Guest Scholar:

A Conversation with Jon D. Levenson

Resurrection and Rest: What Are We Actually Looking Forward to?

Resurrection is the great hope of the Christian life–knowing that, come what may, we will one day enjoy an eternal rest in Christ that transcends our vexed and cussed experience of suffering, sin, and death in this world. And yet there is much popular confusion about the resurrection. One misconception is a common belief in the soul going to heaven with the physical body neglected or forgotten. Another is that the resurrection is a uniquely Christian innovation, or something that only developed very late in Jewish thought when it is, in fact, a much older teaching in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.

Prof. Jon Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University, will guide us through our many questions and offer a richer, more holistic perspective on the history and nature of resurrection. Drawing from Scripture and the Jewish tradition, he will help dispel common misconceptions and introduce us to the profound intergenerational, communal nature of the resurrected life. Along the way, we will also see connections to the Sabbath and how we are invited into a weekly rest that foreshadows eternity and is also characterized by community and joy.

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Jon D. Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies, Harvard University.

Prof. Jon Levenson began teaching at Harvard in 1988, having previously taught at the University of Chicago and at Wellesley College. His work concentrates on the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, including its reinterpretations in the “rewritten Bible” of Second Temple Judaism and rabbinic midrash. In addition, one of his courses deals with the use of medieval Jewish commentaries for purposes of modern biblical exegesis, and another focuses on central works of Jewish theology in the twentieth century. Levenson has a strong interest in the philosophical and theological issues involved in biblical studies, especially the relationship of premodern modes of interpretation to modern historical criticism. Much of his work centers on the relationship of Judaism and Christianity, both in antiquity and in modernity, and he has long been active in Jewish-Christian dialogue.

His book Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life (Yale University Press, 2006) won a National Jewish Book Award and the Biblical Archaeology Society Publication Award in the category of Best Book Relating to the Hebrew Bible published in 2005 or 2006. Choice, a publication of the American Library Association, listed Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Princeton University Press, 2012) as one of the Outstanding Academic Titles for 2013. His book, The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism, was published in 2016 by Princeton University Press. His latest book is Israel’s Day of Light and Joy: The Origin, Development, and Enduring Meaning of the Jewish Sabbath (Eisenbrauns, 2024).

In all his work, Levenson’s emphasis falls on the close reading of texts for purposes of literary and theological understanding.

THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
This society seeks to gather Cornell faculty and graduate students to discuss major themes in biblical and theological studies. Discussion aims to satisfy what Simone Weil once described as the basic need of the soul to consider “every sort of opinion, without the least restriction or reserve.” To this end, we invite dialogue that explores and even challenges historic orthodox beliefs as well as those ideas that reign in the contemporary church, academy, and culture.

Our dialogue is collegial and cordial without shying away from the hard questions scholars face in their life and work. Members of the group seek to nurture discussion by listening attentively to one another, guarding the length of our responses, and avoiding diversions to pet issues unrelated to the subject at hand. In short, we seek to embody a uniquely Christian form of intellectual hospitality that we can pass on to future generations.