 Portions of a Dead Sea Scrolls Commentary dated ca. 30 BCE-20 CE |
JOHN HUDDLESTUNAssociate Professor Dept. of Religious Studies office: 4 Glebe, Room 203 |
SyllabiRELS 201 (Hebrew Bible)
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John Huddlestun received his M.A. and Ph.D in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan (1996), with additional postgraduate work in Biblical/Modern Hebrew, Egyptology, and archeology in universities in Jerusalem, Italy and Denmark. His areas of specialization include Biblical studies, history and religion of ancient Israel, Egyptology, and Jewish history. He is a frequent lecturer in synagogues and churches in the Charleston area. Prior to his present career in academica, he worked as a professional musician, holding a Bachelor's degree in Music History and Performance from Ohio State University.
In addition to various articles and a forthcoming volume dealing with the River Nile in the Hebrew Bible and ancient Egypt, he edited a two-volume collection of essays by the noted Biblical scholar David Noel Freedman. Current and future areas of research include a study of the first biblical plague in its ancient Near Eastern context, a book manuscript dealing with issues of the reputation and repentance of God in biblical tradition and beyond, and a study of the history of Jewish biblical criticism in America. The topics offered in Dr. Huddlestun's advanced seminars include Ancient Egyptian Religion, Prophecy and Divination, and the Problem of Theodicy in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East.
"Teaching the Bible in a secular, liberal arts institution can be a subversive enterprise. Any talk of authors, redactors, compilers, and their motivating ideologies situates the Biblical text within its human context, and ultimately explains it as a human product, an approach in accord with the humanities. As a historian of religion rather than a theologian, I do not presume to get into the mind of the God of the Bible or speculate about divine motivations aside from what I find in the text. Students frequently ask me, "Why did God, who is omniscient, do X with Abraham and not Y?" I can offer plenty of reasons—social, historical, political—for why the author might wish to portray God in such a fashion, but as an academic in a secular institution I deal with historical, political, and social factors rather than theological truths. For me, it is the human dimension of the Bible that makes it most appealing as an object of study, that allows me to ask questions that would otherwise be less relevant from a purely theological perspective. It is my goal to instill in students an appreciation for the underlying strategies and ideologies that inform these ancient writings, biblical or otherwise."
Selected Publications
"Who is This that Rises Like the Nile?": A Comparative Study of the River Nile in Ancient Egypt and the Hebrew Bible. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008.
"Nahum, Nineveh, and the Nile: The Description of Thebes in Nahum 3:8-9," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 62.2 (April 2003): 97-110.
"Divestiture, Deception, and Demotion: The Garment Motif in Genesis 37-39," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 98 (2002): 47-62.
"Unveiling the Versions: The Tactics of Tamar in Genesis 38:15," Journal of the Hebrew Scriptures, vol. 3/article 7 (2001).
editor, Divine Commitment and Human Obligation: Selected Writings of David Noel Freedman, 2 vols.: "Ancient Israelite History and Religion" and "Hebrew Poetry and Orthography" (Grand Rapids and Cambridge: Eerdmans, 1997), with "Editor’s Introduction," pp. viii-xiv.
Links
Society of Biblical Literature
The Bible and Interpretation