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Gabriel Levy

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Gabriel Levy

Professor
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Faculty of Humanities

gabriel.levy@ntnu.no
+4773596504 Låven, 141, Dragvoll
Gabriel's External Webpage Beyond Heaven and Earth (MIT Press)
About Research Publications Teaching

About

CV

Gabriel Levy is a comparative historian of religion. He is Professor in the Science of Religion at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, where he teaches on method and theory in the scientific study of religion, middle-eastern religious history, and the relation between religion, science, and technology. Gabriel studies religions from a holistic perspective and looks for ways to integrate the harder sciences into scholarship in the humanities. He studies the ways religious individuals and groups imagine their communicative relations with superhuman agents, and particularly how various technologies of mediation, such as divination and literacy, change the way this relation is organized and embodied. To do this he draws on anthropology, philosophy, and the mind sciences. His first book Judaic Technologies of the Word (Routledge 2014) took insights from biology and the mind sciences to explore the effects of literacy on religious cognition and the origins of Judaism. Gabriel's most recent book Beyond Heaven and Earth: A Cognitive Theory of Religion (MIT Press) develops the groundwork for an anomolous monist (D. Davidson) approach to religion and apply it to specific real world examples, including fictionality, the concept of life, kabbalistic information, animal agency, and intimacy. Get it here.

Competencies

  • Cognitive science
  • Jewish Studies
  • Religious studies, history of religion
  • The Philosophy of Religion

Research

  • Agency, Action and Embodiment (AAE)
  • Research network in Religious Studies and Philosophy of Religion

Publications

Beyond Heaven and Earth: A Cognitive Theory of Religion (MIT Press)(Open Access)

One of the only books published by MIT on the subject of religion. Evolutionary and developmental perspective with theoretical point of departure in semantic holism and anomalous monism (Donald Davidson).
  • Chronological
  • By category
  • See all publications in Cristin

2022

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2022) Beyond Heaven and Earth: A Cognitive Theory of Religion. MIT Press. 2022. ISBN 9780262543248.
    Academic monograph

2021

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2021) Blasphemy as transgressive speech, a natural history. Blasphemies compared : Transgressive speech in a globalised world.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

2020

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2020) You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But You Can’t Make It Drink. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. volum 32.
    Academic literature review

2018

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2018) Let There Be Light: The Word of God in the Jewish Tradition, Past, Present, and Future. AJS Perspectives: The Magazine of the Association for Jewish Studies. volum Spring.
    Popular scientific article

2017

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2017) Can Fictional Superhuman Agents have Mental States?. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. volum 30 (4-5).
    Academic article
  • Levy, Gabriel; Kyselo, Miriam. (2017) Dynamic Perspectives on Defamation of Religion among Jewish NGOs. Religion, State and the United Nations: Value Politics.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Mitkidis, Panagiotis; Ayal, Shahar; Shalvi, Shaul; Heimann, Katrin; Levy, Gabriel; Kyselo, Miriam; Wallot, Sebastian; Ariely, Dan; Roepstorff, Andreas. (2017) The effects of extreme rituals on moral behavior: The performers-observers gap hypothesis. Journal of Economic Psychology. volum 59.
    Academic article

2016

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2016) Cognitive Linguistics and Religion: Surveying the Field. Religion: Mental Religion.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

2015

  • Levy, Gabriel; Mitkidis, Panagiotis. (2015) Religion and Marketing: The Attractiveness of Religion as a Moral Brand. The Attraction of Religion A New Evolutionary Psychology of Religion.
    Chapter
  • Martin, Laura; Adams, Rachel; Bateman, Ashley; Bik, Holly; Hawks, John; Hird, Sarah; Hughes, David; Kembel, Steven; Kinney, Kerry; Kolokotronis, Sergios-Orestis; Levy, Gabriel; McClain, Craig; Meadow, James; Medina, Raul; Mhuireach, Gwynhwyfer; Moreau, Corrie S; Munshi-South, Jason; Nichols, Lauren; Palmer, Claire; Popova, Laura; Schal, Coby; Täubel, Martin; Trautwein, Michelle; Ugalde, Juan; Dunn, Robert R.. (2015) Evolution of the indoor biome. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. volum 30 (4).
    Academic literature review

2014

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2014) Judaic Technologies of the Word: A Cognitive Analysis of Jewish Cultural Formation. Routledge. 2014. ISBN 978-1-13-885612-7.
    Academic monograph
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2014) The Implications of Anomalous Monism for Intimate Selves. Altered Self and Altered Self-Experience.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

2013

  • Levy, Gabriel; Ross, Sarah; Al-Saudi, Soham. (2013) Judaism and Emotion: Texts, Performance, Experience. Peter Lang Publishing Group. 2013. ISBN 978-1-4331-1872-2.
    Academic anthology/Conference proceedings

2012

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2012) "False But Significant: The Development of Falsity in Religious Cognition in Light of the Holism of the Mental". Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. volum 24 (2).
    Academic article

2010

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2010) "Rabbinic Philosophy of Language: Not in Heaven". The Journal of Jewish thought & philosophy. volum 18 (2).
    Academic article
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2010) Review Essay: “Contemporary Theories of Religion, A Critical Companion”. Numen. volum 57 (2).
    Academic literature review

Journal publications

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2020) You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But You Can’t Make It Drink. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. volum 32.
    Academic literature review
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2018) Let There Be Light: The Word of God in the Jewish Tradition, Past, Present, and Future. AJS Perspectives: The Magazine of the Association for Jewish Studies. volum Spring.
    Popular scientific article
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2017) Can Fictional Superhuman Agents have Mental States?. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. volum 30 (4-5).
    Academic article
  • Mitkidis, Panagiotis; Ayal, Shahar; Shalvi, Shaul; Heimann, Katrin; Levy, Gabriel; Kyselo, Miriam; Wallot, Sebastian; Ariely, Dan; Roepstorff, Andreas. (2017) The effects of extreme rituals on moral behavior: The performers-observers gap hypothesis. Journal of Economic Psychology. volum 59.
    Academic article
  • Martin, Laura; Adams, Rachel; Bateman, Ashley; Bik, Holly; Hawks, John; Hird, Sarah; Hughes, David; Kembel, Steven; Kinney, Kerry; Kolokotronis, Sergios-Orestis; Levy, Gabriel; McClain, Craig; Meadow, James; Medina, Raul; Mhuireach, Gwynhwyfer; Moreau, Corrie S; Munshi-South, Jason; Nichols, Lauren; Palmer, Claire; Popova, Laura; Schal, Coby; Täubel, Martin; Trautwein, Michelle; Ugalde, Juan; Dunn, Robert R.. (2015) Evolution of the indoor biome. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. volum 30 (4).
    Academic literature review
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2012) "False But Significant: The Development of Falsity in Religious Cognition in Light of the Holism of the Mental". Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. volum 24 (2).
    Academic article
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2010) "Rabbinic Philosophy of Language: Not in Heaven". The Journal of Jewish thought & philosophy. volum 18 (2).
    Academic article
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2010) Review Essay: “Contemporary Theories of Religion, A Critical Companion”. Numen. volum 57 (2).
    Academic literature review

Books

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2022) Beyond Heaven and Earth: A Cognitive Theory of Religion. MIT Press. 2022. ISBN 9780262543248.
    Academic monograph
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2014) Judaic Technologies of the Word: A Cognitive Analysis of Jewish Cultural Formation. Routledge. 2014. ISBN 978-1-13-885612-7.
    Academic monograph
  • Levy, Gabriel; Ross, Sarah; Al-Saudi, Soham. (2013) Judaism and Emotion: Texts, Performance, Experience. Peter Lang Publishing Group. 2013. ISBN 978-1-4331-1872-2.
    Academic anthology/Conference proceedings

Part of book/report

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2021) Blasphemy as transgressive speech, a natural history. Blasphemies compared : Transgressive speech in a globalised world.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Levy, Gabriel; Kyselo, Miriam. (2017) Dynamic Perspectives on Defamation of Religion among Jewish NGOs. Religion, State and the United Nations: Value Politics.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2016) Cognitive Linguistics and Religion: Surveying the Field. Religion: Mental Religion.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Levy, Gabriel; Mitkidis, Panagiotis. (2015) Religion and Marketing: The Attractiveness of Religion as a Moral Brand. The Attraction of Religion A New Evolutionary Psychology of Religion.
    Chapter
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2014) The Implications of Anomalous Monism for Intimate Selves. Altered Self and Altered Self-Experience.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

Teaching

Courses

  • RVI1010 - Theories of Religion
  • RVI2175 - Explaining religion: Why are people religious?
  • RVI3020 - Material and Method
  • RVI3010 - Theoretical Approaches and Philosophy of Science in the Study of Religion
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