Amy-Jill Levine straddles two worlds. A professor of New Testament at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, she is Jewish. As a child, she sought out catechism classes at a Catholic church and administered communion to her Barbie doll.
Levine has spent her life to date exploring the profound connections and equally profound divisions between Christianity and Judaism — and between Christians and Jews, according to a New York Times review of her latest book: “The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus” (HarperOne, $24.95).
Levine will speak at 7 p.m. Nov. 22 at St. Luke United Methodist Church, 2204 Second Ave.
Her visit is co-sponsored by the Columbus Jewish community and St. Luke.
The premise of “The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus” is simple: Jews and Christians need to understand one another. The implicit corollary: Despite years of trying, and to their mutual harm, they do not, the Times reviewer wrote. Levine’s theme in her talk here is unity.
Following is an e-mail interview with Levine.
You’re probably asked frequently how you, an orthodox Jewish woman, ended up teaching at a Christian seminary; what’s your response? I am a member of an Orthodox synagogue, but I am not Orthodox in terms of practice. I do not teach in a “seminary”; Vanderbilt is a university-based, predominantly Protestant Divinity School. I feel blessed to have the opportunity of teaching candidates for ministry: I can help them to understand how the Bible took shape and how it has been interpreted over time and across the globe: I can also help them be forewarned about how texts of love can, with irresponsible preaching, be turned into texts of hate.
Are you primarily teaching men and women preparing for ordained ministry? I teach candidates for ordained ministry, undergraduates, masters candidates who are interested in the academic study of religion and Ph.D. students.
Your topic here is unity. Not to steal your thunder, but what is your view of achieving unity among people of faith? How can people best go about it? I am not interested in erasing differences; religion should not be watered down to a lowest common denominator, and people should not sacrifice the specific teachings of their own traditions on the altar of interfaith sensitivity. In order to reach the shalom, the peace, that both Christianity and Judaism value, we need to understand not only our similarities, but also our differences.
You have said that anti-Jewish attitudes in this country are still common. Can you offer examples? What are remedies? Examples of anti-Jewish attitudes, negative stereotypes and general misunderstandings permeate the Internet, surface in Sunday sermons across all Christian denominations, and surface in casual conversations in all settings. Remedies include not only education and sensitivity, they require those who hear such comments to speak out against them. We are all our brother’s, and sister’s, keepers. Anti-Christian comments (anti-Catholic, anti-Evangelical, anti-Liberal …) are also common, and these too need to be denounced.
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