Prof. Levinson to Present 56th Annual Public Lecture at UW-Madison

Professor Bernard M. Levinson will present a free public lecture entitled, "'You Must Not Add Anything To What I Command You': Paradoxes of Canon And Authorship in Ancient Israel." Levinson's lecture will address how Israel, having a tradition of prestigious or authoritative texts, dealt with the problem of literary and legal innovation. By comparing scribal practices in ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform law, he will show how ancient Israel's development of the idea of divine revelation of law that might have been expected to impede legal revision or amendment tolerated modification through exegetical innovation.