ELKINS – Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University and author of books for adults and children, will deliver the William E. Phipps Religion & Philosophy Interdisciplinary Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 17 in Madden Student Center, Timms Lounge. Her talk is titled “Jesus the Jewish Storyteller: Hearing the Parables in Their Time and Ours.”
The annual William E. Phipps Interdisciplinary Lectureship is free and open to the public. A reception will take place afterward.
“Jesus cannot be understood apart from his Jewish context, and the troubling legacy of Christian anti-Judaism must be directly confronted as we encounter the Jewish Jesus,” said D&E Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy Dr. Bryan Wagoner. “Professor Levine is among the best biblical scholars in the world, and D&E is extraordinarily fortunate to be hosting her for the 2019 Phipps Lecture.”
Wagoner, along with Assistant Director of Institutional Advancement: Foundation & Church Relations Tina Vial, organizes the annual Phipps Lecture.
Levine is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt’s Divinity School and College of Arts and Science in Nashville, Tennessee. She is also Affiliated Professor at Woolf Institute: Centre for Jewish-Christian Relations in Cambridge, England.
She is the author of multiple books including “The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus,” which was listed among Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2007, and “Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi.” Levine co-authored “The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and the Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us” (with Douglas Knight); “The New Testament, Methods and Meanings” (with Warren Carter); and “The Gospel of Luke” (with Ben Witherington III).
Levine also is co-author with Sandy Sasso of several children’s books including “Who Counts? 100 Sheep, 10 Coins and 2 Sons,” (2017 Junior Library Guild List); “The Marvelous Mustard Seed,” (2018 Junior Library Guild List); and “Who Is My Neighbor?”
Levine, with Marc Zvi Brettler, edited “The Jewish Annotated New Testament.”
In addition to her university teachings, Levine has given more than 500 lectures on the Bible, Christian-Jewish relations, and Religion, Gender and Sexuality across the globe.
Levine served as Alexander Robertson Fellow at the University of Glasgow and the Catholic Biblical Association Scholar to the Philippines. Last spring, she was the first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute.
Levine holds a Ph.D. in religion from Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and religion from Smith College, as well as several honorary doctorates.
Established in 1995, the Phipps Lectureship brings accomplished scholars from a wide range of backgrounds to campus to provide opportunities for sharing ideas and experiences in religion, philosophy and related disciplines. Dedicated to continuing Dr. Phipps’s legacy of scholarship, inquiry and the candid discussion of ideas, the lectureship connects students and the public with leading scholars through classroom visits, small group meetings and an annual free public lecture.
