On December 6 the School of Ministry at the University of Dallas is hosting Amy-Jill Levine, Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University. Levine will deliver the tenth annual Landregan Lecture. In her academic profile, Levine describes herself as a “Yankee Jewish feminist” who “combines historical-critical rigor, literary-critical sensitivity, and a frequent dash of humor with a commitment to eliminating anti-Jewish, sexist, and homophobic theologies.” Her latter task includes her involvement with homosexual activists who challenge Christian beliefs against homosexual activity.

Among Dr. Levine’s recent published works is the fourteen-volume series Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings. She edited A Feminist Companion to John: Volume I, which includes essays reinterpreting Scripture according to radical feminist perspectives. One essay about Jesus and the adulterous woman charges that despite the woman’s liberation from death by stoning, Jesus “adheres to the system of male power that oppresses women” and has “bestowed” on the woman a life that is “confined to male definitions of reality.” Another essay by a lesbian author describes the raising of Lazarus as a “lesbian coming out story;” the sister Martha’s “coming out” as a disciple of Jesus is, the author writes, an invitation for lesbians “to embody a queer Christ to the world.”

Levine was one of the scholars interviewed for a 2006 National Geographic television special about the “discovery” of the alleged Gospel of Judas, claiming that the text’s authors “offered an alternative theology to both the proto-Orthodox church and the Synagogue.” Analyzing Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ” before it was filmed, Levine claimed the script was anti-Semitic and warned that “Hollywood can easily change the truth.” Source: University of Dallas