Transforming Law into Gospel: Gerhard von Rad's Response to the 'De-Jewing' of the Old Testament in Nazi Germany

This lecture examines the work of Gerhard von Rad (1901-1971), one of the enduring giants of German Protestant biblical scholarship, in the context of Nazi Germany. Using previously unpublished archival material and photos, this presentation tells the story of von Rad’s moral courage and shows how his social location had a lasting impact on how he read and taught the Bible. It also reassesses the strengths and challenges of von Rad’s place in biblical scholarship, particularly as his attempt to rescue the Old Testament meant dissolving any meaningful connection between Deuteronomy and law or Judaism.

Date: Wednesday 15 July 2026

Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm

Venue: Old Warden's Lodge, Trinity College, 100 Royal Parade, Parkville VIC 3052

Tickets: Free, but registration essential.

Enquiries: Trinity College Theological School | tcts@trinity.edu.au

Drinks and canapés will be provided following the lecture.

About the lecturer

Bernard M. Levinson serves as Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies and of Law at the University of Minnesota, where he holds the Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible. His research focuses on biblical and cuneiform law, textual reinterpretation in the Second Temple period, and the relation of the Bible to Western intellectual history and constitutional theory. He is the author of four books, including Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation (Oxford, 1997) and Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in Ancient Israel (Cambridge, 2008), and six edited volumes.