Amy-Jill Levine's Guide to the Sermon on the Mount: An Introduction to the Kingdom of Heaven

Jana Cowgill: I especially appreciate Levine’s scholarly Jewish lens on the Sermon on the Mount and how she frames it as an extension of the Torah.

United States on Feb 08, 2023

Nancy C: This was a good Study. Different approach in considering & studying the Sermon on the Mount and considering other scriptures

United States on Oct 01, 2022

Lannmva: This is my second book by Dr. Levine. I am a retired pastor and I wished I had this book when I was in seminary. Dr. Levine explains the Judaic background to everything Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, things we Christians think belong to us alone. I have a much better understanding of how close Christians and Jews should be in living our faiths. We ought to celebrating what we share.

This explanation of those few chapters in Matthew should be our guide for living the faith we have.

United States on Sep 13, 2022

M. Welch: This book gave me the chance to dive deep into a portion of Jesus’ teaching that I have read before. The difference this time around was having in depth discussion and commentary on the particular passage of Scripture. Moreover, I was able to gain better everyday application from this well known teaching directly from Jesus Christ.

United States on May 03, 2022

marco: Expertly written ....filled with scholarly background and historical perspective.  In this compact, informative book on the "Sermon on the Mount", Amy-Jill Levine methodically walks the reader through the richness of the Jewish Torah and the deep significance it plays in understanding, and properly interpreting, this amazing "sermon" in the Gospel we know as Matthew.  In the first couple of pages of the book's Introduction, Prof. Levine (reflecting on her own journey through religious learning) presents the lens that each of us should use to read the Sermon on the Mount (and all Scripture, in general): "Alas, I didn't know what I was missing because I stuck with what I had been told rather than what I had learned for myself." If there is one phrase that captures all Biblical Study, I would say that that is it - to open our minds to seeing Scripture with our own intellect and curiosity, asking our own questions, probing and searching - for ourselves! - for truth-filled answers ..... answers that straddle context and culture, along with historical perspective and Judaic wisdom/tradition.

In summary, a fascinating and insightful look into one of the...

Canada on Nov 08, 2020

Hawkeye: Every step Amy-Jill Levine takes with her next book seems somehow just a little more bold than her last. (Which is no small feat.) This study of the longest continuous discourse from Jesus Christ contained in the New Testament – widely accepted as containing the central tenets of Christian discipleship – is no exception. And yet this writing is a stride as graceful as it is colossal.

Let me begin by saying that I am not clergy, nor am I a formal academic student. I read this, as I have many of her other works, merely out of a genuine personal interest in building faith. That said, I always learn immeasurably from the Hebrew insights Dr. Levine sheds on our Catholic tradition.

In keeping with now-established Levinian protocol, hers in here is not merely a superficial regurgitation of a few significant academic points on the Beatitudes, the Golden Rule and the Our Father. No. She is far more intrepid. This is Amy-Jill at Mach 2.0: returning us to the era of the Gospel writer of Matthew, into the Hebrew traditions and values of the first century and seating us among the crowd of Jesus’ listeners so that we can hear His words through their ears.

Sermon on...

United States on Aug 12, 2020