Has anyone else read it? I am currently at the point where this article picks up:
"Most important, Neusner (a Rabbi) read Jesus' repeated rhetorical formula "You have heard that it was said [in the Torah] ... But I say to you ... " as his claim to be not merely the religio-military Messiah some Jews hoped for at the time but also above the Torah and hence God. Neusner imagined having a dialogue with a Jesus-era Jewish "master" about Jesus' Torah teaching:
"He: 'What did he leave out?'
"I: 'Nothing.'
"He: 'Then what did he add?'
"I: 'Himself.'"
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -1,00.html
Wow! If you understand what's going on here -- and if you don't then please find a copy and read it -- then you understand what's at stake: the validity of either Judaism or Christianity according to the words of Jesus. The Pope re-presents the problem Neusner articulated and then gives a Christian response, which is, frankly, mind blowing to me. I would add, as a challenge to my Protestant friends, that the very nature of the problem seems to me to squeeze out any possibility that Protestantism, at least non-sacramental versions, can provide and answer to meet it.
Obviously I highly recommend it.
Jesse