Emmanuel
Levinas (1906-1995) was a Talmud scholar as well as Jewish philosopher
trained in phenomenology. In his conversations and writings, he spoke
at times directly to Christians, challenging them to probe more deeply
into the ethical nuances of responsibility. Levinas was constantly in
search of an ideal of holiness, one that would become an “absolute
value (in) the human possibility of giving the other priority over
oneself.” This priority became real whenever the search for God was
focused into a concern for the other, a concern Levinas shared with
Christians: “When I speak to a Christian, I always quote Matthew 25;
the relation to God is presented there as a relation to another
person. It is not a metaphor: in the other, there is a real presence
of God. In my relation to the other, I hear the Word of God.” Levinas
mentions how he was led to this same passage in the Gospel “where the
people are astonished to hear that they have abandoned and persecuted
God. They eventually find out that while they were sending the poor
away, they were actually sending God himself away.” Later commenting
on the theological motif reflecting God’s descent to earth, and how
this movement is commensurable with helping the poor and feeding the
hungry, Levinas brings one’s attention to “the authentic Eucharist ...
when the other comes to face me.” Drawing from Levinas’s essays and
works, this book focuses on themes and concepts and ways they convolve
with responsibility. Peripheral to the presentation in this book is
the steady question of how Levinas’s analyses of responsibility
address Christians..
About the Author:
John Kilzer was born in Jackson,
Tennessee, the son of a railroad engineer and bookmobile driver. A
high school All-American in basketball, John later became a 4-year
letterman at Memphis State University, where he earned a BA and MA
in English. While playing basketball for Memphis State, John met
Tennie Hodges, Al Green’s guitar player and composer of such
standards at “Take Me to the River” and “Love and Happiness.” Tennie
taught John how to play guitar, and John perfected this craft while
teaching English at Memphis State.
After compiling several
songs, John was signed to a major record deal with Geffen Records in
Los Angeles. His first record, Memory in the Making, had a top-ten
hit “Red Blue Jeans,” which was in regular rotation on MTV and
prompted tours with The Moody Blues and Little Feat. John’s songs
have been recorded by Rosanne Cash, Dobie Gray, Trace Adkins, and
Stephen Bruton.
After a radical conversion experience in the
Memphis jail, John left the music business and enrolled at Memphis
Theological Seminary, where he earned his MDiv in 2005. In 2010 he
was ordained an elder in the United Methodist Church and was also
awarded his Ph.D. from Middlesex University in London, England. He
now leads a recovery ministry at St. John’s United Methodist Church
and is director of the Theology and Arts department at Memphis
Theological Seminary. His also has a new recording on Madjack
Records entitled Seven that will be released in Spring of 2012. John
and his wife Stacey live in Midtown Memphis.
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