THE SABBATH:
PAST AND FUTURE, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN
Thursday, February 26, 6:00 PM EST
DiGiovanni Hall, St. Paul’s Campus, 29 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge & Livestreamed
Jon Levenson
Harvard University
In the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition alike, there is a major holiday every week. Or, to be more precise, what we call the “week” is a byproduct of the major holiday that occurs without exception after every six days. That holiday, the Sabbath, has many meanings and interpretations in Scripture and Jewish tradition alike, and Christian tradition, for its part, evidences a range of attitudes towards it and ways of observing it. In recent decades, this ancient and (to many) ostensibly obsolete institution has garnered new attention and new appreciation, in part inspired by an apostolic letter of Pope St. John Paul II.
Co-sponsored by Harvard Christian Alumni Society
FREE & OPEN TO ALL
LIVESTREAM & IN-PERSON
Frederic Edwin Church, Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. Oil on canvas, 54.25 in x 84.37 in, 1870. Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
JON LEVENSON
Jon D. Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies, has taught at Harvard since 1988. He has written and lectured widely on the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, including its reinterpretations in the "rewritten Bible" of Second Temple Judaism and rabbinic midrash, the use of medieval Jewish commentaries for purposes of modern biblical exegesis, and twentieth century Jewish theology. Much of his work centers on the relationship of Judaism and Christianity, both in antiquity and in modernity, and he has long been active in Jewish-Christian dialogue. Among his numerous publications, some of the more recent are Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life (2006), Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (2012), The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism(2016), and Israel’s Day of Light and Joy: The Origin, Development, and Enduring Meaning of the Jewish Sabbath (2024). Professor Levenson’s A.B. and PhD are from Harvard.
