Faculty
Jon D. Levenson
Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies
- AB, Harvard College
- MA, PhD, Harvard University
- telephone: (617) 495-5955
- office: 321 Divinity Hall
- faculty assistant: Catherine Bruce
- faculty assistant telephone: (617) 496-8508
- assistant’s office: Divinity Hall 309
On leave during spring term 2007–2008
Jon D. Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies, began teaching at Harvard in 1988, having previously taught at the University of Chicago and at Wellesley College. He works in the reinterpretations of texts in the Hebrew Bible itself and in the "rewritten Bible" of Second Temple Judaism as well as rabbinic midrash. He also teaches a seminar in the use of medieval Jewish commentaries for purposes of modern biblical exegesis. He 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 the times of the early church and in modernity, and he has long been active in Jewish-Christian dialogue. His interests and courses in Jewish theology include the modern period. In all his work, Professor Levenson's emphasis falls on the close reading of texts for purposes of literary and theological understanding.