…let me tell three little anecdotes to illustrate the problem of east and west in religion. Back some 15 years ago Dr Martin Buber was over here in the United States lecturing, and a group of scholars like myself who were interested in comparative…

…around like that, I had the impudence to raise my hand and he very generously looked at me and said: what is it? I said, Dr Buber, there is a word being used here this evening I do not understand what is that word Mr Campbell? I said god. Well his…

…emcee, cut in and he said: no doctor, don't say it. You know, Mr Campbell just wants to know what you mean by god. Well Dr Buber, he sort of backed away and took a second stride and he was going to wipe the whole thing off and he just said: well…

…person. When I told this to Gershom Sholem he said: well sometimes he does go too far but so I raised my hand. I said Dr Buber There's a word being used here today that I do not understand. He said what is that word? I said: god. You can imagine…

…later he's come to Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac. Well I'll say: you can't let a thing like that go by. And I said, Dr Buber, so he looks at me a little more cautiously than the first time and I said: how do you distinguish between a divine and…

…person. When I told this to Gershom Scholem he said: well sometimes he does go too far. So I raised my hand and I said: Dr Buber There's a word being used here today that I do not understand. He said what is that word? I said: god. You can imagine…