David Levenson

Associate Professor of Religion
Distinguished Teaching Professor
David Levenson

Contact Information

Religions of Western Antiquity
Faculty
Office Location
314 Dodd Hall
Email
dlevenson@fsu.edu
Phone
(850) 212-5099
Resume / CV
Curriculum Vitae189.05 KB

David Levenson (Ph.D. '80, Harvard University, New Testament and Christian Origins). I teach introductory through advanced courses in early Christianity, ancient Judaism, and Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac, and Aramaic languages and texts. My primary research areas are (1) Jewish-Christian relations in Antiquity with special attention to images of Jews and Judaism in popular narratives and historiography from the first through the fifth centuries and (2) Josephus. I am currently engaged in writing a commentary (which will include a new translation) with Thomas Martin on the Greek text of Book Six of Josephus' Jewish War. He and I are also working on critical editions of Book Six of the ancient Latin translation of the Jewish War and, with Ashleigh Witherington, of Book Thirteen of Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities. 

Research Interests

The Latin Textual Tradition of Josephus’ War and Antiquities
Josephus and Hellenistic Judaism
Jewish-Christian Relations in Antiquity
Jews and Judaism in the New Testament and Christian Historiography through Late Antiquity
The use of Josephus in the Hebrew Sefer Yosippon 
The Emperor Julian
Articles
  •  “A Revised Classification of Manuscript Groups for the  Early Books of the Latin Translation of Josephus's Antiquities Based on Textual Variants in AJ 6.356–360 and 6.362b,” with Thomas Martin, Medievalia et Humanistica, 46 (2021), 71-148.
  • “The Place of the Early Printed Editions of Josephus' Antiquities and War (1470-1534) in the Latin Textual Tradition,” with Thomas Martin, in Sibyls, Scriptures, and Scrolls: John Collins at Seventy, edited by Joel Baden, Hindy Najman, & Eibert Tigchelaar, 765-825 (Brill, 2017).
  •  “Messianic Movements,” in The Jewish Annotated New Testament, Second Edition, edited by A.J. Levine and M.Z. Brettler, 622-628 (Oxford, 2017).
  •  “The Ancient Latin Translations of Josephus,” with Thomas Martin, in A Companion to Josephus, edited by Honora H. Chapman and Zuleika Rodgers, 322-344 (Wiley-Blackwell, 2016).
  • “The Palestinian Earthquake of May 363 in Philostorgius, the Syriac Chronicon Miscellaneum and the Letter Attributed to Cyril on the Rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple,” Journal of Late Antiquity 6 (2013), 60-83. 
  • “Akairos or Eukairos? The Nickname of the Seleucid King Demetrius III in the Transmission of the Texts of Josephus’ War and Antiquities,” with Thomas Martin,  Journal for the Study of Judaism 40 (2009), 307-341.
  • “The Ancient and Medieval Sources for the Emperor Julian’s Attempt to Rebuild the Jerusalem Temple,” Journal for the Study of Judaism 35 (2004), 409-460.
  • “University Religion Departments and Teaching About the Bible in Public High Schools: A Report from Florida,” Religious Studies News, AAR Edition 17/2 (March 2002), pp. 3, 7, 10 (republished in SBL Forum, Nov/Dec 2003).
  • “Different Texts or Different Quests: The Contexts of Biblical Studies, “ in Hebrew Bible or Old Testament?, edited by Roger Brooks and John J. Collins (University of Notre Dame, 1990), 153-164.