Before last night, Elie Wiesel had never spoken publicly about Jesus Christ.
At his final lecture of the year at Boston University, Wiesel broke his 30-year silence on the religious figure and approached the subject from a Jewish perspective.
Former President John Silber, who introduced Wiesel, said he had asked the Holocaust survivor to discuss Christ 10 years ago, but Wiesel said “Jesus was not his” to speak about.
Throughout his career as a Jewish scholar, Wiesel, a BU professor, has spoken extensively on many historical Jewish figures and issues. His lectures are some of the most anticipated academic events each year.
“I never thought about Jesus as a child,” he said. “I identified Jesus with hatred for the Jews. How could he have been a Jew? He was Christian — that’s how I saw him, how else?”
Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said his thoughts about Christ, however, have changed since his childhood.
“I believe [Christ] lived and died as a Jew,” he said. “It is his legacy that has [sparked debate].”
Wiesel reviewed the history of Christ and his discrepancies in different gospel stories to about 1,200 people at Metcalf Hall in the George Sherman Union last night.
“I am not a believer in Christ as the Messiah,” Wiesel said, “though I respect those who believe he is and I hope they respect my beliefs.”
In his introduction, Silber praised the scholar.
“We have become addicted to [these lectures],” Silber said.
Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore said Wiesel is a living legend for BU students.
“We look at how people understand each other,” Elmore said. “One of the ways people have to understand each other is through the religion and faith and how people can learn a little bit [from these].”
College of Arts and Sciences freshman Marissa Berstein said she appreciated how Wiesel’s lecture “offered a different perspective” on Christ and religions in general.
“It was nice that he put an effort into understanding other beliefs,” she said.
Josh Zagovsky, a Harvard College freshman, said he had not given much thought to the “ideological disagreement” about Christ between Jews and Christians before last night.
“Wiesel has an amazing talent for taking topics that . . . most people think they know a lot about and giving them a new spin,” said Zagovsky, who said he has seen Wiesel’s lectures since he was in the fourth grade.
College of Communication junior Jillian Primiano, who is neither Jewish nor Christian, said the lecture helped her “learn a lot about the Jewish perspective on Jesus Christ” and consider contemporary questions about spirituality.
“I thought it was really interesting for him to give a lecture on Jesus as one of the most prominent Jewish scholars,” Primiano said.
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