Talk will explore Jesus' Jewishness

Amy-Jill Levine wants to put Jesus in His place -- that is, His correct place in history as someone who embraced Judaism, rather than rejecting it.

A professor of New Testament studies and director of the Carpenter program in religion, gender and sexuality at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, she will deliver the annual fall lecture for St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Albany on Sept. 8.

A self-described "Yankee Jewish feminist who teaches Christians about Jesus," Prof. Levine addressed via email a few questions on her topic, "Putting Jesus Where He Belongs: The Man from Nazareth in His Jewish World."

Q: Where did your interest in Jesus spring from?

Prof. Levine: I was raised near New Bedford, Mass., in a predominantly Portuguese Roman Catholic neighborhood. When I was seven, a classmate told me that I had "killed her Lord." I didn't understand how Christianity, which had seemed so beautiful and which was concerned with a Jewish man, could say such a hateful thing about me. As I started asking more questions, I began to see how the teaching of hate arose.

Now, teaching in a Divinity School, I can help pastors avoid perpetuating it. At the same time, by studying the New Testament, I learned about a part of Judaism that was missed in my own synagogue education, and I am frequently inspired by what Jesus says.

Q: Do you believe that rejection of Jesus' Judaism was the result of early Christians' trying to develop a distinct religious identity? When did this begin to go too far?

Prof. Levine: The early Gentile Church did not "reject" his Judaism; most Jews did not think Gentiles needed to be Jewish in order to be in a right relationship with [God]. Nor did Jesus' immediate followers reject their Judaism. The best example here is James, who worships in the Jerusalem Temple until his death. The separation of Church and Synagogue is a complex matter that happened for different reasons at different times and in different places.

Q: Why do you think some Christians still see Jesus as having rejected Judaism?

Prof. Levine: Those Christians (and Jews) who think that Jesus rejected Judaism tend to have little understanding of what Judaism was in the first century, little understanding of how the Gospel texts functioned in their own time period, and little understanding of what the rest of the New Testament tells us.

Q: Could you give some examples of Jesus' Judaism?

Prof. Levine: When Jesus speaks about the Sabbath or how one is to live a sanctified life, when he heals and when he argues with fellow Jews, he makes perfectly good sense in a Jewish context. That's why other Jews followed him.

The Lord's Prayer is a completely Jewish prayer; in fact, heard in its first-century Jewish context, phrases such as "father in heaven," "daily bread," and "lead us not into temptation" take on a whole new set of meaning.

For another example, parables are designed to shake us up, to teach us something that we need to understand. But only when we hear them as first-century Jews might have heard them will we grasp their full impact.

Q: How do these examples help us understand the meaning of Jesus' mission?

Prof. Levine: Jesus is a Jewish man who spoke to other Jews; if we fail to hear him as his contemporaries did, we will miss a major part of his message. If we have trouble understanding Shakespeare, let alone our own grandparents, we might pause before we conclude that words spoken 2,000 years ago to a culture very different from ours, and then translated from Aramaic to Greek to English are perfectly clear to us. An historical approach can add even more depth to one's faith.

Q: What does it mean to you to deliver this lecture?

Prof. Levine: Since that incident in my childhood, I've been working to help Christians and Jews understand each other. I'm not merely honored to be able to give this lecture, I'm blessed with the opportunity. The fact that people are interested in this discussion gives me hope that some day we can find Shalom together.

(St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Albany offers master's degrees in theology and related topics, as well as certification programs for various ministries. Its fall lecture, "Putting Jesus Where He Belongs: The Man from Nazareth in His Jewish World," will be held Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m., at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Albany. A free-will offering will be taken. Call 453-6760 for information.)

(9/2/04)