About the Book:
For years Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Argentina, and Rabbi Abraham Skorka were tenacious promoters of interreligious dialogues on faith and reason. They both sought to build bridges among Catholicism, Judaism, and the world at large. On Heaven and Earth, originally published in Argentina in 2010, brings together a series of these conversations where both men talked about various theological and worldly issues, including God, fundamentalism, atheism, abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and globalization. From these personal and accessible talks comes a first-hand view of the man who would become pope to 1.2 billion Catholics around the world in March 2013.
My Comments:
When Pope Francis was first elected, publishers seemed to rush to print anything they could to tell the world about this man. This book is one of those efforts. It is interesting to see the Jewish perspective on moral issues of our day and religious issues in general and to see how they compare and contrast to the Catholic views of the man who is now Pope Francis. Both Bergoglio and Skorka and respectful of the positions of the other and yet firm in their own beliefs. Topics discussed include prayer, women, euthanasia, education, money, politics, same-sex marriage, abortion, divorce and more.
While this book has its interesting points, the variety of topics covered and the two separate views make it hard to remember who said what about what. If comparing and contrasting Jewish and Catholic beliefs is of interest to you, this book would be right up your alley. It's not really a theological treatise and it doesn't go deeply enough into any one subject to be an authoritative text, but it is highly readable.
I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a complimentary review copy through the Blogging for Books program. Grade: B-
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