Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Post-Doc, Evangelisch-theologische Fakultät

About

I am currently enjoying my Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow in Munich under Christoph Levin.  In addition to putting the finishing touches on a book about temples and the deities that dwell within them in the ANE (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Hittite Anatolia and Syria-Palestine), I am working on a book on divine presence in the non-Priestly texts of Genesis 12-26 and Exodus 1-24 in their ANE context. It investigates the theophanies presented in these texts, which appear outside of a temple context and depict a fluid deity who takes various different forms, including human, and seems to overlap to some degree with his subordinates. In order to properly situate these texts in their ANE context, I am immersing myself in conceptions of the divine in each ANE culture, addressing such issues as: 1) what constitutes a god in each culture?; 2) how are the various gods related to each other and to the human sphere?; 3) how do these gods intersect with the humanity and communicate with them outside of the temple?; and 4) how are messengers related to their divine masters? So far, I have worked through Mesopotamia and Hittite Anatolia and am now on Egypt.  The work on Mesopotamia has produced a long article (~20,000 words) entitled “Here a God, There a God: Conceptions of Divinity in Ancient Mesopotamia,” which I am currently trying to find a home for.  I am interested in most everything related to religion in the ANE and the HB and welcome questions and feedback on any of my books, papers and projects.

Contact Information