Area Coordinator and Professor, Religious and Theological Studies, St. Edward’s University

EDUCATION

Ph.D., University of Notre Dame, Theology Department, Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity

M.T.S. Harvard University, Divinity School, Biblical Studies

B.A. Indiana University, Bloomington, Double Major: Religious Studies and Germanic Studies; B.A. with honors

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Editor with Matthew Goff and Joshua Scott, Enoch Studies in the 2020s: New Vistas. DCLS. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2026.

Editor with Vincent Skemp. The Figure of Jesus in History and Theology: Essays in Honor of John Meier. CBQ Imprints 1. Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association of America, forthcoming October 2020.

Editor with Angela Kim Harkins and John Endres. Fallen Angels Traditions: Second Temple Developments and Reception History. CBQMS 53. Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2014.

Editor with Angela Kim Harkins and John Endres, The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014.

Editor with E. F. Mason, S. Thomas et.al. A Teacher for All Generations: Essays in Honor of James C. VanderKam. 2 vols. JSJSup. Leiden: Brill, 2011. Lead Editor for Volume 2 (Early Judaism, Studies on Enoch and Jubilees, and New Testament and Early Christianity).

A Study of the Geography of 1 Enoch 17-19: “No One Has Seen What I Have Seen.” JSJSup 81. Leiden: Brill, 2003.

Works in Preparation

1 and 2 Maccabees. Co-author with Michael Duggan. Wisdom Commentary Series 18. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, in progress.

Handbook of Angels and Demons in the Bible and Related Literature. Co-editor with Siam Bhayro. Oxford: Oxford University Press, in progress.

The Book of Revelation. The New Testament in its Second Temple Period Context Series. Cascade: Wipf and Stock, under contract.

Articles in Refereed Journals

“Rulers, Rivals and 1 Maccabees,” Biblische Notizen 200 (2024): 77-93.

“Spatiality and Apocalyptic Literature,” Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 5 (2016): 273-288

“Kyrios Christos in light of Twenty-First Century Perspectives on Second Temple Judaism,” Early Christianity 6 (2015): 30-50.

“Concealment, Pseudepigraphy and the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity,” Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 15 (2015): 1-8.

“A Retrospective on North American Contributions to the Scholarship of early Judaism and Christianity,” Henoch 31 (2009): 5-8.

“Decoration, Destruction and Debauchery: Reflections on 1 Enoch 8 in Light of 4QEnb,” Dead Sea Discoveries 15 (2008): 79-95.

“What Becomes of the Angels’ “Wives”? A Text Critical Study of 1 En. 19:2,” Journal of Biblical Literature 125 (2006): 766-80.

“‘The Vessel of the Potter Shall Be Broken’: The Material Culture from a Burial Cave at St. Étienne’s Monastery, Jerusalem,” Révue Biblique 107 (2000): 561-590.

Guest Editor of Thematic Issues of Journals

“Empire and Potentates,” Biblische Notizen 200 (2024).

“Priests, Scribes and Interpreters,” Journal of Ancient Judaism 13 (2022).

Editor with Jonathan Kaplan. Theme Issue: “Angels, Watchers, Giants Reimagined in Early Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” Henoch 41 (2019).

Editor with Jonathan Kaplan. Theme Issue: “Death and Afterlife Traditions in Early Judaism” Journal of Ancient Judaism 10 (2019).

Book Chapters

“Superhuman Agency and the Representation of Evil in the Book of the Watchers.” Pages 61-70 in Sermo tuus veritas est (Io 17,17). Opuscula Adamo Ricardo Sikora OFM septuagenario dedicata. Ed. Bogdan Czyżewski. Opuscula Dedicata Vol. 15. Wydawnictwo: Pallottinum, 2025.  

“Editions, Recensions and Literary Creativity: The Evidence from Aramaic Enoch.” Pages 141-56 in The Aramaic Books of Enoch and Related Literature from Qumran. Edited by H. Drawnel. JSJSup 216; Leiden: Brill, 2024.

“The Law and the Prophet: Reading 1 Maccabees in the Days of John Hyrcanus.” Pages 183-203 in Torah in Early Jewish Imaginations. Edited by Ariel Feldman and Timothy Sandoval. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023.

“The Visionary’s View: Otherworldly Motifs and Their Use/Reuse in Texts of Qumran and Nag Hammadi.” Pages 388-408 in The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Codices. Edited by D. Burns, M. Goff. Leiden: Brill, 2022.

With Daniel Assefa. “Did the Sheep Worship the Golden Calf? The Animal Apocalypse’s Reading of Exodus 32.” Pages 59-72 in The Reception of Golden Calf Traditions in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Edited by A. J. Lucas, E. Lupieri, and E. F. Mason. Themes in Biblical Narrative. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

“Panopolitanus and Its Relationship to other Greek Witnesses of the Book of the Watchers.” Pages 72-86 in “Wisdom Poured Out Like Water”: Essays in Honor of Gabriele Boccaccini. Edited by J. H. Ellens, I. W. Oliver, J. von Ehrenkrook, J. Waddell, J. Zurawski. Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies 38.  Berlin: de Gruyter, 2018.

“Mysticism Imagined: Major Ideas and Perspectives of Mystics.” Pages 361-376 in Secret Religion: Gnosticism, Esotericism and Mysticism. Ed. A. DeConick. MacMillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks on Religion. Cengage Learning, MacMillan, 2016.

“What is “the Bible”? Pages 169-81 in The Bible in Political Debate What Does it Really Say? Edited by F. Flannery and R. Werline. Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016.

“Heavenly Beings in the Enoch Traditions and Synoptic Gospels.” Pages 105-127 in Enoch and the Synoptic Gospels: Reminiscences, Allusions, Intertextuality. Edited by L. Stuckenbruck and G. Boccaccini. Early Judaism and its Literature. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2016.

“The Pseudo-Clementine Homilies’ Use of Jewish Pseudepigrapha.” Pages 337-50 in Rediscovering the Apocryphal Continent: New Perspectives on Early Christian and Late Antique Apocryphal Texts and Traditions. Edited by P. Piovanelli and T. Burke. WUNT 349; Mohr Siebeck, 2015.

“‘Awaiting New Heavens and a New Earth’: The Apocalyptic Imagination of 1-2 Peter and Jude.” Pages 63-82 in Reading 1-2 Peters and Jude: A Resource for Students. Edited by Eric F. Mason and Troy Martin. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2014.

“The Fall and Fate of Renegade Angels: The Intersection of Watchers Traditions and the Book of Revelation.” Pages 69-93 in Fallen Angels Traditions: Second Temple Developments and Reception History.

“Obscured by the Scriptures, Revealed by the Prophets: God in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies.” Pages 120-136 in Histories of the Hidden God: Concealment and Revelation in Western Gnostic, Esoteric, and Mystical Traditions. Gnostica. Edited by April D. DeConick and Grant Adamson. Durham: Acumen, 2013.

With Daniel Assefa. “Patriarch, Prophet, Author, Angelic Rival: Exploring the Relationship of 1 Enoch to 2 Enoch in Light of the Figure of Enoch.” Pages 181-89 in New Perspectives on 2 Enoch: No Longer Slavonic Only. Edited by A. Orlov and G. Boccaccini. Leiden: Brill, 2012.

“Hosts, Holy Ones, and the Words of Gabriel: The Angelology of Hazon Gabriel in the Context of Second Temple and Late Antique Literature.” Pages 131-52 in Hazon Gabriel: New Readings of the Gabriel Revelation Edited by Matthias Henze. EJL. Atlanta: SBL, 2011.

“Peter and the Patriarch: A Confluence of Traditions?” Pages 13-27 in With Letters of Light: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism in Honor of Rachel Elior. Edited by Daphna Arbel and Andrei Orlov. Ekstatis 2; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010.

“The Heavenly Temple, the Prison in the Void and the Uninhabited Paradise: Otherworldly Sites in The Book of the Watchers.” Pages 37-53 in Other Worlds and Their Relation to this World. Edited by T. Nicklas, J. Verheyden, E. Eynikel, F. García Martínez. JSJSup 143. Leiden / Boston: Brill, 2010.

“Amplified Roles, Idealized Depictions: Women in the Book of Jubilees.” Pages 338-52 in Enoch and the Mosaic Torah: The Evidence of Jubilees. Edited by G. Boccaccini and G. Ibba. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.

“Putting Angels in Their Place: Developments in Second Temple Angelology.” Pages 174-88 in “With Wisdom as a Robe”: Studies in Honour of Ida Fröhlich. Edited by Miklós Kõszeghy, Gábor Buzási, Károly Dobos. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009.

“Heavenly Beings Brought Low: A Study of Angels and the Netherworld.” Pages 59-75 in The Concept of Celestial Beings. Origins, Development and Reception Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook. Edited by F. Reiterer, T. Nicklas, K. Schöpflin. Deuterocanonical Yearbook 2007. Berlin / New York: de Gruyter, 2007.

“Adamic Traditions in the Parables? A Query on 1 En. 69:6.” Pages 352-60 in Enoch and the Messiah Son of Man: Revisiting the Book of Parables. Edited by Gabriele Boccaccini (with Jason von Ehrenkrook). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007.

“Situating the Afterlife.” Pages 249-64 in Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism. Edited by April DeConick. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature /Leiden: Brill, 2006.

Commentaries, Text Critical Resources and Reading Guides

“Tobit,” “Judith,” “1 Maccabees,” “2 Maccabees,” “Esther” -- Reading Guides. The Catholic Study Bible. 4th ed.  Edited by Jamie Waters, Andrew Davis, Gilberto Ruiz. Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

"1 Enoch: Introduction and Annotations," The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha. 2nd ed. Edited by Lawrence Wills and Jonathan Klawans. Oxford: Oxford University Press), forthcoming. 

“1 Maccabees: Introduction and Annotations,” New Oxford Annotated Bible. 6th ed. Edited by M. Coogan, J. O’Brien. Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

“Textual History of 1 Enoch.” Pages 287-302 in Textual History of the Bible, Volume 2: Deuterocanonical Scriptures. Edited by F. Feder, M. Henze; Leiden, Brill, 2019.

“Greek Book of the Watchers.” Pages 308-18 in Textual History of the Bible, Volume 2: Deuterocanonical Scriptures. Edited by F. Feder, M. Henze; Leiden, Brill, 2019.

Area Editor with Archibald Wright, “1 Enoch and Related Texts” for Textual History of the Bible, Volume 2: Deuterocanonical Scriptures. Edited by F. Feder, M. Henze; Leiden, Brill, 2019.

“Esther.” Pages 390-97 in Paulist Biblical Commentary. Ed. Richard Clifford SJ, Carol Dempsey OP and Eileen Schuller, OSU. New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2018.

“Tobit,” “Judith,” “1 Maccabees”– Reading Guides. The Catholic Study Bible. 3rd ed. Ed. Donald Senior and John Collins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

“1 Maccabees.” Pages 438-43 in Women’s Bible Commentary: Twentieth Anniversary Edition. Edited by Carol A. Newsom, Sharon Ringe, and Jacq Lapsley. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2012.

EDITORIAL BOARDS

Co-editor, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, 2024-

Journal for Biblical Literature, 2017-2022

Early Judaism and Its Literature, 2016-2022

Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series, 2012-2018

Henoch: Journal for Studies in Judaism and Christianity from Second Temple to Late Antiquity, 2006-2012

LEADERSHIP POSITIONS AND STEERING COMMITTEES

Chair, Program Committee, Annual Meeting, Society of Biblical Literature, 2025-; member, 2024.

Co-Chair, Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Continuing Seminar, Catholic Biblical Association, 2023-

Co-Chair, Research Support Committee, Catholic Biblical Association, 2024-; member, 2023-2026 

President, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, 2023-2024

Vice-Director, Enoch Seminar, 2015-2025; Co-Chair, Enoch Seminar (2022); Co-Chair, Enoch Graduate Seminar (2016)

Co-chair, Pseudepigrapha Section, Annual Meeting, Society of Biblical Literature, 2018-2023

Consultor, Executive Board, Catholic Biblical Association, 2019-2022

Chair and member, International Society of Biblical Literature Program Committee, 2017-2022

President, Theta Alpha Kappa, the national honor society for Religious Studies and Theology, 2016-2020; Member, Board of Directors, 2011-2016

Co-chair, Esotericism and Mysticism in Antiquity, Annual Meeting, Society of Biblical Literature, 2012-2017; member, 2010-2012

Member, Steering Committee, Digital Humanities, International Meeting, Society of Biblical Literature, 2012-2022

Catholic Biblical Association, Program Committee, 2009-2013

Co-chair, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha Section, International Meeting, Society of Biblical Literature, 2008-2013

President, Southwest Region, Society of Biblical Literature, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, 2009-2010; President-Elect, 2008-2009

Chair, Hebrew Bible Program, Southwest Region, Society of Biblical Literature, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, 2007-2008

UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE

Area Coordinator, Department of Philosophy and Religious & Theological Studies, 2026-

Chair, Department of Religious and Theological Studies, St. Edward’s University, 2020-2026

University Program Review Committee, 2023-2025

Area Coordinator, Religious Studies Department, St. Edward’s University, 2007-2009

Co-chair, St. Edward’s SOURCE Committee (The Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression) 2005-2007; member of the committee, 2004-2005

Advisor, Pi Chapter of Theta Alpha Kappa, National Religious Studies Honor Society (2005-2012; 2024-); St. Edward’s University Religious Studies Club, 2003-2007

SELECT AWARDS, HONORS, GRANTS

Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award, St. Edward’s University

Champion Award for Mission-Informed Teaching, Center for Teaching Excellence, St. Edward’s University

“Mission-Aligned Learning for 2027 and Beyond: Fostering Student Success through Inclusive and Experiential Learning Grant” Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning

Promotion of Biblical Scholarship Grant, Catholic Biblical Association, for project “The Reception of 1 Maccabees in African Contexts”

Fellow, Frankel Institute for Judaic Studies, University of Michigan

Barnett Visiting Scholar, Jewish Studies Program, Brite Divinity School

Invited Residency: Qumran Residency, École biblique, Jerusalem

McCarthy Chair, Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome

CCD Biblical Scholarship and Biblical Literacy Promotion Grant

American Academy of Religion Regional Development Grant for “Jewish Studies in the Borderlands: A Colloquium”

Curriculum Development Grant, St. Edward’s University

Distinguished Teaching Award, St. Edward’s University

Kathleen Connolly-Weinert Award, Theta Alpha Kappa

Presidential Excellence Grant, St. Edward’s University

Regional Scholar of the Southwest Region, Society of Biblical Literature

Lilly Theological Research Grant for the study of the material culture at the site of St. Stephen’s monastery, Israel

Archaeological Research Stipend, Catholic Biblical Association for archaeological research

Harvard University Sheldon Fellowship for research project entitled: “Speculative Traditions in Apocalypses, ” Harvard University

Endowment for Biblical Research Travel Award, American School for Oriental Research

ACADEMIC LECTURES, PRESENTATIONS AND PANELS

Over 80 presentations and lectures at national and international venues, including juried contexts, invited speaker talks, keynote presentations and addresses, and public lectures (selected list of recent presentations follows).

“The Aramaic “Books” of Enoch: The State of the Question in 2025,” Enoch within and outside the Books of Enoch: Parabiblical Writings, Iconography, and Oral Tradition (EABS) Section. International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Uppsala, July 2025

“‘The One Called Maccabeus’: Shared Traditions in 1 and 2 Maccabees,” Invited Speaker for Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity Workshop and Center for Christian-Jewish Learning and Boston College, March 2025

“Biblical Studies after the Pandemic: Should Anything Change?” Invited Panelist, Southwest Commission on Religious and Theological Studies, Irving, March 2025

“Prominent Women of the Second Commonwealth: Insights from 1 Maccabees and Josephus,” Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Section, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Diego, November 2024

Keynote Presenter, “Horizons, Peripheries, and Dreamscapes: Twenty-First Century Tours of 1 Enoch 1-36,” Worlds Above and Below: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Supernatural Worlds in Classics, Judaism, and Early Christianity, University of Otago, July 2024

“The Reception of 1 Maccabees in African Contexts,” Research Report. Catholic Biblical Association Annual Meeting, Creighton University, July 2023

“A Reconsideration of the Authorizing Prophet,” Biblical and Early Christian Studies Global Seminar (BECS), Australian Catholic University, October 2022

“‘Advancing to the Ends of the Earth’: Lamenting Domination in 1 Maccabees,” Postcolonial Studies and Biblical Studies, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, November 2021

“What have forty years revealed? Reflections on M. Smith’s ‘History of Apokalypto and

Apokalypsis’,” Enoch Seminar / LMU Munich Congress on Apocalypticism in Antiquity, May 2021.

“Elijah Redivivus: John the Baptist and the Prophet Performed, Embodied, and Returned,” Nangeroni Meeting on John the Baptist Meeting (Enoch Seminar), January 2021.

“More than One Recension? The Evidence from Aramaic Book of the Watchers,” International Conference on the Aramaic Manuscripts of 1 Enoch, Institute of Biblical Studies (KUL, Lublin, Poland), October 2020

“Expressions of Evil in the Book of the Watchers,” Deuterocanonical Books Continuing Seminar, Catholic Biblical Association Online Meeting, August 2020

EXPERIENCE AND RESEARCH ON MATERIAL CULTURE

Colloquium on Material Culture and Ancient Religion (Rome, Naples, Pompei, Herculaneum; 2009)

St. Stephen’s Monastery, Jerusalem with archaeologist Gabriel Barkay, Susan Sheridan and Richard Bautch (1999)

St. Stephen’s Monastery, Jerusalem with bio-anthropologist Susan Sheridan, École Biblique (1997, 1998)

Bethsaida Excavations (1997, 1998)

Honorary Research Fellow, Albright Institute in Jerusalem (1994-95)

Ashkelon Excavations (1994)

LANGUAGES

• German; Modern Hebrew; French

• Classical Hebrew; Koine Greek; Latin; Aramaic; Sahidic Coptic; Ge’ez

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

• Society of Biblical Literature

• Catholic Biblical Association

• Enoch Seminar

• Southwest Commission on Religious Studies

SELECT PRESENTATIONS AND INVITED LECTURES IN SEMINARIES, CHURCHES AND SYNAGOGUES; PRESENTATIONS ON SPIRITUALITY

“Recovering Stories of the Maccabean Matriarchs,” Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit, Seminars for Adult Jewish Enrichment

“Judaism before the Dead Sea Scrolls,” St. David’s Episcopal Church

Retreat Leader, “Pursuing the Beloved Community: Biblical Backgrounds,” Subversive Spirituality

“Reflections on Writing for the Paulist Biblical Commentary,” St. Austin’s Catholic Parish

“The Book of Revelation: Fitting Capstone to the Christian Canon,” The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd

“What is the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and Why Should Christians Care?” University United Methodist Church

Retreat Leader, “Justice—Then and Now,” Subversive Spirituality

With Deborah Prince, “Spirituality, Scripture and Scholarship: A Discussion about Renewing and Energizing Academic Life.” Catholic Biblical Association Annual Meeting

“A New New Testament? Thinking about the Development of the Christian Canon.” University United Methodist Church

Retreat Leader, “Celebration and Affirmation: Discerning Joy, Surprises, Lessons and the Transcendent in the Course of the Year,” Subversive Spirituality

“Outside the Canon: the Unusual Books of Enoch, the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary,” Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church

Invited Homilist for Midday Prayer Service, Catholic Biblical Association Annual Meeting, University of Notre Dame

“Hearing the Call: Exploring a Spirituality of Vocation and Education.” 2-part Series. Seton Cove Sessions on Vocation and Education

Planning Committee, Subversive Spirituality Lecture Series, St. Edward’s University

“Judge, Maiden, Warrior, Victim: Women in the Book of Judges,” for the Ninth Annual Tapestry of Jewish Learning, the Jewish Community Center of Austin

Hoxie Thompson Lecturer, “Forced Migrations, the Fall of Jerusalem and Jeremiah,” Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

“The History and Faith of Islam,” St. David’s Episcopal Church

Retreat Leader, “Journey and Pilgrimage” for collegians at Moreau House, St. Edward’s University

“The Dead Sea Scrolls,” St. Theresa’s Parish

“Women and the Bible,” St. Theresa’s Parish

“Jewish Women in the Second Temple Period,” Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest

ADDITIONAL SERVICE

• St. Edward’s Nostra Aetate Program, 2003-

• St. Edward's School Committee, School of Arts and Humanities, 2026-

• St. Edward’s Faculty Evaluation Committee, 2012-2014

• Chair, St. Edward’s Faculty Performance Committee, 2011-2012

• St. Edward’s Faculty and Staff Campaign, 2003-2005

• St. Edward’s Academic Retention Committee, 2002-2003