GABRIEL J. LEVY
Postdoc
Ekstern Lektor
Department of the Study of Religion
University of Aarhus
Tåsingegade 3
8000 Århus C
Denmark
+45 8942-6728
Email: GLE at teo.au.dk
Research priority: Religion, Cognition, and Culture (link)
Link to my University Homepage
Current Project (link)
Recent Courses:
Religion and Food Practices - Fall 2010 (link) (AULA)
Religion in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict - Spring 2010 (link)
Prophecy - Fall 2009 (link)
Religion and Film - Spring 2008 (link)
Cognitive Approaches to Revelation in Western Religions - Fall 2008 (link)
Research
I am a comparative historian of religion, specializing in early Judaism and the philosophy of language. I apply tools from the fields of anthropology, philosophy, linguistics, and the bio-cognitive science of religion to Jewish texts and traditions. My dissertation examined the emergence of Rabbinic theology in the context of the transition in religious authority from prophecy to Midrash, and the role that the technology of writing played in that transition. See here for my present work in progress.
Education
PhD in Religious Studies - University of California, Santa Barbara
• Santa Barbara, CA - 2003-2007
• Dissertation Title: “Changing Channels: Biblical Prophecy, Writing, and
Cognition” - Link
• Link to field exam bibliographies
MA in Religious Studies - University of California, Santa Barbara
• Santa Barbara, CA - 1999-2003
• MA Thesis: “The Jewish Tzaddiq: Religious Genius as the Discursive
Foundation Between Man and God”
BA with honors in Religion and Anthropology - Dartmouth College
• Hanover, NH • 1995-1999
• Double major, Magna Cum Laude
• Honors Thesis: “Yesh/Ayin: Habad-Lubavitch Mysticism”
Exchange Education
Visiting Scholar in Department of Biblical Studies - University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Theology
• Copenhagen, Denmark - 2004-2005
Intercampus Exchange Scholar in Linguistics and Philosophy - University of California, Berkeley
• Berkeley, CA - 2001-2002
Foreign Study Program in Religion - University of Edinburgh, School of Divinity
• Edinburgh, Scotland - 1997
Teaching Experience
• Instructor for “Religion and Food Practices” (Department of the Study of Religion, University of Aarhus, Planned Fall 2010)
• Instructor for “Religion in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” (Arabic and Islamic Studies Section, University of Aarhus, Spring 2010)
• Instructor for “Prophecy” (Graduate Seminar, Department of the Study of Religion, University of Aarhus, Fall 2009)
• Instructor for “Cognitive Approaches to Revelation in Western Religions” (Department of the Study of Religion, University of Aarhus, Fall 2008)
• Instructor for “Religion and Film A” (Dept. of the Study of Religion, University of Aarhus, Spring 2008)
• Instructor for “Religion and Film B” (Dept. of the Study of Religion, University of Aarhus, Spring 2008)
• Teaching Assistant for “Law and Culture” (Law and Society, UCSB, Spring, 2006)
• Teaching Assistant for “Law and Society” (Law and Society, UCSB, Winter 2006)
• Teaching Assistant for “Religion in Ancient Western Civilization” (Religious Studies, UCSB, Summer 2004)
• Reader for "Anthropology of Law" (Law and Society, UCSB, Winter 2004)
• Teaching Assistant for "Introduction to Caribbean Studies," (Black Studies, UCSB, Winter 2001)
• Reader for "Introduction to Biblical Studies" (Religious Studies, UCSB, 2001)
• Reader for "Voices of the Stranger" (Religious Studies, UCSB, 2000)
• Teaching Assistant for “Religion in Black America,” (Black Studies, UCSB, Fall 2000)
• Teaching Assistant for “Religious Approaches to Death,” (Religious Studies, UCSB, Fall 1999)
• Guest Lecturer, 2000-2006.
• Performer (guitar, vocals), Lone Pine Tavern (Hanover, NH, 1998)
• Tutor in Hebrew (Hanover, NH, 1996-1998)
• Hebrew School Teacher (Penn Valley, PA, Temple Beth-Am 1994-1995)
Peer Reviewed Publications
• “Rabbinic Language from an Integrationist Perspective,” Language Sciences 33: 4
(2011). Forthcoming.
• “Rabbinic Philosophy of Language: Not in Heaven,” Journal of Jewish Thought and
Philosophy 18: 2 (2010). Forthcoming.
•“Sharon’s visit to the Temple-Mount: A systems perspective,” (with Panagiotis
Mitkidis) Cognitive Semiotics 7 (Fall, 2010). Accepted.
•“Contemporary Theories of Religion, A Critical Companion,” Numen 57, 2 (2010):
212-230. Link.
• “Biblical Prophecy in Recent American Theological Politics,” Postscripts 2:1 (2007):
59-85 Link
Book Chapters, Reviews and Other Publications
• “Technology and Past Minds - the Case of Jewish Niche Construction,” in Luther Martin and Jesper Sorensen (eds.), Past Minds: Studies in Cognitive Historiography (London: Equinox). In Press. Link
•“The Levav concept in Rabbinic Judaism: Perspectives from Cognitive Science,” in Jeppe Sinding Jensen (ed.) Meaning in Religion, Cognition, and Culture (London: Equinox). Accepted.
• “Myth” in Eric Mazur (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion and Film (London: Greenwood Press, 2010). In Press.
אל שדי
יהוה
• “Judaism, Divination, and the Scope of Rationality: A Comparison of Rabbinic Divination and Science,” in Anders Klostergaard Petersen and Jesper Sorensen (eds.), The Naturalness of Divination and Magic Rituals, in Numen (Leiden: Brill). Accepted.
• “The Biblical Polemic against Divination in light of the Domestication of Folk Psychology,” in Anders Lisdorf and Kirstine Munk (eds.), Unveling the Hidden: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Divination (Berlin: Walter De Gruyter). Accepted. Link
• “Prophecy, Written Language, and the Language Myth: Benjamin's Linguistic Mysticism as Cure for the 'Language Myth',” Epoché: The University of California Journal for the Study of Religion 24 (2006): 19-48. Link
• “Religious ‘Cognition’: Between Integrated Physiology and Network,” Epoché: The University of California Journal for the Study of Religion 23:2 (2005): 193-224. Link
• “Review of Transformations in Ancient Judaism: Textual Evidence for Creative Responses to Crisis,” Review of Biblical Literature, Society of Biblical Literature, Online 2005. Link
• “Review of Jewish Messianism and the History of Philosophy,” Review of Biblical Literature, SBL, Online 2005. Link
• “Review of A Short Introduction to Hermeneutics,” Review of Biblical Literature, SBL, Online 2004. Link
Recent and Upcoming Conference Papers (Link)
• Panel Chair, “Theoretical Reflections and Practical Applicability,” and (paper) “Judaism and Emotion from a Bio-Cognitive Perspective,” Judaism and Emotion Conference, University of Bern, October 2010.
• Respondent for, “Fellow Primates: A Conversation with de Waal on Cognition, Animals, and Religion,” Annual Meeting - American Academy of Religion, Atlanta, in October 2010.
• “Why a Minyan? Situated Cognition in the Talmud,” and “Blood and Wine: Notes on the Role of the Heart and Noise in Ritual Processes,” XXth World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, Toronto, August 2010.
• “Jewish Ritual Music as a Cognitive Process,” with Sarah Ross, The Annual Conference of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, Oxford University, April 2010.
• “The levav concept in Rabbinic Judaism: Perspectives from the Cognitive Science of Religion,” Conference on Meaning in Religion, Cognition and Culture, Aarhus University, May 2009. Link
• “Judaism in the Age of Computational Reproduction,” Cultural Contact: Scholarly Discourses and Their Representations Workshop, University of Rostock, Germany, February 2009. Link 1 Link 2
• “Normative Development in Jewish Life-Cycle Rituals,” International Seminar on Magic, University of Aarhus, December 2008. Link
• “Non-reductive Cognitive Science of Religion: A Developmental Systems Theory Approach,” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Cognitive Science of Religion Consultation, Chicago, November 2008. Link
• “Touch at a distance: media’s force in Judaism” Authorizing Inscriptions: Religion, Aesthetics, and Global Media Conference, University of California, Davis, April 2008. Link
• “Divination and the Scope of Rationality: A Comparison of Divination and Science," Seminar on Divination, Mantic and Magic Rituals: The Naturalness of Divination, Aarhus University, December 2007.
• “‘I was El Shaddai, but now I'm Yahweh’: Biblical Names as Tools for Extended Cognition,” International Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Vienna, Austria, July 2007
• “Written Symbolization: A Selectionist Model for the Transmission of Jewish Fragments,” Symbolization in Religion, Cognition, and Culture Conference, Aarhus University, Denmark, June 2007
• “From Tokens to Types to Alephs and Bets: The Evolution of Written Technology in the Ancient Near East as a Case of Cognitive Ratcheting,” Symposium on Past Minds: Evolution, Cognition, and History, Institute of Cognition and Culture, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, May 2007
• “Written Symbolization: A Selectionist Model for the Transmission of Jewish Fragments,” The Copenhagen Circle for the study of Culture and Cognition Annual Seminar, Department of Religion, University of Copenhagen, December 2006.
• “Mentalizing Concepts in the Prophetic Literature,” Prophecy Unit, International Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Edinburgh 2006.
• “Prophecy, Literacy, and Literature: The Prophet as Biblical Subject” Western Regional American Academy of Religion Conference, Religion and Literature Section, Claremont 2006.
• “Perspectives from the Post-Analytic Philosophy of Language in the Study of Religion” for the “Pragmatism and Empiricism in American Religious Thought Group,” National Academy of Religion Conference, Philadelphia 2005 (panelist and co-organizer).
• “Perspectives from the Post-Analytic Philosophy of Language in the Study of Religion,” NAASR National Meeting, Philadelphia 2005 (panelist and co-organizer for working group).
• “The Rhetoric of Prophecy in Modern Religious Nationalisms” Bush’s Bible Group, “Reading, Theory, and the Bible” Section, National Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Philadelphia 2005.
• “Toward an Integrated Physiology of Religion,” Colloquium on Religion and Cognition, University of Copenhagen, Department of Religious Studies, Copenhagen 2005.
• “Changing Channels: A Genealogy of Biblical Prophecy,” UCSB Department of Religious Studies Colloquium, Santa Barbara 2005.
• “A Comparison of Communicative Principles in Sperber and Davidson,” Unveiling the Hidden: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Divination, Copenhagen 2005.
• “Changing Channels: An Anomalous Monist Anthropology of Biblical Prophecy,” Symposium on Religious Narrative, Cognition and Culture, Aarhus Denmark 2004.
• “Tzaddiq as Religious Genius,” National American Academy of Religion Conference, Comparative Hinduisms and Judaisms Group, Denver 2002.
Honors and Grants
• Jacob K. Javits Fellow, four year fellowship from the US Department of Education (2000-2004), approx. $150,000
• Graduate Student Travel Grant Award (2006-2007)
• Humanities/Social Sciences Research Grant, UCSB (2004-2005)
• Member of research team studying the cultural implications of a destructive tsunami in Papua New Guinea, National Science Foundation Grant (2000)
• John M. MacDonald Research Grant for Anthropological Research in Papua New Guinea (2000)
• Field Museum of Chicago New Guinea Anthropological Research Program Fellowship (1999)
BA honors (1999):
• Magna Cum Laude with Honors in Religious Studies
• Phi Beta Kappa
• Goodman Anthropology Grant recipient, Dartmouth College (1998)
• Jewish Studies Grant recipient for honors thesis fieldwork with a Hasidic sect in Miami (1998)
References:
Nancy Frankenberry, Department of Religion, Dartmouth
Randall Garr, Religious Studies, UCSB
Armin Geertz, Department of the Study of Religion, Aarhus
Giles Gunn, English and Global Studies UCSB
Roger Friedland, Sociology and Religious Studies, UCSB
Elvin Hatch, Anthropology, UCSB
Barbara Holdrege, Religious Studies, UCSB
Jeppe Sinding Jensen, Department of the Study of Religion, Aarhus
John Lardas Modern, Religious Studies, Franklin and Marshall
Hans Penner, Religion, Dartmouth (Emeritus)
Ann Taves, Religious Studies, UCSB
Memberships
Society of Biblical Literature
European Association for Jewish Studies
North American Association for the Study of Religion
International Association for the History of Religions
International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (founding member)
Prepared Courses (Link)
