Interfaith Activism: Abraham Joshua Heschel and Religious Diversity

Abraham Joshua Heschel was the towering religious figure of American Jewry in the twentieth century. In Interfaith Activism, Harold Kasimow, who is known for his work on Heschel and on interfaith dialogue between Jews and members of other faiths, presents a selection of his essays on Heschel’s thought. Topics include Heschel’s perspective on the different religious traditions, Heschel’s three pathways to God, his deep friendship with Maurice Friedman and Martin Luther King Jr., and his surprising affinity to the great Hindu Vedantist Swami Vivekananda and to Pope Francis. A new essay examines Heschel’s struggle with the Holocaust. Since the late 1950s, when Kasimow was Heschel’s student, he has wrestled with Heschel’s claim that ＂in this eon, diversity of religions is the will of God＂ and Heschel’s belief that there must be dialogue ＂between the river Jordan and the River Ganges.＂

Harold Kasimow is the George A. Drake Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Grinnell College. He has written and edited several books, including The Search Will Make You Free: A Jewish Dialogue with World Religions and No Religion Is an Island: Abraham Joshua Heschel and Interreligious Dialogue (with Byron Sherwin). He also edited special issues of Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies on Heschel and on Judaism and Asian religions.