Navigation

  • Skip to Content
NTNU Home NTNU Home

ntnu.edu

  • Studies
    • Master's programmes in English
    • For exchange students
    • PhD opportunities
    • All programmes of study
    • Courses
    • Financing
    • Language requirements
    • Application process
    • Academic calendar
    • FAQ
  • Research and innovation
    • NTNU research
    • Research excellence
    • Strategic research areas
    • Innovation resources
    • PhD opportunities
  • Life and housing
    • Student in Trondheim
    • Student in Gjøvik
    • Student in Ålesund
    • For researchers
    • Life and housing
  • About NTNU
    • Contact us
    • Faculties and departments
    • Libraries
    • International researcher support
    • Vacancies
    • About NTNU
    • Maps
  1. Employees

Språkvelger

Norsk

Gabriel Levy

Download press photo
Download press photo
Foto:

Gabriel Levy

Professor
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Faculty of Humanities

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

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
  • The Philosophy of Religion

Research

  • Agency, Action and Embodiment (AAE)

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

2025

  • Levy, Gabriel John. (2025) Collective Intentionality and the Study of Religion: Social Ontology and Empirical Research, written by Andrea Rota. Numen
    Book review

2024

  • Levy, Gabriel John. (2024) A welcome intervention, but stops just where things will get interesting. Religion, Brain and Behavior
    Academic article
  • Zickfeld, Janis H.; Ścigała, Karolina A.; Elbæk, Christian T.; Michael, John; Tønnesen, Mathilde; Levy, Gabriel. (2024) Effectiveness of ex ante honesty oaths in reducing dishonesty depends on content. Nature Human Behaviour
    Academic article

2023

  • Levy, Gabriel John. (2023) Thinking about John Thinking about Cognitive Scientists Thinking about Religion. Religious Studies Review
    Academic literature review
  • Levy, Gabriel John. (2023) Taking “Religion” Seriously: Essays on the Discursive Study of Religion, By Teemu Taira. Journal of the American Academy of Religion
    Book review
  • Levy, Gabriel John. (2023) Teaching J. Z. Smith in Scandinavia. Equinox Publishing
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

2022

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

2021

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2021) Blasphemy as transgressive speech, a natural history. Routledge
    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
    Academic literature review

2019

  • Kvandal, Halvor; Knowles, Jonathan; Levy, Gabriel. (2019) Prone to Believe in God.The Cognitive Science of Religion and its Normative Implications for Theist Religion. Doktoravhandlinger ved NTNU (2019/7)
    Doctoral dissertation

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
    Popular scientific article

2017

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2017) Can Fictional Superhuman Agents have Mental States?. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion
    Academic article
  • Levy, Gabriel; Kyselo, Miriam. (2017) Dynamic Perspectives on Defamation of Religion among Jewish NGOs. Routledge
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Mitkidis, Panagiotis; Ayal, Shahar; Shalvi, Shaul; Heimann, Katrin; Levy, Gabriel; Kyselo, Miriam. (2017) The effects of extreme rituals on moral behavior: The performers-observers gap hypothesis. Journal of Economic Psychology
    Academic article

2016

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

2015

  • Martin, Laura; Adams, Rachel; Bateman, Ashley; Bik, Holly; Hawks, John; Hird, Sarah. (2015) Evolution of the indoor biome. Trends in Ecology & Evolution
    Academic literature review
  • Levy, Gabriel; Mitkidis, Panagiotis. (2015) Religion and Marketing: The Attractiveness of Religion as a Moral Brand. Bloomsbury Academic
    Chapter

2014

  • Levy, Gabriel. (2014) The Implications of Anomalous Monism for Intimate Selves.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2014) Judaic Technologies of the Word: A Cognitive Analysis of Jewish Cultural Formation. Routledge Routledge
    Academic monograph

2013

  • Levy, Gabriel; Ross, Sarah; Al-Saudi, Soham. (2013) Judaism and Emotion: Texts, Performance, Experience. Peter Lang Publishing Group Peter Lang Publishing Group
    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
    Academic article

2010

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

Journal publications

  • Levy, Gabriel John. (2025) Collective Intentionality and the Study of Religion: Social Ontology and Empirical Research, written by Andrea Rota. Numen
    Book review
  • Levy, Gabriel John. (2024) A welcome intervention, but stops just where things will get interesting. Religion, Brain and Behavior
    Academic article
  • Zickfeld, Janis H.; Ścigała, Karolina A.; Elbæk, Christian T.; Michael, John; Tønnesen, Mathilde; Levy, Gabriel. (2024) Effectiveness of ex ante honesty oaths in reducing dishonesty depends on content. Nature Human Behaviour
    Academic article
  • Levy, Gabriel John. (2023) Thinking about John Thinking about Cognitive Scientists Thinking about Religion. Religious Studies Review
    Academic literature review
  • Levy, Gabriel John. (2023) Taking “Religion” Seriously: Essays on the Discursive Study of Religion, By Teemu Taira. Journal of the American Academy of Religion
    Book review
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2020) You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But You Can’t Make It Drink. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion
    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
    Popular scientific article
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2017) Can Fictional Superhuman Agents have Mental States?. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion
    Academic article
  • Mitkidis, Panagiotis; Ayal, Shahar; Shalvi, Shaul; Heimann, Katrin; Levy, Gabriel; Kyselo, Miriam. (2017) The effects of extreme rituals on moral behavior: The performers-observers gap hypothesis. Journal of Economic Psychology
    Academic article
  • Martin, Laura; Adams, Rachel; Bateman, Ashley; Bik, Holly; Hawks, John; Hird, Sarah. (2015) Evolution of the indoor biome. Trends in Ecology & Evolution
    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
    Academic article
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2010) "Rabbinic Philosophy of Language: Not in Heaven". The Journal of Jewish thought & philosophy
    Academic article
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2010) Review Essay: “Contemporary Theories of Religion, A Critical Companion”. Numen
    Academic literature review

Books

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

Part of book/report

  • Levy, Gabriel John. (2023) Teaching J. Z. Smith in Scandinavia. Equinox Publishing
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2021) Blasphemy as transgressive speech, a natural history. Routledge
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Levy, Gabriel; Kyselo, Miriam. (2017) Dynamic Perspectives on Defamation of Religion among Jewish NGOs. Routledge
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2016) Cognitive Linguistics and Religion: Surveying the Field. Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Levy, Gabriel; Mitkidis, Panagiotis. (2015) Religion and Marketing: The Attractiveness of Religion as a Moral Brand. Bloomsbury Academic
    Chapter
  • Levy, Gabriel. (2014) The Implications of Anomalous Monism for Intimate Selves.
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

Report

  • Kvandal, Halvor; Knowles, Jonathan; Levy, Gabriel. (2019) Prone to Believe in God.The Cognitive Science of Religion and its Normative Implications for Theist Religion. Doktoravhandlinger ved NTNU (2019/7)
    Doctoral dissertation

Teaching

Courses

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

Outreach

New Books Network Podcast interview

On _Beyond Heaven and Earth: A Cognitive Theory of Religion_

Gabriel's interview with Noam Chomsky, December 1, 2015

Short interview about religion and prophecy

2017

  • Academic lecture
    Czachesz, Istvan; Levy, Gabriel John; Apud, Ismael; Kvandal, Halvor. (2017) Theriomorphic Gods and Anthropomorphic Animals in Jewish and Christian Literature. Society of Biblical Literature SBL and AAR Annual Meeting , Boston 2017-11-17 - 2017-11-21

NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology

  • For employees
  • |
  • For students
  • |
  • Intranet
  • |
  • Blackboard

Studies

  • Master's programmes in English
  • For exchange students
  • PhD opportunities
  • Courses
  • Career development
  • Continuing education
  • Application process

News

  • NTNU News
  • Vacancies

About NTNU

  • About the university
  • Libraries
  • NTNU's strategy
  • Research excellence
  • Strategic research areas
  • Organizational chart

Contact

  • Contact NTNU
  • Employees
  • Find experts
  • Press contacts
  • Researcher support
  • Maps

NTNU in three cities

  • NTNU in Gjøvik
  • NTNU in Trondheim
  • NTNU in Ålesund

About this website

  • Use of cookies
  • Accessibility statement
  • Privacy policy
  • Editorial responsibility
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Snapchat Tiktok Youtube
Sign In
NTNU logo