rshendel

Ronald Hendel

Norma and Sam Dabby Professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies, University of California, Berkeley

I approach the Hebrew Bible from a variety of angles -- history of religions, textual criticism, linguistics, comparative mythology, literature, cultural studies. I have several ongoing projects, including the Oxford Hebrew Bible project (for which I'm editor-in chief) and a new commentary on Genesis for the Yale Anchor Bible commentary series.

Here is my trilogy of books:

Remembering Abraham: Culture, Memory, and History in the Hebrew Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. (Google book preview)

The Text of Genesis 1–11: Textual Studies and Critical Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Awarded the Frank Moore Cross Prize by the American Schools of Oriental Research; and Best Book Relating to the Old Testament by the Biblical Archaeology Society. (Google book preview)

The Epic of the Patriarch: The Jacob Cycle and the Narrative Traditions of Canaan and Israel. Harvard Semitic Monographs 42; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987. Part II was awarded the Mitchell Dahood Memorial Prize in Biblical Hebrew and Northwest Semitic by the Society of Biblical Literature.

My latest is an edited book, Reading Genesis: Ten Methods. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010 (see the cover on the right). (Google book preview)

Here are a few of my writings that are available as PDF files. For a full list, see my CV (in the right column).

“Cultural Memory.” Pp. 28-46 in Reading Genesis.

“Gender and Sexuality” (co-written with C. Kronfeld and I. Pardes). Pp. 71-91 in Reading Genesis.

“Culture, Memory, and History: Reflections on Method in Biblical Studies.” Pp. 250-61 in Historical Biblical Archaeology and the Future: The New Pragmatism, ed. T. E. Levy. London: Equinox, 2010.

“Assessing the Text-Critical Theories of the Hebrew Bible After Qumran.” Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls, eds. J. J. Collins and T. H. Lim. Oxford: Oxford University Press. In press.

"Remembering Mary Douglas." Jewish Studies 45 (2008) 3*-15*.

"Other Edens." Pp. 185-89 in Exploring the Longue Durée: Essays in Honor of Lawrence E. Stager, ed. D. Schloen. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2008.

"Isaiah and the Transition from Prophecy to Apocalyptic." Pp. 261-79 in Birkat Shalom: Studies in the Bible, Ancient Near Eastern Literature, and Postbiblical Judaism Presented to Shalom M. Paul, eds. C. Cohen, et al. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2008.

"Leitwort Style and Literary Structure in the J Primeval Narrative." Pp. 93-109 in Sacred History, Sacred Literature: Essays on Ancient Israel, the Bible, and Religion in Honor of Richard E. Friedman, ed. S. Dolansky. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2008.

"The Oxford Hebrew Bible: Prologue to a New Critical Edition.” Vetus Testamentum 58 (2008) 1-28.

"Mary Douglas and Anthropological Modernism.” Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 8 (2008), article 8.

"Plural Texts and Literary Criticism: For Instance, 1 Samuel 17.” Textus 23 (2007) 1-19.

"Table and Altar: The Anthropology of Food in the Priestly Torah.” Pp. 131-48 in To Break Every Yoke: Essays in Honor of Marvin L. Chaney, eds. R. B. Coote and N. K. Gottwald. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2007.

"The Biblical Sense of the Past." Pp. 95-107 in Remembering Abraham: Culture, Memory, and History in the Hebrew Bible. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

"Israelite Religion." Pp. 4742-50 in Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. L. Jones. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan, 2004.

"The Exodus in Biblical Memory." Journal of Biblical Literature 120 (2001) 601-22.

"'Begetting' and 'Being Born' in the Pentateuch: Notes on Historical Linguistics and Source Criticism.” Vetus Testamentum 50 (2000) 38-46.

"Aniconism and Anthropomorphism in Ancient Israel." Pp. 205-28 in The Image and the Book: Iconic Cults, Aniconism, and the Veneration of the Holy Book in Israel and the Ancient Near East, ed. K. van der Toorn. Leuven: Peeters, 1997.

"The Poetics of Myth in Genesis." Pp. 157-70 in The Seductiveness of Jewish Myth, ed. S. D. Breslauer. Albany: SUNY Press, 1997.

"In the Margins of the Hebrew Verbal System: Situation, Tense, Aspect, Mood.” Zeitschrift für Althebraistik 9 (1996) 152-81.

"Sibilants and šibbōlet (Judges 12:6).” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 301 (1996) 69-75.

"Tangled Plots in Genesis." Pp. 35-51 in Fortunate the Eyes that See: Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman, eds. A. B. Beck, et al. Grand Rapids, Mich.; Eerdmans, 1995.

“Sacrifice as a Cultural System: The Ritual Symbolism of Exodus 24:3–8.” Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 101 (1989), 366-90.

"Of Demigods and the Deluge: Toward an Interpretation of Genesis 6:1–4.” Journal of Biblical Literature 106 (1987) 13-26.

Here are some short pieces I've written as a columnist for Biblical Archaeological Review and Bible Review:

"Farewell to SBL." Biblical Archaeology Review 36/4 (2010) 28, 74.

"Giants at Jericho." Biblical Archaeology Review 35/2 (2009) 20, 66.

"Forgers and Scholars." Biblical Archaeology Review 34/3 (2008) 32.

"Dishing Dirt." Biblical Archaeology Review 33/5 (2007) 28, 84, 86.

"Them Dry Bones." Biblical Archaeology Review 33/1 (2007) 26, 79.

"Is There a Biblical Archaeology?" Biblical Archaeology Review 32/4 (2006) 20.

"Genesis and the Cathedrals." Bible Review 21/5 (2005) 10, 50.

"Dating Creation." Bible Review 21/3 (2005) 12.

"Twenty Years That Have Passed." Bible Review 21/1 (2005) 10.