{{Infobox academic , name = Amy-Jill Levine , image = , alt = , caption = , birth_name = , birth_date = {{birth year and age, 1956 , birth_place = , death_date = , death_place = , nationality = American , other_names = A. J. Levine , spouse = Jay Geller , discipline =

Biblical studies Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 Fo ...

, sub_discipline = , school_tradition = {{hlist ,

Feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

, alma_mater = {{unbulleted list ,

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, thesis_title = The Matthean Program of Salvation History , thesis_year = 1984 , doctoral_advisor = D. Moody Smith , doctoral_students = , notable_students = , main_interests = , workplaces = {{unbulleted list ,

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

, notable_works = {{unbulleted list , ''The Misunderstood Jew'' (2006) , ''Short Stories by Jesus'' (2014) , notable_ideas = , influences = , influenced = , awards = , website = , signature = , signature_alt = Amy-Jill Levine (born 1956) is University Professor of New Testament, 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.

Biography

Amy-Jill Levine was born in 1956. Raised in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood in Massachusetts, she grew up knowing and loving many aspects of the Christian tradition—although she is herself an Orthodox Jew.{{cite web, url=https://www.scarboromissions.ca/interfaith-dialogue/jewish-christian-relations/dr-amy-jill-levine/, title=Bio, on Scarboro Missions She completed her undergraduate work at

, where she graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

and held honors in both religion and English.{{cite web, url=http://www.momentmag.com/gospel-amy-jill-levine/, title=The Gospel of Amy-Jill Levine, author=Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil, work=Moment Magazine, access-date=4 January 2015 She earned her doctorate at

. She has held office in the

Society of Biblical Literature The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), founded in 1880 as the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, is an American-based learned society dedicated to the academic study of the Bible and related ancient literature. Its current stated mis ...

, the

Catholic Biblical Association The Catholic Biblical Association of America (CBA) is an American learned society dedicated to the academic study of the Bible. The suggestion to form a permanent association of biblical scholars was made at the beginning of 1936 at a meeting in ...

, and the

Association for Jewish Studies The Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) is a scholarly organization in the United States that promotes academic Jewish Studies. The AJS was founded in 1969 and held its first annual conference that year at Brandeis University , mottoeng ...

. Her publications include ''The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus'' (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), the edited collection, ''The Historical Jesus in Context'' (Princeton University Press, 2006), and the 14-volume ''Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings'' (Continuum). A self-described "Yankee Jewish feminist who teaches in a predominantly Protestant divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt," Levine "combines historical-critical rigor, literary-critical sensitivity, and a frequent dash of humor with a commitment to eliminating

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, sexist, and

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

theologies." She is a member of the

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

synagogue Sherith Israel. She accepts the Orthodox Jewish tenet of the afterlife{{clarify, date=November 2020, but "is often quite unorthodox" overall. Levine has produced lectures on the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

and "Great Figures of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

" for

The Teaching Company The Teaching Company, doing business as Wondrium, is a media production company that produces educational, video and audio content in the form of courses, documentaries, series under two content brands - Wondrium and The Great Courses. The comp ...

Quotes

Per the introduction by Levine for ''The Historical Jesus in Context'':

There is a consensus of sorts on a basic outline of Jesus' life. Most scholars agree that Jesus was baptized by John, debated with fellow Jews on how best to live according to God's will, engaged in healings and exorcisms, taught in parables, gathered male and female followers in Galilee, went to Jerusalem, and was crucified by Roman soldiers during the governorship of Pontius Pilate (26–36 CE). But, to use the old cliché, the devil is in the details.

Selected publications

*{{cite book , editor-last=Levine , editor-first=Amy-Jill , editor2-last=Blickenstaff , editor2-first=Marianne , title=A Feminist Companion to Matthew , series=Feminist companion to the New Testament and early Christian writings , volume=1 , location=Sheffield , publisher=Sheffield Academic Press , date=2001 , isbn=978-1-841-27211-5 , oclc=47867557 *{{cite book , editor-last=Levine , editor-first=Amy-Jill , editor-mask=3 , editor2-last=Blickenstaff , editor2-first=Marianne , title=A Feminist Companion to Mark , series=Feminist companion to the New Testament and early Christian writings , volume=2 , location=Sheffield , publisher=Sheffield Academic Press , date=2001 , isbn=978-1-841-27194-1 , oclc=49864189 *{{cite book , editor-last=Levine , editor-first=Amy-Jill , editor-mask=3 , editor2-last=Blickenstaff , editor2-first=Marianne , title=A Feminist Companion to Luke , series=Feminist companion to the New Testament and early Christian writings , volume=3 , location=Sheffield , publisher=Sheffield Academic Press , date=2002 , isbn=978-1-841-27174-3 , oclc=50616758 *{{cite book , editor-last=Levine , editor-first=Amy-Jill , editor-mask=3 , editor2-last=Blickenstaff , editor2-first=Marianne , title=A Feminist Companion to John Volume 1 , series=Feminist companion to the New Testament and early Christian writings , location=Sheffield , publisher=Sheffield Academic Press , date=2002 *{{cite book , editor-last=Levine , editor-first=Amy-Jill , editor-mask=3 , editor2-last=Blickenstaff , editor2-first=Marianne , title=A Feminist Companion to John Volume 2 , series=Feminist companion to the New Testament and early Christian writings , location=Sheffield , publisher=Sheffield Academic Press , date=2002 *{{cite book , author-last=Levine , author-first=Amy-Jill , author-mask=3 , title=The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus , url=https://archive.org/details/misunderstoodjew00levi , url-access=registration , location=San Francisco, CA , publisher=Harper-Collins , date=2006 , isbn=978-0-060-78966-4 , oclc=70199942 *{{cite book , editor-last=Levine , editor-first=Amy-Jill , editor-mask=3 , editor2-last=Allison , editor2-first=Dale C. , editor2-link=Dale C. Allison , editor3-last=Crossan , editor3-first=John Dominic , editor3-link=John Dominic Crossan , title=The Historical Jesus in Context , series=Princeton Readings in Religions , publisher=Princeton , date=2006 , isbn=978-0-691-00992-6 *{{cite book , editor-last=Levine , editor-first=Amy-Jill , editor-mask=3 , editor2-last=Brettler , editor2-first=Marc Zvi , editor2-link=Marc Zvi Brettler , title=The Jewish Annotated New Testament , publisher=Oxford University Press, USA , date=2011 , isbn=978-0195297706 , url-access=registration , url=https://archive.org/details/jewishannotatedn0000unse *{{cite book , editor-last=Levine , editor-first=Amy-Jill , editor-mask=3 , editor2-last=Sievers , editor2-first=Joseph , title=The Pharisees, location=Grand Rapids, MI , publisher=Eerdmans , date=2021 , isbn=978-0-8028-7929-5 , oclc=1237694143 *{{cite book , author-last=Levine , author-first=Amy-Jill , author-mask=3 , title=Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi , publisher=HarperOne , date=2014 , isbn=978-0-061-56103-0 {{cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IPhNAgAAQBAJ&q=short+stories+by+jesus, title=Short Stories by Jesus, isbn=9780062198198, access-date=4 January 2015, last1=Levine, first1=Amy-Jill, date=9 September 2014

Online articles

* https://outreach.faith/2022/09/amy-jill-levine-how-to-read-the-bibles-clobber-passages-on-homosexuality/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20220912160710/https://outreach.faith/2022/09/amy-jill-levine-how-to-read-the-bibles-clobber-passages-on-homosexuality/

References

{{Reflist

External links

Curriculum vitae (May 2011)
* Reviews of The Misunderstood Jew i
''Interpretation''

{{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Levine, Amy-Jill 1956 births Living people American religion academics Critics of the Christ myth theory Duke University alumni American biblical scholars American Orthodox Jews Vanderbilt University faculty Smith College alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Female biblical scholars 21st-century Jewish biblical scholars