Author and Scholar to Discuss the Jewish Jesus at McGee Endowed Lecture

by Jaime Bates, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805

Dr. A.J. Levine, an internationally known author and scholar, will lecture on "Jesus and Judaism: the Connection Matters" from 3 to 5:30 p.m. in the Miller Chapel of the Tidwell Bible Building, Thursday, Dec. 4. This lecture, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Daniel B. McGee Endowed Lecture Series in Religious Studies.

The Daniel B. McGee Endowed Lectures in Religious Studies series was established in 2001 by the former U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, Lyndon Olson of Waco, and his wife.

"The purpose of the lectures is to bring to campus outstanding scholars in the disciplines of religious studies so that our community might be kept aware of emerging scholarship in these fields," said Joyce Swoveland, office manager for religion department and organizer of the lecture.

Levine is the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies and director of the Carpenter Center for Religion at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Her work in Jewish-Christian dialogue is highly respected by both the Jewish and Christian communities. Levine is the author of several books, including The Historical Jesus in Context and the fourteen-volume series, Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings.

In her lecture at Baylor, Levine will discuss her latest book, The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus. She will argue the importance for Christians to understand Jesus within the Jewish context.

"We hope that those in attendance will leave with a deeper understanding of the Jewish part of Jesus and understand the importance of that fact in contemporary Jewish-Christian interfaith dialogue," Swoveland said.

For more information on this lecture, contact Joyce Swoveland at 254-710-3758.