Spiritual Focus on Books April 25, 2005 Issue

JESUS' TEACHING—inseparable from his healing

LYLE YOUNG

In When Jesus Came to Harvard, Harvey Cox recounts his 15 years spent teaching the Harvard Divinity School undergraduate class "Jesus and the moral life."

At first, Cox was reluctant to teach such a course. He was skeptical that it would draw enough students. But enrollment grew so large that the class had to be held in a theater big enough for rock concerts. Among the thousands of students who flocked to hear Cox were Christians of many backgrounds, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and agnostics.

In a talk about the book given last November in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cox emphasized that during the years of teaching his Harvard course, he'd found that Jesus is "no longer the monopoly of the churches but a compelling person across the board." By striving to see the spirit, or the inner intent, of the Jewish law, Jesus had rejected both moral relativism and moral absolutism.