Jon D. Levenson is an exceptionally interesting biblical scholar – I hope you know his Sinai to Zion, Creation and the Persistence of Evil, The death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son and The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism: Jews and Christians in Biblical Studies
Now Levenson has produced another:
Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life
This provocative volume explores the origins of the Jewish doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Jon D. Levenson argues that, contrary to a very widespread misconception, the ancient rabbis were keenly committed to the belief that at the end of time, God would restore the deserving dead to life. In fact, Levenson points out, the rabbis saw the Hebrew Bible itself as committed to that idea.
The author meticulously traces the belief in resurrection backward from its undoubted attestations in rabbinic literature and in the Book of Daniel, showing where the belief stands in continuity with earlier Israelite culture and where it departs from that culture. Focusing on the biblical roots of resurrection, Levenson challenges the notion that it was a foreign import into Judaism, and in the process he develops a neglected continuity between Judaism and Christianity. His book will shake the thinking of scholars and lay readers alike, revising the way we understand the history of Jewish ideas about life, death, and the destiny of the Jewish people.
I don’t expect that you will buy all these books for yourself, but you could get your college library to order them, ask your professor about them, get them put on course reading lists. You have have the email of whoever orders theology books for the library, don’t you? I would glad to hear about other things you think I ought to read – via my LibraryThing catalogue.
Of course The Eschatological Economy discusses Levenson’s work.
