The International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ) congratulates Professor Dr Amy-Jill Levine on her election as president of the Catholic Biblical Association of America.
Dr Levine is an internationally recognized scholar of the New Testament whose impeccable scholarship has made a unique contribution to the field of New Testament studies and whose tireless efforts in promoting understanding and mutual learning between Jews and Christians are unrivaled.
In 2022, she was the inaugural recipient of the Seelisberg Prize awarded by the ICCJ and the University of Salzburg.
It is an appalling feature of our times that the CBA’s announcement of Dr. Levine’s election triggered an online deluge of hateful antisemitic vitriol against her personally. This poisonous rhetoric underscores the importance of Dr Levine’s – and the ICCJ’s – commitment to deepening positive Jewish-Christian relations.
Still, nothing should detract from the historic significance of the growing collaboration of Christian and Jewish biblical scholars over the past several decades that is represented by Dr Levine's election.
The ICCJ joins the Catholic Biblical Association of America in the high esteem in which it holds Dr Levine and commends it for its outstanding choice for president.