Professor Levenson holds the Schusterman/Josey Chair in Judaic History and has written extensively on the Jewish experience for both scholarly and popular audiences. His book Between Philosemitism and Antisemitism: Defenses of Jews and Judaism in Germany, 1871-1932 was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award Prize (paperback edition 2013), and his textbook Modern Jewish Thinkers (2nd edition) is widely used in classes on Jewish thought. He has won a number of prestigious fellowships, including an ACLS, and has lectured in the United States, Israel and Germany. Since arriving at OU in 2009 he has completed several major projects: The Making of the Modern Jewish Bible (2011), a history of Bible translations/commentaries in the modern era; as General Editor of The Wiley-Blackwell History of Jews and Judaism (2012), and Joseph: Portraits Through the Ages (2016), a re-telling of commentaries on Genesis 37-50 from the ancient world until today. He recently published Maurice Samuel: Life and Letters of a Secular Jewish Contrarian (2022). He received his BA/MA from Brown University magna cum laude, and his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Levenson’s first professional commitment remains teaching undergraduate and graduate students to write, speak and read more effectively. He has guided many students to award-winning essays generated in his classes: “Judaism: A Religious History,” “Genesis Through Jewish Eyes,” “The Bible Since The Enlightenment" and “The Artists’ Bible.”
