Bernard M. Levinson

Professor Bernard M. Levinson holds the Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible at the University of Minnesota, with an affiliated appointment to the Law School. His departmental home is Classical & Near Eastern Studies, and he maintains additional affiliations with the Center for Jewish Studies, the Program in Religious Studies, and the German Department.

• University of Minnesota - Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible
• Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies and of Law
• Center for Jewish Studies affiliation
• Program in Religious Studies affiliation
• German Department affiliation

Professor Levinson earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. His scholarly work bridges biblical studies, ancient law, and intellectual history with remarkable interdisciplinary reach. His research interests include biblical and cuneiform law, textual reinterpretation in the Second Temple period, constitutional theory, the history of interpretation, and literary approaches to biblical studies. He has pioneered new understandings of how ancient legal texts evolved and their enduring influence on Western intellectual traditions.

Professor Levinson's scholarly output reveals a trajectory from close textual analysis of biblical law toward increasingly interdisciplinary explorations of the Bible's relationship to Western intellectual history. His work demonstrates how Deuteronomy contains foundational constitutional principles including separation of powers and an independent judiciary.

• Elected member of the American Academy for Jewish Research
• Elected to the Biblical Colloquium
• Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton) appointment
• Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin appointment
• National Humanities Center appointment
• Israel Institute for Advanced Studies appointment

Professor Levinson has directed significant research initiatives including an international team at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies examining Pentateuchal theory across academic cultures. He mentors graduate students in the Classical & Near Eastern Religions and Cultures program and has received substantial grant support for his interdisciplinary research that connects biblical studies with legal history and intellectual history.

Professor Levinson co-directed an international research team at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies focused on bridging academic cultures in Pentateuchal studies and has been instrumental in collaborative projects examining the formation of the Pentateuch and connections between biblical and ancient Near Eastern legal traditions.