Joking Seriously: Irving (Yitz) Greenberg’s Perspective on Jewish and Christian Beliefs

Irving Greenberg’s theology of Jewish Christian encounter is intertwined with his post-holocaust theology. His work theologizes the sociology enabling the Jewish Christian dialogue. Considering Greenberg’s book For the Sake of Heaven and Earth, Magid stated that “Instead of simply rejecting the claim of Jesus as the Jewish messiah,” Greenberg offered “a more nuanced view, not of Jesus, but of the nature of the Jewish messiah.” Greenberg’s “messianic moment” prescribes a reality in which “Judaism and Christianity are peerless redeeming models for the world.” However, alongside such theological assertions, we find sections of first-person autobiographical prose where Greenberg’s confessionals are preoccupied with self-becoming.

I turn to Greenberg’s oral texts, where the confessional is pregnant with a diffused satire. Greenberg’s oral discussions of Jesus and the Messiah diverge, both in form and in content, from the printed discussions. I believe they reflect some of the most profound Greenberg moments. The usefulness of oral deliveries is twofold. First, unlike Greenberg’s books, his oral texts reveal a web of two or three narrative lines - the discursive and confessional - delineated only by voice tags. I emphasize that this bouncy textual structure is erased from printed renditions. Second, the oral deliveries are performed narratives with distinct moods and dramatic settings that are implicit theological claims. I discuss a 2014 Greenberg speech, where he recounted a satiric tale about the messiah as a hybrid. Greenberg’s diffused satire circumvents an either/or logic and ends up with radical claims of hybridity that Greenberg does not endorse. I claim that Greenberg’s theology of Jewish Christian encounters idealizes evolving people of faith tasked with ensuring the evolution of their respective religions. Therefore, the method of satire, both hopeful and subversive, is what Greenberg’s religiosity is about.