The Difficult Words of Jesus, AmyJill Levine
The Difficult Words of Jesus, AmyJill Levine
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The Difficult Words of Jesus
A Beginner's Guide to His Most Perplexing Teachings

Author: Amy-Jill Levine

Narrator: Nan McNamara

Unabridged: 5 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/03/2021

Synopsis

Jesus provided his disciples teachings for how to follow Torah, God's word; he told them parables to help them discern questions of ethics and of human nature; he offered them beatitudes for comfort and encouragement. But sometimes Jesus spoke words that followers then and now have found difficult. He instructs disciples to hate members of their own families (Luke 14:26), to act as if they were slaves (Matthew 20:27), and to sell their belongings and give to the poor (Luke 18:22). He restricts his mission (Matthew 10:6); he speaks of damnation (Matthew 8:12); he calls Jews the devil's children (John 8:44).

In The Difficult Words of Jesus, Amy-Jill Levine shows how these difficult teachings would have sounded to the people who first heard them, how have they been understood over time, and how we might interpret them in the context of the Gospel of love and reconciliation.

About Amy-Jill Levine

Amy-Jill Levine ("AJ") is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at the Hartford International University for Religion and Peace and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, and Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University. An internationally renowned scholar and teacher, she is the author of numerous books, including The Difficult Words of Jesus: A Beginner's Guide to His Most Perplexing Teachings, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, Entering the Passion of Jesus: A Beginner's Guide to Holy Week, Light of the World: A Beginner's Guide to Advent, Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner's Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven, and Signs and Wonders: A Beginner's Guide to the Miracles of Jesus. She is also coeditor of the Jewish Annotated New Testament. AJ is the first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome's Pontifical Biblical Institute. In 2021 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. AJ describes herself as an unorthodox member of an Orthodox synagogue and a Yankee Jewish feminist who until 2021 taught New Testament in a Christian divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Cathryn

I've said it before and I'll say it again: My favorite writer about Christianity is an Orthodox Jew. Amy-Jill Levine is also a New Testament scholar who teaches Christian seminarians at Vanderbilt University. With this personal and professional pedigree, she brings so much to her extraordinarily luc......more

Goodreads review by Patty

Read for a class at my church - and also for a zoom class I’m doing from an out of state church. I don’t think a study ever made me think so hard in my life! How invigorating! AJ Levine is a scholar and a wise woman. She wasn’t for everyone in our study, but she resonated with me because I am a quest......more

Goodreads review by Israel

An Orthodox Jewish female professor explains the New Testament Amy-Jill Levine tells us why Jesus's teachings in the New Testament, can be seen to be sensible and acceptable to people of all religions, even Orthodox Jews, even Jewish women like her who attends an Orthodox synagogue and sits behind a......more

Goodreads review by Michelle

The leader's guide that accompanies this book is excellent at rounding out and extending the content of this thoughtful book. If the leader's guide content was included in the book, this would be a 5+ star ranking. That said, I do recommend it as a great introduction to learning to sit with the disc......more

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