Prof. Amy-Jill Levine of Vanderbilt University, Nashville (Tennessee) will present a lecture entitled “Of Pearls and Prodigals: Understanding Jesus’s Parables in their Jewish Context” in the Renehan Hall at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth on Thursday 29 November 2017 at 7.30pm.

Prof. Levine is an expert in biblical studies, Jewish/Christian relations, the study of Jesus in his Jewish context, and the Bible, gender, and sexuality.  She has been awarded honorary doctorates from Christian Theological Seminary, the University of Richmond, the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, Drury University, the University of South Carolina, and Franklin College, as well as major grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies. She has held office in the Society of Biblical Literature, the Catholic Biblical Association, and the Association for Jewish Studies.

Her numerous publications include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish JesusShort Stories by Jesus: the Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial RabbiThe New Testament: Meanings and Methods (co-authored with Warren Carter), The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and the Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us (co-authored with Douglas Knight), the 13-volume edited series Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Literature, and with noted children’s book author Sandy E. Sasso, Who Counts? 100 Sheep, 10 Coins, and 2 Sons. She has recorded “Introduction to the Old Testament,” “Great Figures of the Old Testament,” and “Great Figures of the New Testament” for the Teaching Company’s “great lectures” series.