Messiah Interviews; Jerry Pollock

Messiah Interviews written by Jerry J Pollock was published by Shechinah Third Temple this month. I received an ARC of this book for the purposes of this review. I will say upfront I don’t believe I am versed enough in Judaism, Jewish Messianism and Third Temple lore to comment on the religious basis of Mr. Pollock’s beliefs as stated in this book. The back cover states that Messiah Interviews should be shelved in the religion & spirituality reference area, but I had been under the impression this was fiction. Due to my professed ignorance I will direct my thoughts to other aspects of this book.

I believe that Mr. Pollock’s book can be attributed to the maxim “An unexamined life isn’t worth living.” The first section of the book is essentially Mr. Pollack’s autobiography. Mr. Pollock discusses his in detail going through Primal Therapy, a la Arthur Janov. He relates and expounds on the profound damage early traumatic experiences may have on infants and children and how these ripples can be felt many years later as crippling mental illness. I was confused and distanced by Mr. Pollock’s references to himself in the plural even after it became clear via the text that in fact there was no twin, only himself. This was summarily dealt with in a single paragraph in the second section- which I found abrupt. I wanted more of an explanation of what the author’s purpose in creating this “twin” was.

The remainder of the book further expounds on Mr. Pollock being interviewed by various and sundry figures out of the Old Testament. The aim of the questions, both mundane and profound, is to determine Mr. Pollock’s potential in becoming the Messiah of the Third Age. As I stated above, I’ve no deep learning in Judaism, the Third Temple or Old Testament readings regarding the same. It isn’t my place to judge the accuracy or truthfulness of Mr. Pollock’s narrative. Messiah Interviews proved to be informative and interesting reading. I would recommend at least rudimentary familiarity with Judaism, beliefs concerning the Third Temple and Old Testament reading concerning the same. Some familiarity with Primal Therapy might help as well.

Edited, Jan. 31, 2009: To correct spelling of Mr. Pollock's name and offer my apologies for the error. To add image credit to Mobipocket.