Skirball Professor of Bible; Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies Ph.D., 1985, (Northwest Semitics and Hebrew Scripture), Yale University; M. Phil., 1983, M.A. 1982. M.T.S., 1980, (Old Testament), Harvard Divinity School; M.A., 1979, the Catholic University of America; B.A., 1975, The Johns Hopkins University.
Office Address: Heyman Hall
51 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012-1075
Phone: 212-998-8975 Fax: 212-995-4178 Email:
Areas of Research/Interest: History of Israelite and ancient Near Eastern religion; The representation of deities and divinity in the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East from the Bronze Age to the Greco-Roman period; Narrative literature of the Hebrew Bible and West Semitic texts; Ugaritic literature and religion
External Affiliations: Member, Colloquium for Biblical Research; Member, Society of Biblical Literature; Member, Catholic Biblical Association; Member, Colloquium for Biblical Research; Member, Old Testament Colloquium; Member, Association for Jewish Studies; Editor, Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series; Editorial Board, Hebrew Studies
Fellowships/Honors: Golden Dozen Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, New York University, 2005 and 2007; Frank Moore Cross Publications Award, American Schools of Oriental Research, 2005; Fellow, Center for Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 1998; Faculty Merit Award for Research, Saint Joseph's University, 1995; Morse Fellow, Yale University, 1993; Dorot Dead Sea Scrolls Fellow (summer), W. F. Albright Institute of Archeological Research, 1990; Mellon Faculty Fellowship Leave (spring term), Yale University 1989; Recipient of the Mitchell Dahood Memorial Prize 1988, 1990; Post-doctoral fellow W. F. Albright Institute of Archeological Research, 1988; Annual Professor, W. F. Albright Institute of Archeological Research, 1987; Membership in and papers delivered at the Catholic Biblical Association, the Old Testament Colloquium and the Society of Biblical Literature, 1983-present; Mary Cady Tew prize for best first-year graduate student, Yale University, 1982
Select Publications: Psalms: The Divine Journey (New York/Mahwah, NJ:
Paulist Press, 1987).
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (San
Francisco/New York: Harper & Row, 1990; second paperback edition, The
Biblical Resource Series, Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans; Dearborn,
MI: Dove Booksellers, 2002).
The Laments of Jeremiah and Their Context: A Literary and Redactional
Study of Jeremiah 11-20 (Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series,
volume 42; Atlanta, GA: Scholars, 1990).
The Origins and Development of the Waw-Consecutive: Northwest Semitic
Evidence from Ugarit to Qumran(Harvard Semitic Studies Series, volume 39; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press,
1991).
The Ugaritic Baal Cycle: Volume 1. Introduction with Text, Translation
and Commentary of KTU 1.1-1.2 (Vetus Testamentum Supplements series,
volume 55; Leiden: Brill, 1994).
Co-authored with Magen Broshi et al., QumranCave 4 XIV: Parabiblical Texts, Part 2
(in consultation with James VanderKam; Discoveries in the Judaean Desert
Volume XIX; Oxford:
Clarendon, 1995). My work compromises the editio princeps for 4Q384:
4QpapApocryphal-Jeremiah (?), 4Q391: 4Q papPseudo-Ezekiele, 4Q462 (Narrative),
and 4Q463 (Narrative).
The Pilgrimage Pattern in Exodus, with contributions by Elizabeth M.
Bloch-Smith (Journal for the Society of Old Testament Supplement Series,
volume 239; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997).
The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's
Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts (Oxford/New York: Oxford
University Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2003).
Untold Stories: The Bible and Ugaritic Studies in the Twentieth Century (Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson Publishers, 2001).
The Memoirs of God: History, Memory, and the Experience of God in Ancient Israel(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
Portuguese edition: O memorial de Deus: História, memória e a experiência do
divino no Antigo Israel(trans.
Luiz Alexandre Solano Rossi; Biblioteca de Estudos Bíblicos; Sao Paulo, Brazil:
Paulus Editora, 2006).
The Sacrificial Rituals and Myths of the Goodly Gods, KTU/CAT 1.23: Royal
Constructions of Opposition, Intersection, Integration and Domination (Society
of Biblical Literature Resources for Biblical Studies series, volume 51; Atlanta, GA:
Society of Biblical Literature; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2006).
God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World (Forschungen
zum Alten Testament series I, volume 57; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008).
The Ugaritic Baal Cycle: Volume 2. Introduction with Text, Translation
and Commentary of KTU 1.3-1.4 (Vetus Testament Supplement series,
volume 114; Leiden:
Brill, in press). Co-authored with Wayne Pitard.
Exodus (Fascicle 2, Old Testament, The New Collegeville Bible
Commentary series; Collegeville,
MN: The Liturgical Press, in
press; to appear in 2009).
Co-authored with Michael D. Coogan, Stories From Ancient Canaan (second
revised and expanded edition; Louisville,
KY: Westminster John Knox, under
contract, to be submitted in January 2009).
The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1 (Minneapolis,
MN: Augsburg Fortress, under
contract, to be submitted in June, 2009).
