If it were not an objectionable pun, I would say that Levison’s tour de force is breathtaking in its scope, depth, and erudition. He has written a book that opens up new vistas of interpretation beyond all our settled categories in both Judaism and Christianity. He moves readily between the Judaism of Philo and the Christian testimony of Paul, and gives generous attention to the category-changing scholarship of Hermann Gunkel. With a deep awareness of the capacity of God for life-giving energy, Levison invites both Jews and Christians to read and think and study again.
While his carefully done study stays within the disciplines that Levison takes as his own, his discussion has immense implications for a society that wants to reduce reality to the management of techne. Texts in Levison’s hands witness to the surging of the vitality of the creator who refuses to let creation wither and close. This book will surely be not only defining for time to come but will also evoke much new interpretive work. So rich and generative is Levison’s study that we might even term it ‘inspired.’
Walter Brueggemann
— Columbia Theological Seminary
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