Table Of ContentR E L I G I O U S
G E N I U S
Appreciating Inspiring Individuals Across Traditions
ALON GOSHEN-GOTTSTEIN
Religious Genius
Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Religious Genius
Appreciating Inspiring Individuals Across Traditions
Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Elijah Interfaith Institute
Jerusalem, Israel
ISBN 978-3-319-55513-3 ISBN 978-3-319-55514-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-55514-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017936915
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For Therese
Whose love has been a gateway for me to appreciate
Saints and Religious Geniuses
Beyond my native Judaism
The world today needs saints, new saints, saints of genius
—Simone Weil
C
ontents
1 Introduction 1
Part I Introducing Religious Genius
2 Religious Genius—An Overview 11
3 “Religious Genius”—Choosing a Category 19
4 The Model: Developing a Methodology
for Studying (Religious Genius) 43
5 Religious Genius in the Real Life of Community 67
6 Religious Genius and Interreligious Reality 85
Part II Bibliographical and Textual Studies
7 Studying “Saints”—An Overview of Methods
and Approaches to the Study of Saints 99
8 “Religious Genius”—History of a Category 115
ix
x CONTENTS
9 Sample Teaching on Religious Genius 143
10 Saints and Religious Geniuses as Inspiration
for Character Formation 147
Part III Responses to “Religious Genius”
11 Religious Geniuses: An Evolving Study
by Robert Cummings Neville 153
12 Ultimism and Religious Genius: Response
and Proposal by Jerome Yehuda Gellman 167
Appendix: Scholars who have contributed
to the Religious Genius Project 189
Index 191
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
It all started with “saints.” I was driving from Haifa to Jerusalem. I was
on a call with Daliah, who had been taking a course with me at Hebrew
University. She posed the following question: Where can I take a class
on the lives of the Christian saints? Her request was clear. She wanted
something inspiring, maybe even transformational, growing out of
the experience of extraordinary individuals who spent their life follow-
ing the Christian path, but who could nevertheless be inspiring to her
as a Jewish person. There was something to be learned across religions,
and she was seeking a place where such learning could take place. I
responded: Nowhere. There was no place in Jerusalem where this kind
of teaching could take place. Christian institutions were teaching archae-
ology and Bible, not saints. Jewish institutions might offer a course on
history or archaeology of early monasticism, but not the kind of engaged
and inspiring teaching that Daliah was after. There was simply nowhere
to go to obtain this teaching.
At this moment, the Elijah School for the Study of Wisdom in World
Religions (later renamed the Elijah Interfaith Institute) was born. The
vision that came to me in the car was that of an institute that would
allow engaged spiritual teaching, based on solid academic foundations,
to take place in an exchange among people, students and teachers of
different faiths. The vision addressed a real need. I received that conver-
sation, and the inspiration that flowed from it, as a calling.
Saints, then, have been at the heart of the enterprise of seeking wis-
dom and sharing across traditions, an enterprise that has occupied most
© The Author(s) 2017 1
A. Goshen-Gottstein, Religious Genius,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-55514-0_1
2 A. GOSHEN-GOTTSTEIN
of my attention for the past 20 years. I have come back to the subject of
saints time and again. One summer school, in 1999, was devoted to the
study of saints in world religions. It is a theme I continue to engage in.
It is a theme that goes to the heart of the spiritual life and therefore has
the potential to advance some of the most significant spiritual exchanges
between members of different faith traditions.
As I observed the interfaith arena, I realized that very few individuals
or institutions were engaging subjects that lie at the heart of faith con-
cerns. So much of interfaith engagement takes place around issues of
common concern in the world—peace, environment, coexistence, fresh
water and so on. So little actually touches on the faith of participants in
an attempt to share what is most precious in one’s faith, or at least to
share what can be shared of it. Saints, or exemplary religious individu-
als, allow us to do just that. They allow us to explore some of the most
fundamental dimensions of the religious life, of our own selves. As the
Elijah Institute’s mission is to engage in sharing between religions in the
most profound way, the study of saints across religions should lie at the
heart of its work. I have had this intuition for years. About 4 or 5 years
ago I began a conversation with the leadership of the John Templeton
Foundation. I proposed to them the idea of working on saints as a sub-
ject of study and of developing this topic as something to be shared
between scholars and the faithful of different religions. I was encouraged
to explore whether this new area of study might be undertaken under
the rubric of “Religious Genius.” I was told the idea was part of the
Foundation’s charter and that the Foundation had not yet found a way
of developing it.
I will admit, the initial impetus for studying extraordinary religious
personalities under the rubric of “Religious Genius” came from the out-
side and was clearly motivated by my interest in obtaining a grant that
would allow the work to be undertaken. Indeed, we did get that grant,
and were it not for that grant, the present book would not be published.
But as I delved into the category and as dozens of scholars were enlisted
into the project, the idea not only grew on me. It was compelling. It
made sense. It worked.
Of course, “working” is relative to the goals one sets before one-
self. If one’s goal is to make “Religious Genius” work, then that can
be achieved, just as well as any other way of approaching the topic.
So, when I say “it worked” what I mean is that here was a new way to
approach a topic that opened up new possibilities, addressed problems
