Jesus and the Culture Wars
How do stories told by and about Jesus help us ask the right questions about the issues fracturing society today?
The Bible is not an answer book, and “what would Jesus do?” isn’t always a helpful question to ask. Jesus did not live in a participatory democracy; his social media consisted of meeting people in person; his miracles cannot be replicated; and his demands for divestment, rejection of family ties, and acceptance of the role of slave are difficult to grasp—if not incomprehensible or even obscene—for modern people.
From family values to economics and health care, from the language of slavery to inter-ethnic relations, Jesus’ parables, healings, instructions, and debates help readers navigate both community responsibility and personal ethics. Further, locating Jesus in the world of first-century Jewish life not only helps prevent the antisemitism that frequently accompanies Christian teaching, it also shows how Jesus, in continuity with the Scripture of Israel, offers nourishing guidance rather than pie-in-the-sky promises.
This class includes:
Class recording
Q&A session recording
Downloadable class slides
Cost: $25
Topics we’ll cover:
Economics → “There was a rich man who…” (divest, donate, or develop?)
The Legacy of Slavery → “We are worthless slaves…” (Does God enslave? Is the metaphor helpful or harmful?)
Us vs. Them → “Go nowhere among the gentiles” (pluralism vs. particularism)
Healthcare → “You can make me clean” (ritual purity, demonic possession, and free healthcare)
Family Values → “Hate your father, mother, spouse, and children” (swords splitting households and eunuchs for the kingdom)
YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Amy Jill Levine (“AJ”) is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, at Vanderbilt.
Her publications include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi; six children’s books (with Sandy Sasso); The Gospel of Luke (with Ben Witherington III); The Jewish Annotated New Testament (co-edited with Marc Brettler), The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (with Marc Brettler), The Pharisees (co-edited with Joseph Sievers), thirteen edited volumes of the Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Literature and Jesus for Everyone, Not Just Christians, Her Beginner’s Guide series includes Sermon on the Mount, Light of the World, Entering the Passion of Jesus, The Difficult Words of Jesus, Witness at the Cross, Signs and Wonders, Gospel of Mark, and Gospel of John.
The first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute, an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, the first winner of the International Council of Christians and Jews’ Seelisberg Prize, and 2023 recipient of the H. Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation from the Archbishop of Canterbury, AJ describes herself as an unorthodox member of an Orthodox synagogue and a Yankee Jewish feminist who works to counter biblical interpretations that exclude and oppress.
