Harold Bloom interview on "Jesus and Yahweh" (2005)

Harold Bloom interviewed by Charlie Rose, 2005

[@lancevanarsdale4978]

Bloom was on point with his fears of the future… turns out it was even worse than he imagined.

[@HugoNewman]

Charlie Rose, the tragically bad, inexplicably revered interviewer.

[@mothflame99]

If anyone wants to read an explanation of his "gnosticism" i would recommend Agon: Towards a Theory of Revisionism. It's much better than the explanation (or lack thereof) in Omens of Millenium

[@hakmagui9842]

True.

[@hakmagui9842]

I call tell how comfortable these two became with each other.

[@danscalia7427]

Charles Rose literally talks over his guest. What the hell is he doing?

[@MalcolmCrystal]

I know. Whenever Bloom makes an interesting and provocative point and pauses slightly before explaining himself further, Rose jumps in and interrupts the flow.

[@oldnewsclipster]

At 14:15 - The fact that Christianity and Islam have become dominant in numbers over Judaism says more about the people than the religion. It's not the merits of those religions but the gullibility of the people who adhere to them.

[@96mtbrider]

Bruh got cursed by the demiurge

[@LesMachinesNoires]

Harold as right about the Jesus of US that is very different from the Jesus from Europe. That of the USA is frightening, he punishes,he judges, he prohibits, it is not the message of Christ of the Gospels who teaches the path towards the elevation of the soul through humility, the search for divine knowledge, unconditional love, forgiveness, and faith in miracles.

[@noheroespublishing1907]

Comrade Bloom is dearly missed.

[@opinion3742]

Did he call Charlie dear at the end there?

[@sampletextsampletext7051]

"Before abraham was I AM"

[@patricktalley4185]

I loved Harold Bloom (RIP).“Where Might Wisdom Be Found?” is one of my favorite books on biblical literature and how it impacts our lives. Bloom’s conversations on Charlie Rose were always a bit disjointed, however, because the host doesn’t know when to shut up. Rose’s constant interruptions and urgent interjections never allow Bloom to elaborate adequately on the points he’s trying to make. That said, at least Rose knew enough to bring Bloom back again and again, so they could revisit topics and continue their explorations Bloom was a confident - some might say, overconfident - scholar of religious literature. His literary insights on aspects like characterization, theme, and narrative are solid. However, his occasional theological digressions leave a lot to be desired. He was no religious thinker (admittedly). Bloom never seemed to understand or be willing to explore how God can be at once both inscrutable and eminent; how the story of the Bible is a love story between the Creator and His Creation. He sees the crucifixion as suicide, instead of what it is - God willingly sacrificing Himself for man to end the practice of involuntary human sacrifice (scapegoating, ritualistic killing, murder, revenge, war, execution) that had warped our souls. For great literary insight into the writers and characters of the Biblical tradition, I recommend Bloom. But for a true theological understanding of God and Christ beyond those literary parameters, you’ll need to read early spiritual thinkers like Maimonides, Augustine, Aquinas, or some of the more recent religious writers like Chesterton, Merton, or CS Lewis. I’d especially recommend Rene Girard on the connection between the crucifixion and the scapegoating mechanism.

[@allen5455]

C.S. Lewis is not profound. Lewis writes from the Darwinist perspective. His "Mere Christianity" confirms this. The whole problem of modernity/postmodernity originates from Darwin. Marx, too, acknowledges Darwin as a necessity.

[@joycejulep9115]

@@allen5455 I respect your opinion, but I have to disagree. I find CS Lewis's "A Grief Observed" immensely profound...and immensely moving. An astoundingly raw, bare depiction of a man who is searching for God in moment of intense grief and confusion. It seems more profound to me every year, as I get older, and as those I love begin to die around me.

[@allen5455]

@@joycejulep9115 In neo-orthodoxy nothing matters but "relationships," thus the necessity for conversations about one's "feelings." Neo-orthodoxy emphasizes the existential over the revelatory. With Lewis, there is no outside-of-self revelation, there is only "virtue signaling."

[@joycejulep9115]

@@allen5455 I'm not any kind of religious expert and don't really understand all those terms. All I know is "A Grief Observed," as well as a few other Lewis books and essays, are profoundly meaningful to me, and I encourage other people to read him

[@allen5455]

@@joycejulep9115 You wrote a five paragraph post, the longest I have observed on the Internet, and you don't understand "those terms"? Maybe you should try for some real understanding. Comprehend beyond "feeling." End of dialogue.

[@cmk1964]

Which means? Dunno. Just blabbing.

[@patricktalley4185]

The crucifixion was not “suicide”, it was sacrifice.

[@user-ff4lr2jj5r]

makes difference....

[@outlawgt3045]

Was not a sacrifice either. Jesus didn't die forever.

[@gabrielalfaia8154]

@@outlawgt3045 Yeah he just went to bretrayal, inhumane amounts of pain and humilation, death for 3 days and also he was suppose to be literally blameless of anything. So totally normal phenomena.

[@outlawgt3045]

@@gabrielalfaia8154 Go look up the definition of sacrifice. US troops sacrificed their lives for our freedoms.. Jesus sacrificed nothing..

[@gabrielalfaia8154]

@@outlawgt3045 So if i cut your arm and three days later your arm grows back you would say that your arm was never cut at all? What is that logic. "Oh you sacrificed nothing, caused you didn't die at the war." wtf

[@gabrielalfaia8154]

He seems chronically disappointed that people are not reading Shakespeare anymore.

[@nikakavdecko]

Charlie, Charlie, charlie...

[@MoorishMonitor]

Charlie Rose should have stopped interrupting Harry Bloom.

[@HB-iq6bl]

josephus the roman historian mentions jesus

[@ricardocima]

Interpolation

[@speggeri90]

Since I came to faith years ago I see my past self in people who reject Christ. Pride and intellectualism keeps their mind blind and hearts in Sin. I am a sinner and Jesus Christ paid the wage for my Sins so I might be washed clean and have eternal life. Nothing in life makes any sense or have any reason without our Father in heaven and our Savior. I pray Mr Bloom came to accept Christ before his passing.

[@thorpeenith3436]

No, speggeri, just because you suspended your faculties of reason and have accepted ancient superstitions as truth, it certainly does not follow that your delusions are true. In fact, it's pretty funny that you criticize bloom in general terms but cannot correct any thing at all that he got wrong! This is what faith does- it destroys your ability to remain logical and instead encourages you to trust dumb things on a visceral level.

[@gjeacocke]

Harold was lost on his own deluge of words.

[@ahmetdogan5685]

😂 🪓

[@allen5455]

So, God is partially lost? Lost to whom? Lost to Harold Bloom.

[@user-ff4lr2jj5r]

Can't be loss when you do not exist.

[@allen5455]

@@user-ff4lr2jj5r You don't know that God does not exist. Such is a "presupposition." We invite you to change your thoughts, change your mind. "God in Christ redeeming the world unto Himself."

[@user-ff4lr2jj5r]

@@allen5455 I never said I knew for a fact that any god you can name exist or does not exist. But that is the point.

[@allen5455]

@@user-ff4lr2jj5r Logic?

[@user-ff4lr2jj5r]

@@allen5455 No thanks. I am already overstocked with logic.

[@2Uahoj]

His religious thoughts here are so confused that Charlie has a hard time following him. Also, hard to understand that Bloom does not recognize that the Jesus of the Gospels does indeed identify himself with God - most notably when Caiaphas questions him in Mark 14:61-62, "are you the son of the Living God?" To which Jesus responds, "I Am" - a term only used for God.

[@apiro1000]

Technically that passage only shows Jesus claiming to be the son of God, not God himself. It’s not asserted explicitly in Mark that the son of god and god are the same being. Like Harold says, that idea is better attested in the gospel of John.

[@2Uahoj]

@@apiro1000 Not really. "I Am" is a Jewish phrase for God.

[@metronistronn]

I'm a Pentecostal lol.. Praise God. At one time I picked away at the scripture like Bloom also. Hey Bloom you must come by faith! Wonder if his great brain is helping him now, wherever he is now.

[@allen5455]

Bloom was forever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of Truth.

[@greatcoldemptiness]

Pentecostalism is demonic

[@mrb5510]

Utilizing your time on earth by judging dead non-believers in public, and denying the importance of scripture. If Christianity and in turn the bible proves to be true, I have no doubt you'll join him soon enough, wherever he is. You two can chat about it then.

[@HkFinn83]

I like what he said about the difference between Jesus the historical man, and Jesus the theological figure. As a man Jesus was clearly a Jewish apocalyptic prophet who is of an identifiable Jewish type. As a figure expounded upon by later figures he’s much more interesting.

[@AlbertIsraeli]

People hear, do not follow this man’s example, for he is blind and deaf and blabbering little man. Where is this smart alec now, did he ever came to know the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. People are so brave, when they think, that there is no God. I wonder, if he passed away and never found salvation, then in which “space” is he lost, rather than God. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Yeshua is to the glory of God the Father.

[@opinion3742]

How is one saved just by believing the story that Jesus was God and sacrificed himself? How does one make that story make sense?

[@user-ec5vx3uf6r]

Rose never listen, and never read any book and posible never open the complete Works of Shakespeare!