The concentration in Hebrew Bible prepares students for the critical study of the Hebrew Bible, its languages, texts, and contexts. The curriculum encompasses: (1) the study of Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, as well as offerings in relevant ancient languages; (2) a wide range of interpretive courses, both textual and thematic; and (3) courses in the Hebrew Bible’s historical context and history of interpretation. Students frequently make use of the rich resources at Yale in the Departments of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Religious Studies, Classics, Comparative Literature, History of Art, and Anthropology, as well as the holdings of Yale’s many collections. The concentration in Hebrew Bible is built on a dual core of exegetical courses, spanning the canonical corpus and texts from the Second Temple period such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, and courses on the theories and methods of biblical scholarship, including both historical and contemporary critical modes. It is expected that entering students will have successfully completed at least one year of Biblical Hebrew, so that they may immediately begin taking courses that require Hebrew, such as exegesis courses. Admitted students who have not yet taken Biblical Hebrew are required to successfully complete an intensive online summer language course in Biblical Hebrew the summer before enrolling. This course is offered without charge to all YDS students, including incoming students, and counts for six course credits. Many students in this concentration advance to do doctoral work in Hebrew Bible and related areas.
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Upcoming Events
- 11/7: lecture by Anathea Portier-Young, Duke University
Recent faculty publications
Joel Baden
Eric Reymond
Jacqueline Vayntrub
- “Gehört Heschel auch zu den Philologen? Heschel, die hebräischen Propheten und philologischer Präsentismus,” Zeitschrift für christlich-jüdische Begegnung im Kontext 2023
- “Transmission and Mortal Anxiety in the Tale of Aqhat” SAOC 73. “Like ‘Ilu Are You Wise”: Studies in Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures in Honor of Dennis G. Pardee
- “Hearing the Voice of Biblical Poetry.” Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok 86 (2021): 20-38
Molly Zahn
- Genres of Rewriting in Second Temple Judaism
- “The Utopian Vision of the Temple Scroll”
- “Towards a New Map of Second Temple Literature: Revelation, Rewriting, and Genre Before the Bible”
Student Placements
In the last five years, our masters students have gone on to doctoral work at many of the finest programs, including Yale, University of Chicago, NYU, Brown, UCLA, UNC-Chapel Hill, and University of Toronto.