Bloom and Yahweh

Caught a suprisingly poignant interview of Harold Bloom last night on NPR.

Bloom shares his belief that Yahweh, the God of his Jewish youth (he now describes himself as a cultural Jew), has broken the covenant described in the Torah. He emphasizes the radical, unpredictable nature of the New Testament Jesus - which he describes as a literary character very like Hamlet- and rejects the "Judeo-Christian tradition" as a term that merges ultimately opposed ideologies.

The end of the interview is the most gripping, in which Bloom reveals an inner struggle between his bitter resentment towards the absent, heartless, covenant breaking Yahweh and the undeniable and unbanishable numinous that haunts him, wide awake, in the middle of the night.

A strange confessional from the staunch and polished, if sometimes pompous, defender of all things canonical.