The Jewishness of the New Testament
How can a deepened knowledge of Judaism nourish the theological imagination of Christians? Why are anti-Jewish readings of the New Testament just bad readings of the text? We welcome a distinguished New Testament scholar, Amy-Jill Levine, who is the world expert on the Jewishness of the New Testament, to tackle these engaging questions.
Experience the Episode
Presented by College of Arts and Letters
This episode we welcome a distinguished New Testament scholar, Amy-Jill Levine, who is the world expert on the Jewishness of the New Testament. She engages questions like, Why are anti-Jewish readings of the New Testament just bad readings of the text? What are some of Jesus’ parables that are clarified by reading them as Jewish parables? What does it mean for Jews to study the New Testament, either academically or as part of their self-understanding as Jews? Was there such a thing as “normative” Judaism at Jesus’ time, over-against which Jesus comes across as an aberration? What’s the difference between saying “Bible,” instead of “Old and New Testaments”—or saying “Hebrew Bible” or “Old Testament” instead of “Tanakh?” Is there any sense to term “Abrahamic religions” as an umbrella for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? How can a deepened knowledge of Judaism nourish the theological imagination of Christians?
Interested in going even deeper on this topic? Join Professor Said Reynolds for his new online course Sacred Texts in Dialogue, offered through the Coursera platform, to explore the common points, and stark differences, between the Bible and the Qur’an. The course consists of six modules and assumes no previous knowledge of the two books. For more information, click here.
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Meet the Speaker: Amy-Jill Levine
Amy-Jill Levine is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies, and Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School, Graduate Department of Religion, and Department of Jewish Studies; she is also Affiliated Professor, Woolf Institute, Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge UK.
Holding a B.A. from Smith College, M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University, and honorary doctorates from the University of Richmond, the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, the University of South Carolina-Upstate, Drury University, Christian Theological Seminary, and Franklin College, Professor Levine has been awarded grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies. She has held office in the Society of Biblical Literature, the Catholic Biblical Association, and the Association for Jewish Studies. She served as Alexander Robertson Fellow (University of Glasgow), and the Catholic Biblical Association Scholar to the Philippines. She has given over 500 lectures on the Bible, Christian-Jewish relations, and Religion, Gender, and Sexuality across the globe.
Her books include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2007; audio books); Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi (Catholic Book Club; translations: Spanish, Italian; audio books); The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and the Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us (with Douglas Knight; translation: Chinese); The New Testament, Methods and Meanings (with Warren Carter); and The Gospel of Luke (with Ben Witherington III — the first full-length biblical commentary co-authored by a Jew and an Evangelical). Her most recent book is The Bible With and Without Jesus, co-authored with Marc Z. Brettler
Her children’s books (with Sandy Sasso) include Who Counts? 100 Sheep, 10 Coins and 2 Sons (2017 Junior Library Guild List; translations: Spanish, Korean); The Marvelous Mustard Seed (2018 Junior Library Guild List; translation: Norwegian); Who Is My Neighbor? and A Very Big Problem and the forthcoming boardbook, 100 Sheep: A Counting Parable.
With Marc Brettler, she co-edited The Jewish Annotated New Testament; she is also the editor of the 13-volume Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings, and The Historical Jesus in Context (Princeton Readings in Religion; translation: Japanese). Presently she is editing several volumes in the Wisdom Commentary series, and she is the New Testament editor of the new Oxford Biblical Commentary Series. With Joseph Sievers, she is co-editing a collection of essays on the Pharisees.
Her adult education volumes and videos include the Teaching Company Great Lectures: “Introduction to the Old Testament,” “Great Figures of the Old Testament,” and “Great Figures of the New Testament”; Abingdon adult education: Short Stories by Jesus Study Guide; Entering the Passion of Jesus: A Beginner’s Guide to Holy Week; Light of the World: A Beginner’s Guide to Advent; and most recently, Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner’s Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven; and The Kingdom of Heaven: 40 Devotionals.