
Place Yourself as a
Witness at the Cross
Dr.
Amy-Jill Levine leads readers in a study
of those present at the crucifixion
(Nashville, Tenn.) – In her latest Bible
study, Witness at the Cross: A Beginner’s Guide to Holy Friday,
New Testament and Jewish Studies scholar Dr.
Amy-Jill Levine explores the importance of the
various witnesses—human, divine, and from nature—to the death of
Jesus. She leads readers in a study of these figures in both their
historical and literary contexts and shows how they might be
interpreted by and for readers of the Bible today.
Dr. Levine invites readers to experience Holy Friday from the
perspective of those who watched Jesus die:
- Simon of Cyrene,
forced to carry Jesus’s cross
- Mary, his mother
- The Beloved
Disciple from the Gospel of John
- Mary Magdalene and
the other women from Galilee
- The two men,
usually identified as thieves, crucified with Jesus
- The centurion and
the soldiers
- Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus
- God and nature
- Jews and Romans,
friends and strangers, the powerful and the powerless, the
hopeful and the despairing.
The story of Jesus’s death is not
something we just read: we think about it, and we experience it. As
the author writes, “We hear the taunts of the soldiers, the
priests, and the passersby even as we hear the famous ‘seven last
words’ (there are actually more) from the cross. We taste the gall
held up to Jesus’s lips even as we feel his thirst. We inhale the
fetid smells of sweat, of blood, and of death, and then the hundred
pounds of spice Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea use to provide
Jesus’s body a royal entombment. We touch each other, as did the
Beloved Disciple when he took the mother of Jesus to his home. We feel
the wind blowing in the darkness, and we sense the Holy Spirit.
With the tearing of the Temple curtain, we recognize that the
universe is in mourning. We filter these visions through the
witnesses at the cross. Each saw something different.”
In Witness at the Cross, Levine shows how the
people at the cross each have distinct roles to play. Each Gospel
writer presents a distinct picture of the death of Jesus. Each
portrays different individuals and groups of people at the cross,
each offers different images and dialogues, and so from each,
readers will learn how those meanings and messages cross the
centuries to any who would come to the cross today. Levine’s unique
perspectives both as a Jew and as an historian adds a layer of
insight that readers may not have considered before.
“Each Gospel has a different story to tell. Such distinctions,
which occur throughout the Gospels and not just at this climactic
moment, reveal that the story of Jesus’s death, like that of his
life, was refracted through the different experiences of those whom
Luke calls the ‘eyewitnesses and servants of the word’ (Luke 1:2),”
Levine explains. “The story was also developed as Jesus’s
followers, retelling the events at the cross, understood them
through the Scriptures of Israel and, in particular, Psalm 22.”
Witness at the Cross can be read independently
or used with the companion study resources in a group setting.
Components of the study, each available separately, include a book,
a Leader Guide, and video sessions (with closed captioning). The
Leader Guide includes session outlines for each group meeting with
Scripture, prayer, opening activity, discussion questions,
activity, and closing call to action. The 10-12 minute videos
feature Dr. Levine guiding participants through each chapter. The
video sessions, when combined with the six book chapters, make an
ideal six-week group study. The videos are available on DVD, via
digital download from Cokesbury.com, or streaming through a
subscription to Amplify Media.
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Witness at the Cross: A
Beginner’s Guide to Holy Friday
Available December 28, 2021 from Abingdon Press
Paperback ISBN: 9781791021122 / $17.99
eBook ISBN: 9781791021139 / $17.99
Leader Guide Paperback ISBN: 9781791021146 / $14.99
eBook ISBN: 9781791021153 / $14.99
DVD ISBN: 9781791021221 / $39.99
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