that the Lord wanted me to teach.”[12] The course may have been constitutionally doomed by purpose rather than content.

This controversy’s passion is unique to the U.S. where European immigrants remembering religious tyranny created constitutional guarantees for freedom of religious belief and prohibited state endorsed religious teaching. [13] They offered no guidance for reconciling zealous belief with political neutrality. [14]

Spiritual care providers are well situated to mediate reflective peace. Disciplined to witness, without judging, patients’struggles to name and claim personal faith identities, spiritual care providers might bring the same non-anxious presence to discussions of species origins. The key is disengagement from cultural judgementalness. We all need to refrain from desire to reconfigure religion as science or sacramentalize science into religion.

I welcome any comments you might want to submit in response to these articles.

[1] Abortion distinguishes itself as an “act,”about which some people of faith feel strongly rather than a “doctrine”grounded in a religious tradition as is ID.
[2] Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al., U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Case No. 04cv2688, Judge John E. Jones III, December 20, 2005. Held the policy of Dover Area School District requiring ID be taught along with evolution in a public school science class unconstitutional pursuant to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
[3] Jones wrote: “…we do not controvert that ID should continue to be studied, debated, and discussed. As stated, our conclusion today is that it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom.”Id. at 137.
[4] The Judge ruled that ID is not a science noting that “Not a single expert witness over the course of the six week trial identified one major scientific association, society, organization that endorsed ID as science.”Id. at 70.
[5] Hurst v. Newman, United States District Court Eastern District of California, filed January 10, 2006 and settled out of court January 17, 2006. Information about this case is from plaintiff’s complaint available at www.au.org.
[6] Associated Press wire news reported in Portland Press Herald, Portland, Maine January 18, 2006.
[7] Kitzmiller, 136.
[8] Scopes v. State, 154 Tenn. 105 (1927) criminal prosecution of public school teacher for teaching evolution.
[9] Kitzmiller, 8.
[10] Edwards v. Arkansas, 482 U.S. 578 (1987)
[11] Hurst Complaint, p. 4.
[12] Associated Press quoted in note 6.
[13] Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; Amendment I, U.S. Constitution (1791).
[14] Historically, the nation’s ethos simultaneously embraces difference but demands conformity to specific understanding and expression of “acceptable”difference. Dualistic thinking, either/or dichotomies, black/white categorizations characterize both political conservatives and liberals (a limited two party system is illustrative) as well as those who call themselves religious or secular. Strong judgments about the “other”and fear of penetration of the often fragile and frequently rather artificial boundary separating them operate across the spectrum.

CaseConference

We post an ethical or situational concern that has arisen in a facility where one of our readers works. It has no identifiers included. It gives you only the facts of the case. Then, you can respond to that concern. This is an ongoing dialogue, with comments added as they come in. In the following issue, assuming it has been resolved, we give you the outcome from the facility where the incident took place. Please send any cases that you would like considered for inclusion to: info@plainviews.org

We hope that this new addition will help to inform not only those who are dealing with the issue, but will enable all of our readers to learn from the experiences and perhaps mistakes of others.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to unanticipated continuing responses to both the case and the resolution of the case, added responses can be viewed in the archives. Click HERE.

Case Conference # 4 –Resolution

The news crew involved in Case Conference #4 received no further censure –either from the hospital or, to my knowledge from their station. The chaplain involved became an overnight celebrity with the emergency room staff and those in the security department who agreed that the news team had “gotten off too easily”by simply being asked to leave the premises. In fact, the chaplain was presented with an “unofficial”badge from security with “Media Buster”where the title “Chaplain”should have gone. Word of the confrontation in the street reached hospital administrators. They, too, seemed more concerned with the media breach than with the chaplain’s action, although the hospital liaison to the media took no further action.

The one dissenting voice was the chaplain’s immediate supervisor and department director. When word of the encounter reached the supervisor, the chaplain was asked whether a similar occurrence would produce a similar response –or, upon reflection, would a different choice be made. The chaplain responded that the actions would be repeated. The chaplain was asked if there might have been alternatives to the only chaplain on duty taking on an activity that was clearly outside the boundaries of the pastoral care role –such as going through media channels in the hospital. The answer was that, first, those proper channels would have done no good and second, the role of the chaplain should include “standing up to”wrong-doers. When asked whether the chaplain could see any conflict of interest involved in the confrontation the answer was no –again based on the fact that sometimes as chaplains we are called to stand up for principles not just “be nice”and let people ‘get away with’misbehavior. No alternative action or perspective could be found that the chaplain could accept.

The supervisor stated that the chaplain’s behavior was seen (by the supervisor) as a breach of protocol as well as a conflict of interest. In an attempt to illustrate, the supervisor posed the possibility that the news team –who left distraught and in tears (whether they were tears of contrition or embarrassment) –might have, in their distress, gotten involved in an accident and returned to the emergency room where the only chaplain available would have been the one who had just addressed them.

The chaplain was never convinced, based on the sincere belief that righteous anger can and should sometimes be justified. In the end, the supervisor and the chaplain both felt “justified.”However, it was made clear that the supervisor’s authority (in the absence of agreement or any apparent desire on the part of the administration to censure the chaplain’s actions) to determine what did or did not constitute pastoral protocol would dictate future encounters. The conversation continued for many years, as I trust it will among the readers.

Case Conference # 4 –Situation

A child was involved in a highly visible accident where the media was immediately present and knew (from firsthand observation at the scene) what many of the members of the family looked like. Upon arrival at the hospital, the chaplain –a vital part of the trauma code team –accompanied the family to an area typically "safe" from outsiders including media and followed protocol by asking whether the family wanted to be seen by or conduct an interview with the media. The family's answer was an unequivocal "No! Not now," which was conveyed to the press corps spokesperson.

Because the media had been on the scene and followed the emergency vehicles to the hospital, dozens of reporters, camera crews and gawkers lined the perimeter of the hospital grounds –keeping the mandated 50' distance and waiting eagerly for word of the child's condition or an opportunity to "interview" the family. However, one ambitious young newswoman who was familiar with the hospital broke protocol by removing her press badge. She (and her un-badged cameraman) made their way to the family area, asking for the family by name.

The chaplain, who was sitting with the waiting, anxious family, noticed this well-dressed woman approaching and had the presence of mind to gracefully intercept and eventually divert the intruding media miscreant! The chaplain, having escorted the woman and cameraman away from the family unobtrusively, called security and turned over the offenders and returned to the family.

A short time later the chaplain learned that the intruding media team had been warned, asked to leave the building and released on their own without serious consequence. Seeing the news crew walking up the street away from the hospital, the chaplain made chase, running after and catching up to the departing crew in the middle of the street. Then and there the chaplain proceeded to mete a form of verbal justice that actually reduced the reporter to tears. Her lack of integrity, ethics and sensitivity were harshly-but-accurately noted, as well as her assault on the privacy of the distraught family and her shameful disrespect for the rules of engagement traditionally followed by media at the hospital. Motives and actions were publicly impugned.

The chaplain felt justified in this response because of the reprehensible nature of the media team's behavior and, in the mind of the chaplain, the insufficient consequences imposed by the hospital for said behavior. (In fact ,the chaplain noted that rather than being censured for their actions, the media crew would have probably received a heroes' welcome back at the station –especially had they successfully breached the family's circle!)

Ethical questions abound in this situation, but certainly most would be leveled at the conduct of the media team. However, our question revolves around the chaplain's response to the departing media team and how or whether it 'fits' the image of the chaplain –or should! As chaplains we are more often cast as 'peacemakers' than 'warriors', but occasionally we feel compelled to lash out at injustice, insensitivity and egregious wrongdoing. When feeling 'called to battle' we hope to be armed with passion, courage and opportunity and hope that our professional role includes room for such balance.

Was this such a time for the chaplain at this hospital under the circumstances set forth? If yes, why, and if no, why not?

Please check below for comments made about the last CaseConference.

Send your comments about CaseConference to info@PlainViews.org.

Please check below for comments made about the last CaseConference.

1/18/2006 Vol. 2, No. 24 - Case #4
1/4/2006 Vol. 2, No. 23 - Case #3 Resolution
12/21/2005 Vol. 2, No. 22 - Case #3
12/7/2005 Vol. 2, No. 21 - Case #2 resolution
11/16/2005 Vol. 2, No. 20 - Case #2
10/19/2005 Vol. 2, No. 18 - CaseConference #1

Send your comments about CaseConference to info@PlainViews.org.

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Reviews

Sarah Masters reviews the film

Mystic Iran: The Unseen World

The first known written declaration of freedom of faith was discovered on a stone scroll dating back to the time of Cyrus the Great, king of ancient Babylon.

Persian filmmaker Aryana Farshad recently journeyed through Iran, which borders the ancient lands of Cyrus the Great, to film the great variety of ancient religious rituals still practiced deep within her native country.

Over a period of nine months, Farshad filmed spiritual rites hidden for centuries from the outside world, and in 2002 she completed the documentary Mystical Iran: The Unseen World.

Chaplains ministering to all faiths, but particularly Islam, will be moved by the beauty of the peoples and the depth of their faith. Farshad’s camera crew traveled into women’s chambers in the great mosques, captured a spontaneous fire ritual in a cave occupied by followers of Zarathustra, and filmed dervishes in the Kurdistan mountains performing sacred dances to pulsating drumbeats.

From the narrow alleyways of Qom to the stunning interior of the great mosque, Mystic Iran: The Unseen World, takes the viewer on a breathtakingly beautiful spiritual journey.

Completed: 2002
Running Time: 52 Minutes
Producer/Director: Aryana Farshad
Narrator: Shoreh Aghdashloo
Director of Photography: Morteza Poursamadi

If you are interested in purchasing this film, you can do so at the Hartley Film Foundation’s Web site, www.hartleyfoundation.org. Just click on “Masterworks”on the homepage for more information. The cost is $21.99/DVD.

Book Review

Editor's note: Because this book is for both the Jewish and the non-Jewish reader, it is being reviewed by a rabbi and a minister.

The Torah: an Introduction for Christians and Jews

The Rev. George Burn:

In this day and age, when building bridges to other faiths is paramount, this book provides the basis for understanding the common roots that Christians and Jews have in the first five books of the Bible. Rabbi Zucker provides an overview of each book and outlines them chapter-by-chapter. He then cites representative quotations from each book as they appear in Christian scriptures followed by examples of how those same scriptures are used in Rabbinic literature.

The book seems well suited to Bible study, even for the most basic student of the scriptures. Yet there is plenty of new material that will inform clergy and lay people from both faiths. His discussions about the meaning within each book for Christians and Jews, themes that run though the remainder of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures and their implications for believers for life today add novel thoughts. I particularly liked the section at the end of each book of the Torah for text study. There are plentiful notes at the end of each chapter, referencing other sources that deepen the content.

This book may also provide themes for sermons. For example, referencing Deuteronomy, he suggests these themes: Prayer: The Service of the Heart; God’s Domain and Ours: It Is Not in Heaven; Repentance Is Always Possible; Justice in All Matters; Studying, Learning, Performing; A Time to Turn Over Leadership; The Futility of Planning Ahead; Moses Reluctance to Die; and, In Many Languages.

Rabbi Nathan Goldberg:

In explaining some of the controversy over the release of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ, Dennis Prager shared an insight: Jews and Christians were seeing a different movie. Many Christians viewed the film through the light of their own experienced redemption. Many Jews experienced the film in the shadow of historic anti-Semitism.

Rabbi Dr. David J. Zucker’s book, The Torah, acknowledges that while the Pentateuch may be a shared document of Judeo- Christian tradition. Christians and Jews at times experience and understand the text differently. In this book he gives an overview of Jewish Written and Oral Tradition’s approach to the Pentateuch, summaries of each book in the Pentateuch, as well as selected text studies. Perhaps the most important contribution of Zucker’s writing, though, are chapters giving an overview of each book of the Pentateuch from the perspective of both a Christian Scriptures and Rabbinic literature.

Rabbi Zucker’s task in this venture is akin to the Talmudic convert who asked the rabbis to explain the whole Torah while standing on one foot. The author has chosen to produce an eminently readable introduction that I believe can facilitate multi-faith dialogue and understanding. I believe the book will be useful to lay people seeking to encounter and relate to the “stranger in their midst”in that it not only gives an overview of shared text but also articulates areas of bifurcation and their scriptural sources of both Traditions.

Beyond that, The Torah’s utility lies in Zucker’s “one foot”approach. His chapters and topics flow nicely and provide an accessible introduction for those seeking a more general overview of not just the stories of the Pentateuch, but also many of the theological currents running in the text. For those looking for deeper analysis, Dr. Zucker provides a bibliography which can facilitate further research. The reader should keep in mind this is an “introduction”to texts which have been studied and interpreted for thousands of years and from many perspectives.

Given the nature of his task, I believe David Zucker has provided a service to those seeking to encounter the other in the midst of their own scriptures.

The Torah: an Introduction for Christians and Jews. Zucker, Rabbi David J., PhD. (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press 2005). 230 pp.

Rabbi Nathan Goldberg is Director of Pastoral Care and Education at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, a HealthCare Chaplaincy partner hospital. He currently is the only Orthodox Jewish ACPE certified supervisor in the country. He resides in Queens with his wife Ayelet, daughters Tova and Tikva, and dog Prozac.

Do you have thoughts about these reviews you’d like to share with your colleagues? Send an e-mail to info@PlainViews.org