Interview: Scholar Gerard Magill on Surrogacy of Duquesne University--is it okay to have a baby the artificial way...

Professor Gerard Magill, noted scholar and knowledgeable on surrogacy: “I was Department Chair at St. Louis University and after ten years stood down and Duquesne University invited me to hold the very prestigious Vernon S. Gallagher Chair. It is for the integration of science, theology, philosophy and law.” That is why it is so prestigious and Doctor Magill has expertise in his academic achievement in all four areas. He is advanced academically and quite accomplished.

 by Peter Menkin

This is an article-interview with Professor Gerard Magill by Peter Menkin. Dr. Magill is a man of intellect and academic achievement. The Doctor is not a priest as is sometimes noted on the internet, but he is a professor at the Duquesne University, Pennsylvania. The University is a Roman Catholic University. Dr. Magill is a practicing Roman Catholic, and he attends weekly worship. He is married and has been for ten years. He speaks with a Scottish accent
In this article-interview, Peter Menkin spoke with Professor Gerard Magill from his office in his home in Mill Valley, California north of San Francisco with the Professor in his home office in Pennsylvania. They talked for an aggregate of about an hour by phone. Their subject was surrogacy. Dr. Magill provides answers to written questions sent in advance and gives his opinions. In an earlier conversation in background given to Religion Writer Peter Menkin by phone, Dr. Magill said, and I paraphrase here:

I started in the field of Catholic moral theology and then moved to bio ethics when I began to grow in the academy. The field is 30 years old, and I started in 1987 in the United States. I did my undergraduate degree and Masters degree at Gregorian University, Rome, and Doctorate at Edinburough University Scotland.

The field developed because of end of life issues and research ethics in medicine. (The Quinlen Case caught my interest as it appeared in the Supreme Court of New Jersey in 1976; it was then that it became a major issue and a pivotal matter that I had been working on for years prior to that event.) Surrogacy and its various ramifications, including the legal cases were an intellectual matter with Dr. Magill, not personal or private matters with him.

I was Department Chair at St. Louis University and after ten years stood down and Duquesne University invited me to hold the very prestigious Vernon S. Gallagher Chair. It is for the integration of science, theology, philosophy and law. That is why it is so prestigious and Doctor Magill has expertise in his academic achievement in all four areas. He is advanced academically and quite accomplished.

Dr. Magill opened the first department in bio-ethics in the United States at St. Louis University in 1996. He was born in Scotland and became a United States Citizen about 15 years ago.
Readers will note that question four is highlighted by Gene Koprowski’s statement on the Biblical figure Abraham. The Reverend Gene’s view of that Genesis figure is an opinion on Abraham’s relationship with Hagar who carried and gave birth to Abraham’s child as a surrogate is the point of the highlight. Professor Magill takes the Ukranian Orthodox Priest and Medical Doctor Gene Koprowski’s analysis of Abraham’s surrogacy from the Bible into account and comments on it in his answer to question four. Gene Koprowski is also a noted journalist and was invited to add this question to broaden the perspective of questions for Professor Magill, adding one posed for him from the Bible. Gene Koprowski confirms this statement regarding his background: . “I am an Eastern Orthodox priest — on the synod of bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in fact, soborna.org . Of course I am here in the USA!!!”


INTERVIEW ON SURROGACY WITH DR. GERARD MAGILL BY PETER MENKIN

• A popular notion is that people today want perfect children. To do this they will go to extreme lengths, usually scientific and expensive. For reasons beyond this writer’s imagination, this practice is linked to artificial surrogacy, where a baby is bought and the pregnancy created by artificial insemination. Part of the contract for birth, is that the child be “perfect.” My question: Is this part of the pursuit for the perfect baby, and why is it that these adults don’t look for love of child but the “Maserati” of the perfect thing that a baby can be?

Typically, surrogacy is used to deal with problems of infertility, the problem between a husband and wife, a couple living together whether heterosexual or homosexual. Surrogacy is typically not used to have a perfect baby. It is incapable of genomic manipulation, which is involved with designer babies. Surrogacy like any other form of Invitro fertilization (IVF), which permits the potential parents to pick a healthy baby. That is a baby without specific disease traits. The debate on designer babies is a different debate. The lay person confuses the argument on designer babies with the debate on surrogacy.

• Is it that the world, which means Northern Europe and the developed nations mostly, find baby buying and womb renting both immoral and illegal linked to their religious sensibilities or is it that they just are different from Americans? It is America that European homosexuals with money flock to so they can have a surrogate who will get them a baby for a price. Here the high price for carrying a baby to term for pay is $47,000, so sources like Google report. But mostly, is it that the major developments of technological and scientific boom in the ability to artificially impregnate women and have them successfully carry a child to term has created this “big” business of baby selling in America? By the way it is forbidden in most of the world outside America, says The New York Times.

The practice of surrogacy is a global phenomenon that is not restricted merely to the United States. Jurisdictions and nations typically adopt one of three positions. First outright prohibition. Second, legalized surrogacy without payment, but with expense reimbursement. Number three, legalized surrogacy with expense reimbursement and legalized payment for services. To use the metaphors of baby buying and womb rental, do not convey the complex decisions that responsible parents make when they are infertile. Indeed, the debate on payment and reimbursement is important, but it should not be used to defame responsible decision makers. The fundamental criterion is an infertile couple wants a baby and medical science enables them to have a baby. The debate defending surrogacy is primarily about honorable couples having a baby not about corruption and money.

• Tell us how a woman can artificially have a child by a man, whether he is married, single, homosexual partnered or by himself. Does the woman need a living man?

This questions gets to the question of surrogacy. Those who oppose surrogacy make several arguments. Surrogacy tends towards commodification of the child. The child tends towards becoming a product. Secondly, surrogacy also becomes a problem of exploitation of the surrogacy of the mother. That is the exploitation of poor women in poor countries being exploited for surrogacy. The next reason deals with the contracting of a human body such as occurs in prostitution or slavery. Another problem is called fertility tourism, where first world countries go to third world countries in large numbers for surrogacy. Finally, there is the question of the surrogate mother of keeping the child or having an abortion. So it raises the question of retaining the child or having an abortion. Despite all these problems there are occasions when surrogacy appears to be justified. For example, unwanted embryos in cryopreservation tanks in fertility clinics can be rescued and be given life by a surrogate mother opting for early adoption. That is a situation of rescue ethics that can justify surrogacy. This shows that surrogacy can be justified in some cases. In other words this is not a simple problem. This is secular ethics and religious ethics.

• In Genesis, Abraham has a child with Hagar who carries his son as a surrogate mother successfully. Why is this acceptable in society, perhaps in some ways even in our contemporary world, yet buying a baby from a surrogate mother is not? That would be a mother who is impregnated naturally, not through scientific methods artificially, and carried to natural birth through natural pregnancy. Yes, one must qualify the form of successful pregnancy in our scientific world, and I emphasize that in my question the mother who is this surrogate carries the child through birth by means of impregnation by the real father who with his wife will keep the child. I say again they pay the surrogate for the baby and the rental of her womb. She is not just stuck with sperm artificially, though this is done, too. This is America, and babies are bought many ways scientific, mostly.

Here is Gene Koprowski’s answer to the question: A number of Jewish interpretive, or midrash, stories present Hagar as someone who was worthy to live in Abraham and Sarah’s home because her father (the Pharaoh of Egypt) acknowledged the existence of the Lord. Hagar would bear children to Abraham and was herself a princess. She was a good match for the father of the Israelite nation. She, what is more, was suited to be the mother of Ishmael, from whom twelve chieftains would issue in accord with the divine promise in Gen. 17:20.
Sarah set Hagar’s fate: to whom she would be married; and when she would be sent away from the house. Gen. 16:2: “Consort with my maid; perhaps I shall have a son [or: I shall be built up] through her.”
The Rabbis deduced from this that anyone who is childless is like a ruined house that must be rebuilt. Abraham heeded Sarah’s advice and accepted her spirit of divine inspiration (Gen. Rabbah45:2).
This was acceptable, as it was not seen as the “buying of a baby,” per your question. Sarah sanctioned the union at that time. Hagar was already part of the family, so to speak, as she, per interpretive tradition, was part of Sarah’s dowry upon her marriage to Abraham.
The Torah’s description of Hagar’s impregnation (Gen. 16:4) notes, “He cohabited with Hagar and she conceived.”
This was no commercial surrogacy transaction. They lived together. She was part of the household, a very religious household that spoke with angels all the time. When Hagar encountered the angel of the Lord, he informed her (Gen. 16:11): “Behold, you are with child and shall bear a son.”
Sarah and Abraham were seeking to fulfill the covenant of Genesis 16: 7-16 with the birth of this child. This was years before Sarah herself conceived and had Isaac.

Several points need to be made regarding the story of Hagar. First, in so far as Hagar gave birth outside of marriage in a manner that the Old Testament approved, it becomes clear that Scripture should not be simply applied to modern day. In other words, typically Scripture has to be interpreted within Church tradition today. And most churches do not interpret Scripture in a literal manner. Number two. This means that we cannot simply apply the story of Hagar to the issue of surrogacy today. Number three. However lessons can be learned from the story of Hagar. Most especially, it appears that the Hagar story suggests a broader view of procreation than merely restricting to husband and wife and natural intimacy. Last point. The story of Hagar can inspire a more positive view of families using surrogacy, to have children. In other words, the Hagar story cautions us against too quickly condemning surrogacy. So the final point is, just as with the Hagar story, there may be forms of surrogacy today that are permittable.
Just as the Hagar story cannot be literally interpreted to guide morality, similarly, contemporary concepts or practices like commercial surrogacy cannot be superimposed upon Old Testament stories.

• I am glad you took the time to talk with us about surrogacy, Professor. I am sure readers would like to know what we may have missed. So if you have something additional to add, please add it here. And thank you again for allowing us to make your acquaintance.

In summary, there are many complex problems with surrogacy that make it unacceptable to many. Nonetheless, there are specific situations where surrogacy appears justified. For example, to rescue frozen embryos as a form of early adoption in a loving family.

Duquesne University video

Interview: Atheist talks about religion and God with Peter Menkin--Todd Stiefel answers questions for an hour....

An Atheist is someone who is often misunderstood. It is a person who does not believe in God or Gods. It does not mean we believe in Satan. We do not believe in him either. We are not claiming that we know that God does not exist. Atheism is not a knowledge claim. Atheism is simply a belief claim. Where other religions do not believe in millions of Gods, we do not believe in millions of Gods plus one.

Interview: Prominent American Atheist Todd Stiefel talks with Peter Menkin about religion and God
    

Todd Stiefel, American Atheist

 by Peter Menkin

It appears atheists and other flavors of non-believers are becoming more organized and louder in their voices of criticism of God and religion in America. This is a taste of one group so representative of that phenomenon, one well publicized and known to this writer. The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science and other secular groups have joined together to form a new coalition called Openly Secular. In this interview with coalition Chair, Todd Stiefel, we learn about Mr. Stiefel’s personal stance on religion, atheism and his own sense of the secular as it relates to his atheism. Prior to the interview with Todd Stiefel I had the privilege of speaking to him by phone in private for an hour on the matter of his beliefs and about his organization. He was forthcoming and detailed in that phone conversation. In the interview for publication he says this about the mission of his coalition.
“Our mission is to eliminate discrimination and increase acceptance by getting atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, humanists and all nonreligious people to be open about their beliefs,” says Todd Stiefel, Chair for the Openly Secular coalition and founder of the Stiefel Freethought Foundation. “By being open about our beliefs and values, we can show that we, like all people, are worthy of love and kindness undeterred by religious differences.” He has given in excess of a half million dollars to the organization of his movement according to CNN news.
The interview by phone was held in two segments from Religion Writer Peter Menkin’s office North of San Francisco in Mill Valley, California to Todd Stiefel’s home in the South of the United States. It lasted more than a total of an hour in length.

INTERVIEW WITH ATHEIST TODD STIEFEL BY RELIGION WRITER PETER MENKIN

• What is an Atheist? Not everyone knows that an atheist is a believer of a kind and that he or she has views about religion—in this case for our interview, Christianity. Will you speak to this?

An Atheist is someone who is often misunderstood. It is a person who does not believe in God or Gods. It does not mean we believe in Satan. We do not believe in him either. We are not claiming that we know that God does not exist. Atheism is not a knowledge claim. Atheism is simply a belief claim. Where other religions do not believe in millions of Gods, we do not believe in millions of Gods plus one.
Our beliefs are based on reason, logic, and evidence. Our values include love, compassion and honesty. In terms of views about Christianity, different Atheists have different views about Christianity. Almost all of us share, there is not a God and Jesus was not a God. We believe that Jesus did not rise from the dead. We would agree, most of us would agree, in his methods of having the Golden Rule and loving your neighbor.
I think for the most part, just like a Christian we would see a strong urge of compassion if we saw a puppy hurt. Or just like a Christian we would feel a sense of awe and wonder of seeing a sunset over the ocean. I would say that when Christians and Atheists get to know each other, we find we have more in common than we have differences. It’s so very true.
 
 

• I know your organization of which you are leader encompasses a number of groups. Tell us of their interests, in a thumbnail. Does the name of your organization tell us its purpose: Stiefel Free thought Foundation? Or is that just one of the groups in coalition with a larger parent group?

The project I’m working on now, that is called Openly Secular…People Free thought Foundation is just one of many partners. The coalition wouldn’t be considered an umbrella or a parent group. Openly secular is an alliance of organizations that are standing behind a common mission. The mission to illuminate discrimination and increase acceptance by getting secular people to be open about their beliefs. Our alliance currently has 30 groups ranging from Atheist groups to Humanist groups and from Secular Jewish organization to Civil Liberties organizations. Easily 100s of thousands of members are represented by these groups.

 
 

• What I know of the state of Christianity in America is that we live in a post-Christian era. How would you describe the current state of Christianity in America and how do you come to that conclusion?

First, I wouldn’t consider ourselves to be in a Post Christian era. This has never been a Christian nation. But it always has been a Christian majority nation. That hasn’t changed. Based on Pew and Gallup data, Christianity is alive and well in America—even though the non-religious segment is becoming a large minority. I personally think this is because…for many reasons..the internet is providing access to questions and answers as never before in history. In the past, if you had doubts, typically you’d get your answer from your pastor and the Bible, which tended to confirm each other. Now, we have available, other opinions that don’t always agree with traditional dogma.
From what I’m seeing, Christianity in America is segmenting into different camps. On one side the vast majority of Christians are loving, tolerant people. There is a very vocal Christian, fundamentalist minority in America. These fundamentalists want to strip gay people of their rights, deny children proper scientific education, and deny women comprehensive health care. I believe that the moderate Christians have far more in common with the non-religious in these matters.
 
 

• I assume the Bible is not a book your group recommends for holy reading, but do you recommend it as literature and as part of the Western canon of culture? That is, do you believe it should be on an educated man’s reading list in any manner to know the Old Testament stories of Abraham, or even the story of the death of Christ depicted in the New Testament?

 
No we don’t take any book as scripture. We don’t take any book as completely true just because someone tells us it is supposed to be. But many of us do see it as a fascinating piece of literature. As a matter of fact, when my kids were little I would read them children’s Bibles. I thought it was valuable for them to know the stories, either famous stories worth knowing. Biblical references have become part of our language. While I don’t agree with all of the lessons on the Bible, such as passages advocating genocide and those against gay people, I do find that most of Jesus’ lessons are valuable. My kids commented on it and I remember with one story on Noah with the flood, after the flood God promises day will follow night will follow day. My son stopped me and said and that’s not possible, I have evidence and flips back to Genesis and where God had already created the sun and the moon. I found that to be quite fascinating.

 

• Were you yourself once a man of faith and how did you leave your Church? What Church did you attend?

 
I never went to Church too often. My parents made me go to Church. I was a staunch Catholic. I didn’t believe in the infallibility of the Pope, but I definitely believed in God. I even wore a crucifix in a chain around my neck. I did that with sincerity. That said, I always had doubts and while I believed, something didn’t always make total sense. For example, even as a cross wearing Catholic, I thought the story of Adam and Eve was silly. When I really moved beyond being a Catholic was in college. I took a course in Old Testament History at Duke University. There’s nothing like learning the history of the Bible to help you realize it is not true. In particular learning of the influences of Pagan myths on the Bible itself, made realize that the Bible was no different from any other religion or any other scripture. I came to realize that my God was younger than the pyramids. After that class I considered myself an Agnostic and it took another decade for me to realize I was a fullfledged Atheist as well.
You ask me why is Adam and Eve silly: Eve as a kid I didn’t believe women were created from the rib of a man, or further that there was ever a talking snake whose mission was to take us from acquiring knowledge from a tree. I definitely did not take it literally, and neither should the rest of it. I thought it was a terrible lesson. Even as an allegory it was a bad moral lesson. The lesson that God doesn’t want you to want knowledge, that God wants you to be ignorant is a poor lesson.
 

• Thank you for your time and allowing us to make your acquaintance. If there is anything we’ve left out that you want to add at this time, please do so now.

 
The last thing I want to cover is why the Openly Secular Campaign is important. Our mission is to illuminate discrimination and increase acceptance by getting secular people to be open about their beliefs. We want to humanize the non-religious. We want people to realize that we are everywhere. We’re your friends, your neighbors, and many even in your family. We’re everyday people and some of us are celebrities. We’re even in the U.S. Congress. Though they are afraid to admit it for fear of discrimination from voters. For example, Barney Frank came out as gay while in Congress and waited till 26 years later and became open as an atheist shortly after his retirement from politics. The reality is that the discrimination is strong. Recent Pew data found that 53% of Americans were less likely to vote for a candidate if they were atheists.
In addition, 49% said, they would be unhappy if an atheist married into their family. The number was only 11%, thankfully, for someone of a different race. With data like this, it is clear that we have a lot of work to do to change the perception of non-religious Americans.
We at Openly Secular are going to try our best to illuminate discrimination and prejudice. We don’t have to agree.
END INTERVIEW

Transgender artist Justin Tanis speaks about the artist's experience and the religious experience...he of Graduate Theological Union



Justin Tanis (left) greets Religion Writer Peter Menkin
at Pacific School of Religion 30 May, 2014

 by Peter Menkin

Both teacher and artist, Justin Tanis is a man who was once a woman. That is he is a transgender man. Or rather, a public transgender man who here will speak of the religious and artistic experience. He is doing this by writing his response to three questions posed to him in Word, in writing. He responds in a manner emphasizing the social action side of the religious experience as it enters the political realm. This seems in line with the tastes and general viewpoint of Pacific School of Religion and even San Francisco Bay Area’s sense of religious experience as expressed in their world. Homosexuality is a widely popular theme in the San Francisco Bay Area and Justin mirror’s its popularity in his statement.

It seems to him unnecessary to mention he is transgender for this piece since it deals with the artistic experience, but this Religion Writer believes that his is a public stance as transgender and so as it is a necessary component of his public persona and purpose it is mentioned here with verve, by quoting from this statement from his official biography published by Berkeley, California’s Graduate Theological Union. Dr. Justin Tanis teaches at the Pacific School of Religion, part of The Graduate Theological Union located in San Francisco’s Bay Area in Northern California. The Statement:

Justin earned his M.Div. degree at Harvard Divinity School and his Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary. His dissertation was published in 2003 by Pilgrim Press as Transgendered: Ministry, Theology, and Communities of Faith and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award that year. That book was also the first in the CLGS book series. He has also contributed chapters to the Queer Bible Commentary and Take Back the Word: A Queer Reading of the Bible. An artist and photographer, Justin has had a lifelong passion for the arts. His scholarly interests include the theology expressed by LGBT visual artists, which is the focus of his PhD studies here at the GTU.

Justin has served congregations in Boston, Honolulu, and San Francisco and spent nine years as a denominational executive, coordinating leadership and educational programs in twenty-two countries. He has brings with him a long history with grassroots activism, including ACT-UP and Queer Nation in the 1980s and serving as spokesperson and media coordinator for the Hawai’i Equal Rights Marriage Project in the 1990s. Justin’s work also includes advocacy for LGBT rights in national non-profit organizations. He was the Community Education and Outreach Manager at the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) in Washington, D.C. and later served as the Director of Communication for Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, based in San Francisco, which advocates for equal employment rights for LGBT people.

 

Dr. Tanis is an Ordained Minister in Metropolitan Community Church, Los Angeles, that serves Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Persons. He tells this reporter by email (subsequently) that this is no longer the case, he is not ordained any longer, but gives no reason for his loss. For the past years he has been attending the Unitarian-Universalist Church as a Lay Person. So he tells this Religion Writer.

Justin can be reached at this email address: jtanis@psr.edu

 

 

INTERVIEW WITH JUSTIN TANIS; ANSWERS SENT IN WRITING BY HIM TO PETER MENKIN, RELIGION WRITER

 

 

1.     Will you go into detail on your sense of the artistic experience and whether it is a religious experience solely when you are at work on a work of art? What medium as artist do you work in? Is the artistic experience the same as the religious experience?

Art contains possibilities that can awaken us to new insights, perspectives and emotions, just as religion contains that possibility. We can have these experiences when we are looking at art—whether we gazing at something which is sublimely beautiful or being challenged—or when we create it. The art work doesn’t have to be explicitly religious to do arouse spiritual emotions or thoughts in us. I think about Picasso’s famous painting, Guernica, which shows the horrors of war. One reason I’m drawn to it is that it connects with my religious convictions about the importance of working for peace as a person of faith. It troubles me, as it was created to do, and that can motivate me to take further actions to end violence in our world.

Art can also show us the sublime, the intensely beautiful or intimate and re-connect us with the Divine, with the earth, or with other people. It gives us a glimpse through artist’s eyes of what is so sacred or valuable to them that they have invested their energy and time to create these works. Art can expand our understanding of humanity and the world we share. Religions at their best, I believe, help us to increase our compassion and commitment to the common good. They show us how to treat one another as we long to be treated—art can give us greater understanding of how others see the world and how they live, love, and move and are.

As an artist, I work in photography and drawing. Both of these media allow me to take details of our world, often things that other people may pass by without seeing, and bring them into view. I love things like architectural details, like crazy carvings on a building, or the pattern of a series of windows. I’m fascinated with how humans interact with animals, both real animals and the images we make of them. And I love landscapes, going for a hike and just taking pictures.

When I’m working on a drawing or finding the right angle for a shot, I find myself in a very present place, not really thinking about the world around me but very focused on one thing. It is a spiritual practice that reminds me to be fully present and to be looking out for the wondrous and miraculous around me. I think the artistic experience is a type of religious experience, with possibilities for increasing our sense of wonder, of faith, of compassion, deepening our spiritual lives.

We can also think about applying the ideas of art to our faith. The great Jewish thinker Abraham Joshua Heschel replied to an interviewer’s question about what advice he would give to young people and he replied, “… remember that the meaning of life is to live your life as if it were a work of art.” I first heard that quote years ago and it has always stayed with me. It adds such depth to our lives if we think of them as something to be formed and crafted. Our spiritual lives benefit from our creativity, skill, and attention, from our work to make them as beautiful and reverential and powerful as a masterpiece of art.

 

2.     Will you discuss some of your art and tell us a little of your background. You were speaking of the non-academically trained artistic sensibility? That is telling me about the untrained theologian who is artist who has something to say as artist? Talk more on this subject.

My current academic work focuses on the intersections of art, religion, and identity, specifically gender and sexual identity. I am looking at the works of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender

Peter Menkin, Religion Writer (left) with transgender
artist and teacher Justin Tanis.
Peter Menkin, Obl Cam OSB, is shown carrying
his iPod and notebook. He wrote and conducted
the interview with Dr. Tanis by email. Answers
were given in writing. Note at the end of this
piece there is a video about art featuring
Dr. Tanis at Graduate Theological Union.
Picture by Terry Peck, photographer and
architect. A team of three came to the
campus of Pacific School of Religion for the
photo shoot on an overcast day, 30 May, 2014.

(LGBT) artists and considering what we can learn about theology and identity from their art. In art history, there is a term for “outsider artists,” those who have learned their techniques outside of the academy or have not received artistic training in a conventional sense. In the same way, I see these LGBT artists as “outsider theologians,” meaning they have not studied religion in universities or theology at a seminary and yet they have embedded original theological ideas in their work. I’m interested in discovering what those ideas are and how they can impact our understanding of theology.

For example, David Wojnarowicz was a self-trained artist who worked from the late 1970s until his death from AIDS in 1992. One of his collages, called Untitled (Genet), depicts the French author Jean Genet as a saint in the center foreground of the image. In the background, we see an altar with an image of the suffering Christ. He wears a crown of thorns but also has a hypodermic needle in his arm and a tourniquet, as if he were shooting drugs. As you can imagine, this was very shocking to some traditional Christians and they used it to condemn Wojnarowicz’s work. But they misunderstood or never bothered to find out what the image actually meant and was intended to convey, and that was very different. 

Wojnarowicz sued the American Family Association (and won) for their use of his images out of context. During the trial he answered questions about his motivation for creating this image of Christ. He testified,

I thought about what I had been taught about Jesus Christ when I was young and how he took on the suffering of all people in the world, and I wanted to create a modern image that, if he were alive before me at that time in 1979 when I made this, if he were physically alive before me in the streets of the Lower East Side, I wanted to make a model that would show that he would take on the suffering of the vast amounts of addiction that I saw on the streets[1].

In this way, Wojnarowicz was very much in keeping with classical images of the suffering Christ. He drew upon long established and respected Christian aesthetic traditions to explore the pain and alienation experienced by people in his own day and age.  To me, that is a profoundly theological statement. This isn’t a blasphemous image; it is one that takes Christ’s connection with humanity very seriously. The religious life isn’t always pretty. Images like this can be important to our growth as people of faith because they challenge us to look around us and see where there is suffering and to consider the question of how Jesus would interact with that suffering. The church could benefit, too, by considering how people who are outside of religious institutions are engaging the image and life of Jesus to convey ideas like compassion, as Wojnarowicz does. Art lets us literally see their understandings of Christ, and sometimes that vision is more expansive than that of the churches.

As far as my art goes, I studied graphic design at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and multimedia design at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Drawing I’ve learned through private instruction from a wonderful teacher here in Berkeley, Susan McAllister.

 

3.     Talk to us some about your work at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California that you do as teacher with Faculty at the Center for Art Religion and Education.





Pacific School of Religion, photographed by Terry Peck
(as are all pictures on this page). This visit by Peter Menkin
and Terry Peck was on an overcast day in May, 2014 at the end
of the month. PSR is part of the Graduate
Theological Union, located on "holy hill" adjacent
to University of California at Berkeley, California.
Peter Menkin's assistant Linda accompanied the two.



I am on the faculty of the Center for Art, Religion, and Education; last semester I taught a course on the Art of Holy Places, in which we considered how people around the world have designated and decorated sacred sites. Through the use of technology, we were able to visit places around the world. Next Spring, I am teaching a course on the spirituality and art of the Arts & Crafts movement, which was a late 19^th – early 20^th century artistic movement that focused on conveying values of simplicity, beauty, and nature through art. The movement arose in response to the intense mechanization of the Industrial Revolution and I do think that part of the revival of interest in the Arts & Crafts movement stems from our desire to reconnect with those same values in the midst of the speed created by the digital revolution.

I also teach at Pacific School of Religion and am offering a course this fall on Sexuality in Sacred Art, which looks at the ways sexuality as a life force occurs in various faith traditions. The earliest art we know of is related to fertility and abundance, the sustenance of life, and that theme continues through many religions and many eras. Including Christian art. For example, St. Sebastian was a pretty standard Roman soldier saint in his early depictions. When he became known as a protector against the Black Plague, his image transformed over time into a handsome young man with a fair amount of sex appeal. This was in keeping with the idea that gazing on a healthy person, or an image of one, conveyed that vitality to the viewer and his sexuality was part of his vigor. In fact, for someone just shot with a bunch of arrows as the emperor attempted to execute him, he looks quite well by the time we get to the Renaissance, hardly bothered by the arrows at all. His lips are full and red, and he rarely wears more than the minimum of clothing. He inspires us with his vitality, both of his faith and the intensity of his humanness. Sexuality and spirituality are both aspects of looking holistically at human lives.

Teaching art history and art practice at a seminary is incredibly rewarding. Part of what we do is encouraging students to read the images theologically. How is the artist depicting the holy in this painting? Where is God in this image? Sometimes art lets us see the invisible, the unseen. Art can show us Divine attributes in visible form, can express the ineffable. We can consider why an artist shows some things and not others. I also have classes where students can create works of art, which provides them with a different avenue of theological and spiritual expression than they may

be used to. It challenges us to use our  creativity in theology and can free up other ways of thinking and understanding the world.

 

 

 

 

---

[1] From the transcript of Wojnarowicz  vs. American Family Association as recorded in David Wojnarowicz: A Definitive History of Five or Six Years on the Lower East Side (Semiotext(e), 2006), p. 217.

See the Holy: Spirituality in the Art of David Wojnarowicz from CLGS on Vimeo.

Review: The Great Courses offers an intriguing and informative series of lectures on various topics. Lecture by Amy-Jill Levine...

Professor Amy-Jill Levine, lecturing

 by Peter Menkin

For the interested learner who wants to know, The Great Courses offers an intriguing and informative series of lectures on various topics. The lectures are given by excellent university level teachers and as the following selection of subjects from their website shows, they are diverse in subject and often intriguing:

The Art of Negotiating the Best Deal; Medical School for Everyone; Heroes and Legends: The Most Influential Characters of Literature; Fundamentals of Photography; Thermodynamics: Four Laws That Move the Universe…

These are but a few of the dozens of titles available in history, literature, science and religion. Their cost can be two hundred dollars and less for a DVD or streaming media oral version. The system works, so no fear in getting something in the mail that will not be technically competent. The professors are skilled and handpicked lecturers from Universities across America.

In this review of the lectures of Professor Amy-Jill Levine’s talk on Great Figures of the New Testament we take a look at her style and presentation. You as reader will get some highlights from her work and a taste of her delivery. The Great Courses is available online at this address: http://www.thegreatcourses.com/greatcourses.aspx

Ed Leon, Executive, The Great Courses

INTERVIEW I

Ed Leon calls by phone: 10 a.m. me in Mill Valley at home. Ed is in his offices of the company in The Great Courses Chantilly, Virginia. The interview encompasses one hour.

AN INTERVIEW WITH ED LEON, CHIEF BRAND OFFICER, THE GREAT COURSES BY PETER MENKIN

• In general, people like to know, “What is the response to a usual lesson group?” In other words, tell us a little about letters and questions an instructor may receive. May we see some sample emails or letters received by your organization about lessons or to instructors?

Our customers have questions and some customers pose questions in thecustomer review section of our website, The Great Courses.com. Every course has its own review section, including Amy’s courses.… Sometimes, questions come to us via emails and letters from customers and we’ll forward them along to the professors. It’s a touch point for the professor. Mostprofessors do answer them, most do, but they are not required to do so.
This laudatory review by a customer talks about how happy they are with the series:
“Having completed courses on the New Testament already I was attracted to this course as a way to better understand some of the major figures in more depth. The course permitted me to do this and the Professor delivered a superb series of lectures on each of the figures covered. She gave a good overview and context for each and was very balanced and fair in summarising the various academic/scholarly interpretations regarding each figure as well as sharing her own view and supporting this with argument and evidence. The Professor delivers each lecture at a fast clip and is clearly on top of her game and one needs to be focused to keep pace at times! Overall a superb course that wonderfully compliments others on the New Testament. Would love to have further courses from this Professor perhaps a re-issue of her Great Figures of the Old Testament.”

Still, not everyone is without criticism. I found the comments by this customer valid, too, if dramatic:
“I am so frustrated that I feel like pulling my hair out. I have had this course for 3 years, and each time I take it out, about twice a year, I have to remind myself why I have never finished it. Even though I want the information and love my Bible… Her delivery is like a reading of a grocery list, no stopping, no breath, no time to take in anything…like she is telling us to listen and take notes as she is running a race , each sentence spoke last is lost by the rapidity of the next. I sense there is a great deal I could learn from this course, and that is what causes my frustration. I can’t believe she gets called back to speak if this is how she does it all the time…either have to torture myself by listening to this, no way of slowing it down…or sending it back.”

• When you look for an instructor, what characteristics do you seek? Is there a screening process a lecturer must go through prior to his going live? And also, how do you record his lecture? Is he really in a classroom situation?

We are looking for the top experts in the field. We are looking for thetop communicators. We want them to be the most gifted lecturers and communicators in the world. As part of our course development process, we come up with course ideas and then we poll our customers to see if they have interest in the idea. Then,we scour universities and to find the best communicators and they need to be superior in their field. We’ll invite that professor tocreate a sample lecture and we send that to a sample audience who gives us feedback… Only when we get good feedback do we move forward to develop a course with that professor. In fact, there is an informational graphic on our website that details this entire process. It’s under Our Approach. In many ways just one in 5000 is invited to teach a course… We record our lectures at our studios here in Chantilly, Virginia. They are not classrooms. Years ago the company brought in a small audience to hear the lectures. We no longer do that. We understand the true audience is on the other side of the screen,or the headphones.

• Probably the first question that comes to some peoples mind is, “Will I make some money if Great Courses takes me on as a lecturer?” Talk a little bit about the fee structure for a lecturer. Is payment on a royalty basis? How many years will a lecture be made available? And who owns the lecture? Probably something that only a writer or teacher wonders, does the teacher have to submit an outline prior to being accepted or is the lecture really something taught in a classroom prior to being given as a DVD or CD by Great Courses? Is the lecture a live reading or is read from a teleprompter?

We provide our professors an attractive incentive. It is much like writing a book, very akin to a publishing contract. Many of our professors are pleasantly surprised at the longevity of the royalty stream. A typical book publishing deal will give you an advance and most authors are hard pressed to see any money after the advance. Much of our content is evergreen, and because we will actively market a course for several years, many of our professors are getting a royalty stream that can amount to morethan writing a book.But they earn it, It’s a substantial job to prepare a course. They put in the kind of effort that it takes to write a book. We give eachprofessora highly experiencedteam to work with.The team includes an instructional designer, editors, producers, graphic artists, an entire content and media support team.Our courses take 12 to 18 months from concept to release. It’s a highly collaborative process.(Their 2 and a half million life-long learners may find these facts of author royalties fascinating.)
[Ed, please tell us who are three of the most popular lecturers over the years and the titles of their lectures!]
 
We have a diverse and stellar group of over 200 Professors. They include astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson whose course “Inexplicable Universe” rivals some of the work he is currently doing on television with “Cosmos;” Robert Greenberg, our most prolific professor who has created 27 Great Courses on classical music; and engineering Professor Stephen Ressler whose course “Understanding the World’s Greatest Structures” holds the distinction of amassing well over one hundred consecutive 5-star reviews.
 

• Some people wonder how you get your wonderful lecturers. Who’s your talent scout? If you have one, tell us something about him or her. Tell us something about how they go about their scouting business. Do they scour colleges, or do you get referrals from college deans?

We have an in house team of Professor Recruiters led by William Schmidt, Director of Professor Recruiting. He and histeam scours the internetfor ideas, and go to colleges and universities to meet professors and sit in on classes; we like tosee the teachers in action. They’ve been to Georgetown, crisscrossing the country to UCLA, Harvard, NYU…you name the university, it they’ve been there. Also, people often suggest great professors to us, as well as course ideas via the email address: CustServ@thegreatcourses.com

 

• I’ve always wondered what kind of people chose to be in this kind of Great Courses business. Are the people involved in it former University teachers? What about the founders and the leaders of the company? Tell us something about your Chief Officers and the role they play. Are they actually active in choosing or participating in the way the lecturers are picked, and the way the distribution is organized?

Of all the places I’ve ever worked this is the most intellectual and diverse group I’ve ever been around. Employees at The Great Courses value education and the personal growth that comes from learning, Curiosityisan important DNA you needto work at this company. We have people with PhDs and teaching backgrounds. People with communication backgrounds and media backgrounds. But the thing they all share in common is an insatiable curiosity about the world, a desireto go deeper and to go on that journey of intellectual discoverythat everyone here loves undertaking. Our customers are the same way. There is nothing more profound than that.

• I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to ask questions of you, Ed. Thank you for taking your time from your duties as Chief Brand Officer. Please take a moment now, though, to talk about anything I’ve missed. And again, it’s been a pleasure.

1.  

Like our customers, The Great Courses is committed to Lifelong Learning, and we recommit to that mission with every Great Course that we create. We release 3-5 new courses every month. Our newest releases are:
 
The Decisive Battles of World History
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=8140
 
How The Stock Market Works
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=5852
 
Understanding Multivariable Calculus
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1023
 


INTERVIEW II

Conducted by email.
INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR AMY-JILL LEVINE BY PETER MENKIN

• 

  Amy-Jill Levine, Professor at Vanderbilt University and accomplished lecturer
   
• There is a contemporary story of Mary Magdalene being lover or wife of Jesus. Do you find these popular stories of any kind of merit worth study? Are the current stories of Jesus frivolous and detract from his stature and teachings, let alone status as God? I am thinking of the news reports of Jesus being married to Mary Magdelene.

1. Interest in new stories of Jesus’ personal life show our own culture’s fascination with him. The verdict on the recent fragment purporting that Jesus is married is still out; scholars have yet to reach consensus on whether the text is authentic or a forgery. If it is authentic, it tells us nothing about the Jesus of history, but it does tell us something about how one later writer retold his story.

 

• Do you think your special study of gender gives you an additional understanding of women in the Bible? I thought you gave a fuller view of the actions of women, as in Mary’s letting down her hair to wipe Jesus’ feet. My question is more about the role of women and if you find your education and study of gender makes for a fuller explanation of women’s roles in the Bible. This includes a woman’s reading of the Bible. Will you give us an examples? 

1. A number of Christian readers presume that first-century Judaism epitomized misogyny, and that Jesus invented feminism. This view incorrectly and negatively stereotypes Judaism. The Gospels, as well as other Jewish sources of antiquity, show Jewish women owning their own homes, running businesses, appearing in synagogues and the Jerusalem Temple, having freedom of travel, and having access to their own funds. Women followed Jesus for the same reasons that men did. However, we find that most of the women, and men, who followed him did so without spousal accompaniment. Thus, it is likely that the initial movement had a strong element of celibacy.
2. Women appear throughout the biblical text, from the first chapter of Genesis to the Book of Revelation. To ignore biblical women is to ignore many of the Bible’s most profound stories. Women appear as prophets and leaders, wives and mothers, sages and sirens, deacons and apostles.

 

• Are you lecturing outside your work at Vanderbilt University where you teach? Talk to us some about your lecture work at other schools, how those lectures are greeted, and especially their subject matter. This includes your lectures at Cambridge, which I believe are relatively new for you? 

1. Subjects of the talks range from biblical material to the intersection of religion, gender and sexuality, to Jewish-Christian relations, including discussions of the Middle East.
2. I lecture out of town on average of once a week. The sponsors are colleges and universities, churches and synagogues. This year, along with numerous programs in the US and Canada, I shall be in London in June, Australia in July-August, Birmingham in November-December, and Manchester this coming April. I also hold an affiliated faculty position at the Woolf Institute, Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations, at Cambridge.

 

• What brought you to participate in The Great Courses Lecture series? Was the preparation for them in any way arduous? Tell us what other series you have done for The Great Courses, and which you recommend most and why. 

1. Along with “Introduction to the Old Testament” (which I wanted to call “Introduction to the Old Testament/Tanakh”), I have done “Great Figures of the Old Testament” and “Great Figures of the New Testament.” The invitation is open to do another series; the problem for me is finding the time to prepare the lectures. The preparation is a joy – I find the material both fascinating and challenging — but a time-consuming one.
2. The Teaching Company invited me to participate in their programs. The only caveats they gave me, before issuing the contract, was that they did not want me to be quite so feminist, and they did not want me to be quite so funny. Whether I adhered to these strictures would be up to Teaching Company clients to determine.

 

• It has been a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Now as we come to the end of this series of questions, talk about what we may have missed. That is, have you anything you would like to add?

Thank you.
The Bible is an extraordinary collection of works that are open to multiple interpretations. It has been used far too often as a rock thrown to do damage: to condemn people of differing religious beliefs; to promote sexism, homophobia, and racism; to endorse complacency. It is better read as a rock on which one can stand in order to celebrate diverse beliefs; to honor all people as created in the image and likeness of the divine; to promote both love of neighbor and love of stranger and to teach us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.
 
 
THE REVIEW ITSELF OF PROFESSOR AMY-JILL LEVINE’S COURSE ON GREAT FIGURES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT BY PETER MENKIN

SECTION I

The Scope of the lecture on John the Baptist is described by Professor Levine in the Study Guide this way. It gives a flavor of the completeness of each of the 24 half hour lectures in this series about The Great Figures in the New Testament. I listened to the entire series and these notes, brief as they are, comment on the Professor’s style and her delivery of the lectures themselves. In this way you might find some ways to decide if you, too, want to view the DVD or hear the streaming media to get the full picture in this remarkable and excellent set of lectures. I enjoyed them very much. Now the notes on John the Baptist:

John, called “Baptist” because he dipped (Gk: baptizw) people in
the Jordan River as a sign that they had repented from their sins,
appears in the Gospels and the writings of the Jewish historian
Josephus. The gaps and varying emphases in these historical
records, coupled with an appreciation for how John’s story is
presented from different perspectives, offer the ideal opportunity
to explore the means by which scholars of the New Testament
address questions of history. This lecture looks at the story of
John’s miraculous and, indeed, humorous birth; his connection to
the Prophet Elijah; his possible associations not only with the
Qumran community and, thus, the Dead Sea Scrolls but also with
other charismatic religious leaders of the early first century C.E.;
the various descriptions of his own message in light of both
political and religious import; his remarkably unclear relationship
to Jesus; and the different versions of his beheading at the
command of Herod Antipas. We conclude with a brief review of
how the Baptist has fared at the hands of theologians and artists,
playwrights and filmmakers.


Professor Levine has the good sense to start at the beginning. So shall I.
(Note that the people who are part of the Help desk are very good at getting a needy person settled. I had the good fortune to use them at the start of setting up my pages and they got me started in the right direction. This included even finding where my files were on The Great Courses site. So they aren’t adverse to even getting one going with the basic procedures…The whole process didn’t take too long, either…that is getting them on the phone or getting going with the lecture itself.)
Though the Professor does not follow the Sunday school line as I remember it, I can follow her rendition without too much trouble. But I suggest that as she speaks you keep the outline close at hand anyway. Not because of what I say about her not following my own Sunday school version, but that her rendition is all the richer for it. At least it was for me. My Assistant Linda, who from time to time, listened to these lectures along with me and is something of a Bible buff, that is has been going to Bible study on a regular basis for many years in various groups on a regular basis, had no trouble following the Professor. She referred to the Course Outline along the way not at all. So much for who knows more about the Bible, the assistant or the writer. But really, this is not a true gauge of Bible knowledge. This is really a matter of paying attention and getting used to the way Professor Levine has of making her excellent Biblical presentation. Remember, she is a Bible scholar and teaches in the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University. No small matter.

I think a great strength of her presentation is her taste for and appreciation of story. I want to add that remark in these notes before I forget making the remark.

To be a Prophet in the first Century was to risk one’s life, so was the fate of John the Baptist. He risked his life and lost it. Professor Levine makes an instructional statement that is itself a kind of prophecy after the fact. Or to make it more a statement in the present, she states a truism of the Bible. More, though, she tells the story of the why his prophecy, what his prophecy consisted of, and the debauchery of the era that was his to observe as witness. That alone was enough to cause lose John the Baptist to lose his head. So she says. The Professor gets the story, as was mentioned earlier. At least she emphasizes the story line in this section. That is the more sophisticated way than teaching at an abstract level. She is a brilliant lecturer in this section and in all of them.

SECTION II

For the traditional believer, this section on Mary seems provocative. But it covers a lot of ground in myth, discussion, and controversy and if you ask me borders on a kind of look at gossip when it comes to the story of Mary (The Virgin Mary). These Study Guide notes on the Scope will introduce you to the general thrust of the lecture:

Unwed mother or Mother goddess, Mary the mother of Jesus
inspires loyalty even as she provokes controversy. This lecture
addresses those elements of her life and legend that continue to
stimulate historical and theological debate. From the canonical
materials we explore the prediction of a Virgin Birth, her
relationship to her cousin Elizabeth (the mother of John the
Baptist), questions of her “perpetual virginity,” her understanding
of Jesus’ mission, and her life following the Crucifixion. We then
turn to the development of “Mariology”: accounts of her
childhood; the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and
Assumption of the Virgin; her roles as new Eve, Mediatrix, Bride
of Christ, and Queen of Heaven; as well as her reception in pagan,
Jewish, and Islamic writings; and her current role in Orthodox,
Protestant, and Catholic thought. We end with observations on the
increasingly common phenomenon of Marian apparitions,
including those at Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje, and Conyers,


Sound quality is very good. This lecture was heard through iTunes on Bose Speakers on a PC. We understood what Professor Levine said without any problem. Her diction was distinct enough for our ears. This was helpful. This lecture was on The Virgin Mary.

The Professor speaks to so many dimensions and stories of Mary including the Virgin birth. She is the mother of God, how the spirit of God overshadows the birth of God. She speaks too of how the spirit of God overshadows the births of others in the Bible. In taking the many aspects of the Mary story, she touches on the secular aspect of Mary even being considered by some as the single mother. Was it not a fear of Joseph’s that he would be shamed that Mary was pregnant and he was not the father. Yet he married her anyway. He has been credited as a good man and a dream told him so for he was urged through a dream to remain with Mary. This was a great comfort to him, the dream. But I am getting ahead of the lecture for that is to come in the next one.

Professor Amy-Jill Levine offers outside reading in her Course Guidebook. I listened to the streaming media version of the lectures to begin with and it is accompanied with a Course Guidebook in PDF version. There is a biographic section on Doctor Levine in the Guidebook. As an example of notes, this from the notes on the section on The Virgin Mary in the Guidebook:
(Regarding The Magnificat, the notes read…)

Immediately after Gabriel tells her of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Mary
responds: “Behold, I am the slave (Gk: doule) of the Lord; let it be
to me according to your word” (Luke 1:36–38).
©2002 The Teaching Company. 17
1. Translations of “handmaid” are more genteel than Luke’s
Greek (see also 1:48).
2. Mary “went with haste into the hill country” to visit Elizabeth
(1:39). Some interpreters suggest that she needed Elizabeth’s
support given her state of unwed pregnancy.
B. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, greets her: “Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (1:42), and
Mary replies with the “Magnificat,” Luke 1:46–55, a hymn named
for the Latin first word.

1. The hymn echoes Hannah’s song in 1 Sam. 2:1–10…

It is fair to say that Professor Levine makes statements about how the Biblical stories about Mary are theological for she says the stories themselves are theological in the series. She says this in another of the lectures. So of course in parts of the lecture in its explanation of teaching, which is done so well, it is done seamlessly. It is done that way throughout all the Bible in all its stories.


SECTION III

Here I want to provide the Study Guide notes to Peter for your edification. But know too that the Magi are covered in this set of lectures. I cannot cover all the lectures in my commentary on Professor Amy-Jill Levine’s work as Lecturer. It is neither my intent nor purpose. But one does through this review get a real sense of her work as Lecturer. Now the notes on Peter after the notes on the Scope for the Magi from the Study Guide outlining the Scope of her lecture as the Professor sets it forth:


Magi
No Christmas scene is complete today without Mary’s husband,
Joseph; the Magi who followed the miraculous star; and the
shepherds told by angels that the messiah is born in Bethlehem.
But all these figures give rise to both historical debate and later
legend. This lecture begins with Joseph, from his brief and
enigmatic function in the Gospels to later legends of his own
perpetual virginity. We turn next to the Magi to see how these
characters, whose profession many in the ancient world would
have regarded as foolishness, came to be known as both kings and
“wise men” (and, in some medieval depictions, women as well),
and eventually to receive a set of numbers, names, and physical
descriptions. Finally, we discuss the idea that in antiquity, the
shepherds would have been expected attendants at the birth of a
god. Throughout, we address how the Gospels of Matthew and
Luke, and their later interpreters, depicted these figures to promote
their own views of history, theology, and even politics.

Peter
The transformation of a headstrong Galilean fisherman into the
first leader of the Jerusalem church and, ultimately, according to
medieval Roman Catholic teaching, the first pope, is an
astounding, inspirational, and frequently confusing story. This
lecture follows the Gospels’ presentations of Simon the son of
Jonah from his fishing business in Capernaum and possible
association with John the Baptist to his role as leader of the
Twelve (disciples) and leader of the church. Scenes addressed
include his call, his being given the nickname “Peter” (i.e.,
“Rocky”), his denial of Jesus, and his restoration as witness to the
Resurrection. We next investigate his role in the early church,
including his struggles with the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem, as
well as with Paul; his conversion of Cornelius; and his role in the
Jerusalem Council. Finally, we address his post-canonical fate,
including legends of his crucifixion during Nero’s persecution.



At this point I began viewing DVD disks and in so doing watched Professor Levine in the flesh as it were standing in a tailored violet suit speaking at a lectern. It is a dignified and sophisticated look. Her appearance and dress is appropriate, as it is in the Peter lecture where she wears a lovely peach pant suit. My intent is not to say her fashion statement as a woman is paramount, though let us not overlook her good taste which plays out in her demeanor, if I may say so. Her way of speaking has emphasis both through facial expression and body language, so she is not stiff as a lecturer. She has panache. The lectern does not hide her body nor her dress. You can see what the Professor looks like in the DVD unlike the audio version only in the streaming media version. The DVD set costs more money.

She tells us about what children over look in the travels of the Magi, and it is a sophisticated lecture she gives. I cannot write notes on all these lectures, nor go into great detail even on so favorite a subject as The Magi or even Peter, as I wish I could. This article would be just too long. But I am going to go ahead and view the DVD, listening to the Professor. Suffice it to say she has much to say of value and interest, and she says it all well. Her body language speaks of sincerity and honesty in value system and she as scholar holds depth of knowledge of subject. How can one know this? I think if you choose the DVD you will agree, she appears to know of what she speaks. Her credentials also tell of her excellent background in her study of the Bible and New Testament. Previously, I’d said she was not offering her lecture in the manner of the Sunday school lesson as I knew it. I thought this good, for she was going beyond it and providing more perspective and a different approach. In her lesson on Peter she was closer to the Sunday school lesson as I knew it, even from my time in the seminary, The School for Deacons now in Berkeley, California. And when I say the Sunday school lesson I also mean in Bible study at my Church and places like Churches elsewhere where I have attended lesson giving. Listeners won’t be disappointed with Professor Levine this time in this Lesson or in other Lessons that are so content rich.

I think it important to indicate how Christian is this lesson of Peter, how miraculous is the “tale,” and how true to the Bible in my opinion is her lesson. I am just delighted as listener to have the opportunity to hear this lesson taught again so well that I am delighted with the kind of joy she transmits with her lecture—a kind of enthusiasm for the references given in the very translations and specifics of the different references and narrative itself as given by the Books of the New Testament. This takes real skill, to my way of thinking as a student. (I want to add that Professor Amy-Jill Levine is an Orthodox Jew. She instructs Christian students at Vanderbilt University in preparation for Christian ministry.) In this lesson about Peter I also listened to her remarks on Acts.



SECTION IV

In this my last review of two of the 24 lectures, again I quote from the Study Guide. I do not go further in my review of other lectures. These reviews are enough to give readers a flavor of Professor Amy-Jill Levine at work.

Pharisees and Sadducees

Members of these two Jewish movements, prominent in the first
century, as well as in the Gospel texts, typically serve as foils to, if
not enemies of, Jesus and his followers. This lecture introduces the
two movements by reconstructing their beliefs and practices on the
basis of the New Testament (both the Gospels and Paul, who
identifies himself as a Pharisee), the writings of the historian
Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and rabbinic literature. We next
turn to the rivalry between these groups and those who followed
Jesus of Nazareth to seek both the sources of disagreement
between them and the possible explanations for the Gospels’
sometimes strident polemic. We conclude with observations on
individual Sadducees and Pharisees, with a particular focus on
Paul’s Pharisaic teacher, Gamaliel, who appears in the Acts of the
Apostles, and Hillel, often viewed as a Pharisee and seen as
proclaiming a message similar to that of Jesus.

Herodians
Like the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Herodian family also
receives generally negative treatment in the New Testament.
Herod the Great, made king by Rome over Palestine and, thus,
replacing the Hasmonean (Maccabean) dynasty, appears in the
Gospel of Matthew as a new pharaoh who orders the “slaughter of
the innocents”; Jesus is, in turn, the new Moses who escapes death.
Herod Antipas, one of Herod’s few sons to survive his father’s
murderous designs, became tetrarch of the Galilee; in the Gospels,
John the Baptist condemns Antipas for marrying his brother’s
wife, and Antipas beheads the Baptist to fulfill a promise made to
his dancing daughter (named Salome in later tradition). Herod
Agrippa I, appointed king over Judea by Caligula, executed the
Apostle James. His own death is dramatically described by both
Luke and Josephus. Agrippa I’s children, Herod Agrippa II and his
sister, Berenice, appear in Acts as conversing with Paul. This
lecture provides background information about the family and
explains how and why they appear in both the New Testament
 

There is little doubt in my mind after listening to the streaming audio and now the DVD video lessons that the DVD video lessons are the superior of the two. They are the superior of the two in my opinion because they are more engaging. I enjoy seeing Professor Levine in “action.” By action I mean seeing her facial expression, her gestures, and her body language speak as does her speaking inflection and manner.

In the lecture on the Pharisees, an excellent statement of history and comparison of texts of history and the Bible, and in the Lecture on Herodias especially, the sense of perspective occasionally driven by irony is brought home well. As said before, there is not enough room for me on the pages of this report to say all there is to say. And I know I have not said enough about her statements on the Bible itself. But I do want to remark on her end statement on the Lecture on Herodias without spoiling the language of how she says it for that would be unfair to the DVD watcher. Suffice it to say it is a statement on power and greed, a theme throughout the section that is so true of the dictator and of the governing nature of the governing world in which the Jews and Christians lived at the time. I think the way she tells of this historic feature of governance in general is done in a surprising way that is near painless and woven so well into the Bible and the texts of history that we find ourselves understanding that the Bible is a book of history. She gives us the taste of the times. The lecture does have much to offer about how life was lived and how people lived their lives in the higher sense of the governing class and their values of living lives at the time. It spills into the nature of lives lived throughout history by humans even to today.

For those of us surprised by this fact, as I remain today surprised, this truism is part of the truth of the Bible itself and of history and the human condition. It is history that illumines the Bible text as much as anything, and that is a kind of irony in her lecture as they work hand in glove. Professor Levine’s lecture is relevant to the way our lives are lived today.

One proof is the chill one gets at the danger and evil of the horror of the events of history as she casts that history. Was there not a story of 72 people killed in Nigeria by a bomb blast in a town reported in today’s newspaper? Monstrosity of event is not yesterday’s event of history alone.
Again, these two lectures are a brilliant set by Professor Amy-Jill Levine. Top marks to her for her scholarly knowledge and skill of presentation and delivery. Be prepared, by the way, for know this is not run-of-the-mill content. If you want that, choose another set of lectures. Choose another 24 lectures, in fact. Regarding these two, choose others if you want the norm and I don’t mean because of the horror, but because of the history and the irony, and the thought. But I mean mostly choose these lectures for the uniqueness of approach and point of view. Without going the full 24 lectures, it is apparent Professor Levine sheds profound and fascinating light on her subject of Great Figures of the New Testament that will fascinate the viewer or listener; I say viewer or listener for such is a matter of depending on the media you choose: DVD for sight and sound, or streaming media for sound alone.

A final note just thought of is that figures in this story of Herodias get their come-uppance and if you ask me the Professor implies they deserved it for they were evil men and evil women. I was glad she was willing to make such judgments in her talk, and did so without any kind of hysteria of loud statement. But that was pretty much the kind of tone expected that continued the character of her delivery in the lecture throughout this particular section, one that was quite chilling in its detail and on occasion, and not so frequent occasion, even graphic for my taste. Let’s face it, worms were one of the results of sin—body parts being eaten by them. It came alive. The Professor is even handed in her lecture style and content, though engaging.

Destruction of the Temple in 70 was a terrible act, and it was reported without terrible detail, but as if from a history book. This was sufficient for my taste. It came alive.
I think in the section on Pharisees where Piety was actually spoken of with a kind of respect rather than simple distaste, giving it a different dimension of character and understanding. I cannot provide the measure of this particular area of appreciation in the lecture section on the Pharisees in this short piece regarding the section and their role in relation to Christians and within their own Jewish faith here. But that was the area of instruction spoken about in the lecture for reasons of giving perspective. An eye opening viewpoint by Professor Levine, certainly.