In Search of the Spirit - by John R Levison

About the Book

"In his trailblazing studies of the spirit in Jewish and Christian Antiquity, John R. (Jack) Levison shatters theological and exegetical taxonomies. Should the spirit be understood as breath or Spirit--or both? Is the spirit directed to creation or salvation--or both? Is the spirit a force or an angel--or both? Does the spirit inspire ecstasy or wisdom--or both?"

Book Synopsis

In his trailblazing studies of the spirit in Jewish and Christian Antiquity, John R. (Jack) Levison shatters theological and exegetical taxonomies. Should the spirit be understood as breath or Spirit--or both? Is the spirit directed to creation or salvation--or both? Is the spirit a force or an angel--or both? Does the spirit inspire ecstasy or wisdom--or both? When Levison transfers the starting point of pneumatology from the New Testament to the Hebrew Bible, from Christianity to Judaism, questions swell, assumptions detonate, and expectations flourish. Consequently, Levison's studies are considered ""impressive and provocative"" (Review of Biblical Literature), ""delightful, engaging"" (Catholic Biblical Quarterly), ""compelling, eloquent, sensitive"" (Word and World), and ""a remarkable read"" (Themelios), with ""profound ramifications for both Jewish and New Testament Studies"" (Journal of Jewish Studies). Now, for the first time, selections of his breathtaking array of studies are available in three accessible volumes. This volume, in which you will discover some of the programmatic studies Levison published on the biblical literature of both testaments, reveals why Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion forecasts that ""Levison will continue to be at the center of our most fruitful discussions of pneumatology.""

Review Quotes

"Jack Levison has been writing about the Spirit for three decades. This volume is the first of three projected volumes of his essays on the subject. These essays are distinguished by the fact that they range over both testaments and also the non-canonical writings of Second Temple Judaism. Levison has amply demonstrated that the Spirit was not thought to have departed from Judaism, and that the New Testament, especially Pauline, view of the Spirit must be understood in its Jewish context. These essays are a fair sample of the best scholarship on the Spirit in this generation."
--John J. Collins, professor emeritus of Old Testament, Yale Divinity School

"Jack Levison's masterful work will invite you to take seriously the biblical roots of Christian pneumatology. The result is an invitation to think about pneumatology first from below, from the core of all that is meant to be human, rather than from the heights of trinitarian dogma. This is a provocative read from start to finish."
--Frank D. Macchia, professor of systematic theology, Vanguard University

About the Author

John R. Levison holds the W. J. A. Power Chair of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He has received grants from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, National Humanities Center, National Endowment for the Humanities, Lilly Fellows Program, Louisville Institute, International Catacomb Society, Sam Taylor Foundation, and Rotary Foundation. He lives as faculty-in-residence on the SMU campus with his spouse, Priscilla Pope-Levison.