Science, Religion & Society: An Online Series 
Inaugural Sessions that started during summer of 2020

For 65 years, The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) has held summer Conferences on Star Island, off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Due to the pandemic, we had to postpone our 2020 Star Island conference until the summer of 2021. In order to continue to engage with IRAS themes and the IRAS community, with Star Island’s generous support, we launched a live webinar series: Science, Religion, & Society. Below are the collected session videos.

Next Session:

A Child is Born: The Nativity Birth Stories in the Framework of the Hebrew Tradition
Dr. Amy-Jill Levine
December 9, 2025, at
5:00 PM Eastern Time
4:00 PM Central Time
1:00 PM Pacific Time
10:00 PM England, UK
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This IRAS webinars are FREE but
​registration is required.
​Please register using the link below.
If you have questions, contact
JD  Stillwater: [email protected]
About the December 9, 2025 webinar: 
A Child is Born: The Nativity Birth Stories in the Framework of the Hebrew Tradition

​Presentation Overview:  Here we discover the fascinating connections between ancient birth stories in the Hebrew scriptures and the Nativity of Jesus in this captivating discussion. Dr. Levine outlines the births of Isaac and Ishmael, Samson, and Samuel to reveal how they foreshadow and enrich the timeless Christmas story  in the New Testament. Dr Levine brings her expert knowledge of Scripture and careful consideration of the Christian story to show us how Scripture's earlier birth stories anticipate the story of Jesus's birth and how Jesus’ birth resonates and gives new meaning to those earlier stories. In this context, our discussant indicates how the early Christian Church came to connect the birth of Jesus with the winter solstice, the celebration of the birth of Sol Invictus (the sun God), and the idea that Jesus died on the same day he was conceived.
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Presenter’s background:
Amy-Jill Levine is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University.  Her research treats Second Temple Judaism, Jewish-Christian relations, the historical Jesus, and the parables, with sustained attention to eliminating antisemitic, sexist, and homophobic readings of biblical texts. In spring 2019 she taught New Testament at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, the first Jew to do so, and she had multiple audiences with Pope Francis.  Levine serves as New Testament editor of the Oxford Biblical Commentary Series and as editor or volume editor for several volumes in the Wisdom Commentary series.

Find past sessions in the Webinar Archive