Holy Spirit Lecture: ‘The Jewish Origin of Christian Pneumatology’

Internationally recognized scholar Dr. Jack Levison will share his insight into the essence of Christian pneumatology as it relates to the history of Israel at this year’s Holy Spirit Lecture.

Levison, the W.J.A. Power Chair of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew at the Perkins School of Theology of Southern Methodist University, will present The Jewish Origin of Christian Pneumatology on Thursday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. in the Charles J. Dougherty Ballroom in the Power Center. The event is free and open to the public.

During his lecture, Levison will discuss the acceptance of pneumatology as a Christian belief from a theological perspective, rather than a biblical one. Levison sites that the Holy Spirit arose 500 years before Christian doctrine, when two Israelite prophets introduced the Spirit into the traditions of the exodus.

“The 11th annual Holy Spirit Lecture takes an inter-religious turn, emphasizing the Holy Spirit at the intersection of Judaism and Christianity,” said Associate Theology Professor Rev. Radu Bordeianu, who directs the Holy Spirit Lecture and Colloquium. “It is surprising how often the New Testament mentions the Holy Spirit, and how little explanation it offers to the identity of the Spirit. That means that the Jewish writers and readers of these sacred writings shared among themselves an understanding of the Spirit that escapes us today. It is thus important to hear Jack Levison reveal the Jewish roots of Christianity’s theology of the Spirit.”

Levison is the author and editor of more than a dozen books and a featured blogger for the Huffington Post. He is an authority on the Holy Spirit in Jewish and Christian scripture, and teaches courses on Pneumatology, Jewish interpretations of the Hebrew Bible; and prophecy, among others.

Registration for the Holy Spirit Lecture is requested. For more information, visit www.duq.edu/holyspirit, call 412.396.6526 or email holyspirit@duq.edu.