Jesus Was Not Russian

One of the benefits of doing my grad work at Lipscomb (in Nashville) was access to the Divinity Library at Vanderbilt, just a few miles down the road. Known as one of the best theological libraries in the United States, my “clergy” card got me unlimited access to every journal and book I wanted to get my nerdy hands on. I spent many a Saturday afternoons in a little cubby with a stack of books on theology, history, geography, etc. I said my hands belonged to those of a full-fledge nerd.

It was there, that some of the students told me about a prof from Vandy named Amy-Jill Levine.
I’ve finally been able to dive into her work (some three years later) and I’m kicking myself for waiting this long. She's one of the leading scholars of our time.

Levine is Jewish, but teaches New Testament background at Vandy. In a recent book, The Misunderstood Jew, Levine highlights and emphasizes the “scandal of particularity”—the historical context in which God became flesh. Here are a few sound bytes.

“ . . . The time and place therefore matter. Christianity follows Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus of Cleveland or Jesus of Mexico City; the incarnation dates to the first century, not the twenty-first. Further, the Jewish tradition into which Jesus was born and the Christian tradition that developed in his name were ‘historical religions,’ that is, their foundational events took place in history and on earth . . .”

Regarding the development of Christianity, “At this point, matters get dicey. To preach to Jews the idea of a crucified messiah is dangerous enough, or, as Paul puts it, a ‘scandal.’ To speak of the ‘son of God’ or ‘god from god’ or ‘savior’ and to mean Jesus rather than Caesar (for these were titles given to the Roman emperor) was to suggest disloyalty to the state. To tell Gentiles that there were certain religious or social practices that they would have to give up was not only ‘folly’; it was seditious.”

All around the planet two billion people will celebrate the Jewish Prophet from Nazareth who died for Israel and Gentile alike. The Jewish man on whom the destiny of the world depends. The one who transformed the cross of condemnation into the cross of hope.