Abraham’s role in Judaism, Christianity, Islam to be explored at Duquesne Pascal Day

By Staff October 15, 2013, 8:12 pm 0 Edit

Author and visiting speaker Jon Levenson, will speak at Duquesne University’s fifth annual Pascal Day event, interpreting and exploring whether the appearance of patriarch Abraham in Genesis and in certain currents of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism creates a common thread between Judaism and Christianity in antiquity and in modernity.

Levenson, an Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University’s Divinity School, will present Abraham and the Absoluteness of God, Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Power Center Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.

The patriarch Abraham plays a significant role as founding father to three primary religions.

“Meaningful religious dialogue among Christians, Jews and Muslims is as highly desirable today as it has ever been and it is important that such interfaith conversations take place on the basis of a thoughtful acknowledgement of differences as well as similarities,” Charles Rubin, associate professor of political science at Duquesne said in a prepared statement. “Levenson’s study of Abraham highlights that while these three faiths share his legacy, they do not see that legacy in the same way.”

The lecture also will focus on the importance of the rejection of iconography in ancient Israelite religion and the role this played in the transformation — and philosophical deepening — of monotheism in late antiquity.

Pascal Day, an annual lecture series sponsored by Duquesne’s McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts, is devoted to exploring issues that cut across science, philosophy and faith.

Call 412-396-6485 for more information.