Overview

Joseph Palmisano offers an in-depth examination of the significance of empathy for Jewish-Christian understanding. Drawing on the writings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) and Edith Stein (1891-1942), he develops a phenomenological category of empathy defined as a way of re-membering oneself with the religious other.Palmisano follows Heschel's and Stein's philosophical theory and praxis through the unprecedented horrors of the Shoah, showing that Heschel's call to Christians for a return to God is an ecumenical call to humanity to embrace perceived others: a call to live life as a response to God's pathos. This call finds a prophetic answer in Edith Stein's witness of empathy when faced with the Shoah. Stein, a Catholic, creates a dialectical bridge with the Jewish other, neither distancing herself nor denying her Jewish roots. Stein's simultaneously Jewish and Christian fidelity is a model for interreligious relations. It is also a challenge to Catholics to remember their religion's Jewish heritage through new categories of witnessing and belonging with others.Beyond the Walls is a critical contribution to the fostering of interreligious understanding, offering both a model of the ideal Jewish-Christian relationship in Heschel and Stein and criteria by which to evaluate contemporary initiatives and controversies concerning interreligious dialogue.

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9780199925025

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Reviews

This work combines great originality with scholarly rigor. Through his engagement with the works of Heschel and Stein, Palmisano develops what he intriguingly calls 'an inter-religiously attuned phenomenology of empathy.' He draws on his impressive knowledge of Heschel and Stein to provide a reading that is lucid, perceptive and nuanced. Moreover, in forging a hermeneutics from empathy he makes a valuable theological contribution to inter-religious understanding. --Linda Hogan, Vice-Provost/Chief Academic Officer and Professor of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin The dialogue set up by Palmisano with and between Edith Stein and Abraham Joshua Heschel establishes a new benchmark for our understanding of empathy in Jewish-Christian relations. Palmisano's wide reading, deep thinking, and spiritual sensitivity uncover hidden facets of the thought and experience of Stein and Heschel, and take the concept of empathy into entirely new territory. His phenomenological exploration is interwoven with the personal and spiritual journeys of Stein and Heschel through the darkest years of Nazi Germany.Their interventions on behalf of persecuted Jews come to be seen as instances of prophecy, a key notion he analyses in depth. The book is full of delights and surprises. It transposes the discourse of dialogue into a new key. --John D'Arcy May, author of Transcendence and Violence: The Encounter of Buddhist, Christian, and Primal Traditions Beyond the Walls is an insightful meditation on empathy as a human and graced interreligious reality, made vivid and timely by two extraordinary figures, Edith Stein and Abraham Joshua Heschel. Immersed in their wisdom, Palmisano listens also to a broad range of philosophical and theological voices that highlight the depth of their border-crossing insights. The book reminds us how deeply intertwined are the Jewish and Christian faiths in practice and experience, helps chart the way forward in our dialogue, and shows us what

<br> This work combines great originality with scholarly rigor. Through his engagement with the works of Heschel and Stein, Palmisano develops what he intriguingly calls 'an inter-religiously attuned phenomenology of empathy.' He draws on his impressive knowledge of Heschel and Stein to provide a reading that is lucid, perceptive and nuanced. Moreover, in forging a hermeneutics from empathy he makes a valuable theological contribution to inter-religious understanding. --Linda Hogan, Vice-Provost/Chief Academic Officer and Professor of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin <br><p><br> The dialogue set up by Palmisano with and between Edith Stein and Abraham Joshua Heschel establishes a new benchmark for our understanding of empathy in Jewish-Christian relations. Palmisano's wide reading, deep thinking, and spiritual sensitivity uncover hidden facets of the thought and experience of Stein and Heschel, and take the concept of empathy into entirely new territory. His phenomenological exploration is interwoven with the personal and spiritual journeys of Stein and Heschel through the darkest years of Nazi Germany.Their interventions on behalf of persecuted Jews come to be seen as instances of prophecy, a key notion he analyses in depth. The book is full of delights and surprises. It transposes the discourse of dialogue into a new key. --John D'Arcy May, author of Transcendence and Violence: The Encounter of Buddhist, Christian, and Primal Traditions<p><br> Beyond the Walls is an insightful meditation on empathy as a human and graced interreligious reality, made vivid and timely by two extraordinary figures, Edith Stein and Abraham Joshua Heschel. Immersed in their wisdom, Palmisano listens also to a broad range of philosophical and theological voices that highlight the depth of their border-crossing insights. The book reminds us how deeply intertwined are the Jewish and Christian faiths in practice and experience, helps chart the way forward in our dialogue, and shows us what

This work combines great originality with scholarly rigor. Through his engagement with the works of Heschel and Stein, Palmisano develops what he intriguingly calls 'an inter-religiously attuned phenomenology of empathy.' He draws on his impressive knowledge of Heschel and Stein to provide a reading that is lucid, perceptive and nuanced. Moreover, in forging a hermeneutics from empathy he makes a valuable theological contribution to inter-religious understanding. --Linda Hogan, Vice-Provost/Chief Academic Officer and Professor of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin The dialogue set up by Palmisano with and between Edith Stein and Abraham Joshua Heschel establishes a new benchmark for our understanding of empathy in Jewish-Christian relations. Palmisano's wide reading, deep thinking, and spiritual sensitivity uncover hidden facets of the thought and experience of Stein and Heschel, and take the concept of empathy into entirely new territory. His phenomenological exploration is interwoven with the personal and spiritual journeys of Stein and Heschel through the darkest years of Nazi Germany.Their interventions on behalf of persecuted Jews come to be seen as instances of prophecy, a key notion he analyses in depth. The book is full of delights and surprises. It transposes the discourse of dialogue into a new key. --John D'Arcy May, author of Transcendence and Violence: The Encounter of Buddhist, Christian, and Primal Traditions Beyond the Walls is an insightful meditation on empathy as a human and graced interreligious reality, made vivid and timely by two extraordinary figures, Edith Stein and Abraham Joshua Heschel. Immersed in their wisdom, Palmisano listens also to a broad range of philosophical and theological voices that highlight the depth of their border-crossing insights. The book reminds us how deeply intertwined are the Jewish and Christian faiths in practice and experience, helps chart the way forward in our dialogue, and shows us what is at stake in any dialogue today. --Francis X. Clooney, Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University

Author Information

Joseph Redfield Palmisano, SJ, is the Inaugural Michael Hurley, SJ Post-Doctoral Teaching And Research Fellow (2011-2013) at the Irish School Of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin.

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