J. Kenneth Kuntz, ‘59 B.D.

J. Kenneth Kuntz was a faculty member in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Iowa from 1967 to 2006, offering courses on the Hebrew Bible and serving for a decade as Director of Graduate Studies in the department. Previously, he taught in the Department of Biblical History at Wellesley College from 1963 to 1967.

Kuntz grew up in St. Louis, pursued an English major at Grinnell College (B.A., 1956), concentrated on biblical studies at Yale Divinity School (B.D., 1959), and focused on the Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In 1962 he married a classmate and in 1963 he received his Ph.D. Coming to terms with Greek and Hebrew and serving as organist-choir director at the Cheshire Methodist Church kept him busy at YDS. In his last semester he was elected secretary of his ’59 class and has not yet been replaced.

In addition to writing two books (The Self-Revelation of God on biblical theophanies and The People of Ancient Israel, a college-level textbook in Hebrew Bible), Kuntz is the author of many journal articles and book chapters, predominantly in the area of Psalms and biblical wisdom literature. Active in the Society of Biblical Literature, he served for six years as chair of its Biblical Hebrew Poetry section. He took part in the Tell Gezer excavation in Israel years ago and has had the benefit of one sabbatical in Heidelberg, Germany, and three in Cambridge, England. An ordained United Methodist, for five years he served a rural parish near Iowa City and for a decade he was a board member on the Wesley Foundation at the University of Iowa. Since 2007 Kuntz has served the YDS Alumni Board as its secretary. Currently, he teaches three on-line courses for the university.