Department of Philosophy and Religion

Biography

I study biblical literature, religion, and society in light of modern literary theory and philosophy. I'm currently writing a book on Jewish history and literature in the early Hellenistic period (the 3rd century BCE). I also continue to work on the book of Ecclesiastes and the history of its use and influence in Jewish, Christian, and other communities. My research focuses on the Bible’s wisdom literature and its reception, but I have published widely on a range of topics such as the concept of sovereignty in the stories about Elisha, feminist biblical interpretation, economics in the biblical world, and the shifting boundaries delimiting religion in the history of biblical interpretation. My first book, published in 2015, demonstrates why the book of Job is an important philosophical voice on contemporary concerns such as the limits and possibilities of desire, subjectivity, ideology, ontology, and ethics. I regularly teach surveys of the Old and New Testaments, plus courses on Gender and Sexuality, Prophecy and Justice, Literary Theory and Cultural Studies, and Visual Art and Religious Practices.

My wife, Stephanie, and I have two boys, Miller and Nathaniel. I am originally from North Carolina and I'm thrilled to be back.

Education

Ph.D. (2011) Emory University
M.Div. (2005) Columbia Theological Seminary
B.S. (2002) North Carolina State University

Courses Taught

Rel 1110 Religions of the World
Rel 2010 Old Testament: The Jewish Scriptures
Rel 2020 New Testament
Rel 2110 Judaism
Rel 3010 Biblical Prophets: Justice & Hope
Rel 3020 After Jesus: From Paul to Christianities
Rel 3030 Gender, Sexuality, & the Bible
Rel 4700 Critical Theory & Biblical Texts (Senior Seminar)
Rel 4700 Visual Art, Sacred Texts, and Religion (Senior Seminar)
UCO 1110 Religious Literature & Visual Art (First Year Seminar) 

Publications

Books

• The Book of Job and the Immanent Genesis of Transcendence. Diaeresis. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press (2015).
• Under contract: Ecclesiastes: A Commentary. Coauthored with Brennan W. Breed. For the Illuminations series. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
• Under contract: The Meaning(s) of Walter Brueggemann: Testimonies, Disputes, Advocacies. Coauthored with Brent A. Strawn, with contributions from Ellen Davis, John Goldingay, Tim Beal, and Walter Brueggemann. Winona Lake, IN.: Eisenbrauns.

Edited Volumes

• Editor, Walter Brueggemann, Tenacious Solidarity: Biblical Provocations on Race, Religion, Climate, and the Economy. Minneapolis: Fortress Press (2018).
• Co-Editor, Writing the Moral Self: Essays in Honor of Carol A. Newsom; special issue of Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 40:1 (2015). Coedited with Robert Williamson, Jr. and Brennan Breed.
• Editor, Walter Brueggemann, Ice Axes for Frozen Seas: A Biblical Theology of Provocation. Waco: Baylor University Press (2014).

Journal Articles

• “‘Much Madness is divinest Sense’: The Economic Consequences of Yahweh’s Parasocial Identity,” The Bible & Critical Theory 14 (2018): 17-41.
• “4QInstruction’s Mystery and Mastery of Wisdom,” Dead Sea Discoveries 23 (2016): 183-205.
• “The Internal Infinite: Deleuze, Subjectivity, and Moral Agency in Ecclesiastes,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 40 (2015): 43-59.
• “Writing the Moral Self: Essays in Honor of Carol A. Newsom.” Coauthored with Robert Williamson Jr. and Brennan Breed. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 40 (2015): 3-6.
• “The Affirmation of Prophetic Power and Deconstruction of Royal Authority in the Elisha Narratives,” coauthored with Walter Brueggemann, Catholic Biblical Quarterly 76 (2014): 58-76.
• “Wisdom as an Immanent Event in Job 28, Not a Transcendent Ideal,” Vetus Testamentum 63 (2013): 210-235.
• “The Invention and Persistence of Wellhausen’s World,” coauthored with Walter Brueggemann, Catholic Biblical Quarterly 75 (2013): 15-31.

Book Chapters

• “Job,” in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Wisdom Literature. Edited by Samuel L. Adams and Matthew Goff. Malden, Mass.: John Wiley & Sons Ltd (2020). Pages 30-48.
• “Foreword.” In Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination: 40th Anniversary Edition. Minneapolis: Fortress (2018). Pages xii-xix.
• “Tenacious Solidarity against Rapacious Totalisms.” In Walter Brueggemann, Tenacious Solidarity: Biblical Provocations on Race, Religion, Climate, and the Economy. Edited by Davis Hankins. Minneapolis: Fortress Press (2018). Pages ix-xvii.
• Annotations for the book of Ecclesiastes in the forthcoming New Oxford Annotated Bible, 5^th edition. Coauthored with Brennan W. Breed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, due January 2016.
• “Woman and the Plasticity of Wisdom: Reconsidering Wisdom Literature and Feminism” in Imagination, Ideology, and Inspiration: Echoes of Brueggemann in a New Generation. Edited by Jonathan Kaplan and Robert Williamson, Jr. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix (2015). Pages 156-173.
• “Desire and Ideology in Wisdom’s Inaugural Address: Proverbs 1:22-33.” Coauthored with David C. Knauert. In Imagination, Ideology, and Inspiration: Echoes of Brueggemann in a New Generation. Edited by Jonathan Kaplan and Robert Williamson, Jr. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix (2015). Pages 137-155.
• “Introduction,” in Ice Axes for Frozen Seas: A Biblical Theology of Provocation, by Walter Brueggemann. Edited by Davis Hankins. Waco: Baylor University Press (2014). Pages 1-19.
• “The Book of Job,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Books of the Bible. Coauthored with Brennan W. Breed. Edited by Michael D. Coogan. New York: Oxford University Press (2011). Pages 434-450.

Dictionary, Reference, or Pedagogical Entries

• “Legal Language in Job,” for the Society of Biblical Literature’s Bible Odyssey project (2016): https://www.bibleodyssey.org:443/en/people/related-articles/legal-language-in-job
• “John 1:43-51,” “John 2:1-12,” and “John 2:13-25.” Exegesis Entries in Feasting on the Gospels: John, Volume 1, Chapters 1-9. Edited by Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson. Louisville: Westminster John Knox (2015).
• “Firstborn of Death” and “Fodder,” in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, Volume 9: Field–Gennesaret. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter (2014).
• “Fate,” in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, Volume 8: Essenes–Fideism. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter (2014).
• “Luke 21:29-38,” “Luke 22:1-6,” and “Luke 22:7-13.” Exegesis Entries in Feasting on the Gospels: Luke, Volume 2, Chapters 12-24. Edited by Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson. Louisville: Westminster John Knox (2014).
• כחשׂ in Theologisches Wörterbuch zu den Qumrantexten, vol. 2, 383-386 (2013).
• “Job and Theodicy.” Oxford Biblical Studies Online, available to subscribers at http://www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com/resource/LessonPlans.xhtml (2011).
• “Genesis 50:15-21,” “Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32,” and “Jonah 3:10-4:11.” Exegesis Entries in Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 4. Edited by David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. Louisville: Westminster John Knox (2011).

 Reviews and Review Essays

• “Review of Marshall H. Lewis, Victor Frankl and the Book of Job: A Search for Meaning (foreword by Alexander Batthyány; Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2019).” In Review of Biblical Literature (2020) (https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=13107).
• “Review of Samuel E. Balentine, Wisdom Literature (Core Biblical Studies; Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2018) and John L. McLaughlin, An Introduction to Israel’s Wisdom Traditions (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2014).” In Catholic Biblical Quarterly 82 (2020): 102–6.
• “Review of Julie Ann Duncan, Ecclesiastes (AOTC; Nashville: Abingdon, 2017)." In Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 73 (2019): 205-206.
• “Review of Adam Y. Wells, ed., Phenomenologies of Scripture (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy; New York: Fordham University Press, 2017).” In Review of Biblical Literature (2018) (https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11693).
• “Review of Amy Plantinga Pauw, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes: A Theological Commentary on the Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2015).” In Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 71 (2017): 226.
• “Review of Brian R. Doak, Consider Leviathan: Narratives of Nature and the Self in Job (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014).” In Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 71 (2017): 101-102.
• “Review of Thomas Römer, The Invention of God (trans. Raymond Geuss; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2015).” In Journal of the American Academy of Religion 84 (2016): 556-560.
• “Review of Mark Larrimore, The Book of Job: A Biography (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2013).” In Theology Today 72 (2015): 345-346.
• Responses to book event on Davis Hankins, The Book of Job and the Immanent Genesis of Transcendence. March-April 2015. Available online at https://contemporarymaterialism.wordpress.com/ (~4500 words)
• “Review of Élisabeth Roudinesco, Lacan: In Spite of Everything.” In the Marginalia Review of Books, 25 November 2014. Available online at http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/jacques-lacan-unarchived-life/.
• “Review of C. L. Seow, Job 1-21: Interpretation and Commentary.” In the Marginalia Review of Books, 27 January 2014. Available online at http://themarginaliareview.com/archives/5311.
• “Review of Aaron W. Hughes, Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History.” H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. August, 2013. URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=37982.