Michael B. Hundley EDUCATION Ph.D. 2010 M.A.+ 2006 Th.M. 2004 German 2004 M.Div. 2003 B.A. 2000 University of Cambridge Hebrew University of Jerusalem Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Harvard Divinity School Trinity International University Amherst College FELLOWSHIPS 2011-13 Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow, LMU Munich ACADEMIC POSITIONS 2023 20222016-22 2015-16 2014-15 2013-14 2014 2009 2007-10 Visiting Assistant Professor, Rhodes College Assistant Professor of Teaching, University of Memphis Lecturer, Central Washington University Visiting Assistant Professor, Syracuse University Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Scranton Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Adjunct Professor, St. Joseph’s University Lecturer, University of Cambridge Academic Supervisor, University of Cambridge AREAS OF TEACHING COMPETENCE Bible ANE Religion, Literature, Language, and History Judaism Islam Christianity Comparative Monotheisms Theories and Methods in Religious Studies World Religions and Mythologies Religious Ethics Near Eastern Archaeology Magic Gods and Monsters Religion and Gender Religion and Race Religion and Social Location Religion and Violence Religion and Empire Ritual Holocaust Jerusalem Genre and Religious Rhetoric Space and Place LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY Ancient: Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Akkadian, Classical and Koine Greek, and facility with Middle Egyptian, Literary Arabic, and Rabbinic Hebrew Modern: German, Modern Hebrew, French University of Memphis | Michael.B.Hundley@memphis.edu PUBLICATIONS Books Yahweh Among the Gods: The Divine in Genesis, Exodus and the Ancient Near East (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022). Gods in Dwellings: Temples and Divine Presence in the Ancient Near East (SBL Writings from the Ancient World Supplement Series 3; Atlanta: SBL, 2013). Keeping Heaven on Earth: Safeguarding the Divine Presence in the Priestly Tabernacle (Forschungen zum Alten Testament II/50; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011). Articles “Divinized Instruments and Divine Music: A Study in Occasional Deification,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 82 (2023): 119-32. “Is There Magic in the Text? A Comparison of Priestly and Ancient Near Eastern Ritual Texts,” Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 22 (2022): 1-42 (DOI: 10.5508/jhs29576). “Remembering the Lost Ark: The Ark Narrative in its Contexts,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (forthcoming; 10,000 words). “Religion: Temples,” in The Oxford Handbook on Ancient Egypt and the Hebrew Bible (ed. S. Hollis; OUP, forthcoming; 8,000 words). “Ritual Law,” in Cambridge Companion to Law and the Old Testament (ed. B. Wells; CUP, forthcoming; 8,000 words). “How Gods Are Created and Destroyed,” in Bloomsbury Handbook of Ancient Near Eastern Religions (ed. S. Zaia, G. Konstantopoulos, and H. Dixon; London: Bloomsbury, forthcoming; 8,000 words). “Sacred Space and Common Space,” in The Oxford Handbook of Ritual and Worship (ed. S. Balentine; Oxford: OUP, 2020), 161-78; DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190222116.013.9. “What is the Golden Calf ?”, Catholic Biblical Quarterly 79 (2017): 559-579. “Of God and Angels: Divine Messengers in Genesis and Exodus in their Ancient Near Eastern Contexts,” Journal of Theological Studies 67 (2016): 1-22 (DOI: 10.1093/jts/flw066). “Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting? The Dual Nature of the Sacred Tent in the Priestly Texts,” in Current Issues in Priestly and Related Literature: The Legacy of Jacob Milgrom and Beyond (SBL Resources for Biblical Study; ed. Roy Gane and Ada Taggar-Cohen; Atlanta: SBL, 2015), 3-18. “Divine Presence in Ancient Near Eastern Temples,” Religion Compass 9 (2015): 203-215. “Divine Fluidity? The Priestly Texts in their Ancient Near Eastern Contexts,” in Text, Time, and Temple: Literary, Historical and Ritual Studies in Leviticus (ed. L. Trevaskis, F. Landy and B. Bibb; Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix: 2015), 16-40. “The God Collectors: Hittite Conceptions of the Divine,” Altorientalische Forschungen 41/2 (2014): 176-200. University of Memphis | Michael.B.Hundley@memphis.edu “Sacred Spaces, Objects, Offerings, and People in the Priestly Texts: A Reappraisal,” Journal of Biblical Literature 132/4 (2013): 749-767. “Here a God, There a God: Conceptions of Divinity in Ancient Mesopotamia,” Altorientalische Forschungen 40/1 (2013): 68-107. Currently being translated into Arabic. “The Way Forward is Back to the Beginning: Reflections on the Priestly Texts,” in Remembering and Forgetting in Early Second Temple Judah (ed. E. Ben-Zvi and C. Levin; FAT 85; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), 209-224. “Before YHWH at the Entrance of the Tent of Meeting: A Study of Spatial and Conceptual Geography in the Priestly Texts,” Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 123/1 (2011): 15-26. “To Be or Not to Be: A Reexamination of Name Language in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History,” Vetus Testamentum (VT) 59/4 (2009): 533-555. Reference Articles “Near Eastern Temples,” Oxford Bibliographies in Biblical Studies (ed. C Matthews; Oxford: OUP, 2017; DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195393361-0243). “Ordeals,” in The Dictionary of the Bible in Ancient Media (DBAM) (ed. T. Thatcher et al.; London: T & T Clark, 2017), 261-262. “Initiation Rituals,” in DBAM, 191-193. “Priest/Priestess,” in Vocabulary for the Study of Religion (ed. K. von Stuckrad and R. Segal; Leiden: Brill, 2016), 3:122-5. “Heaven and Earth,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Bible and Theology (ed. S. Balentine; Oxford: OUP, 2015). Popular Articles “The Making of Monotheism,” Huffington Post (9/15/17), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/59bc065de4b0390a1564dcfd. Reprinted by invitation in The Ancient Near East Today 6.6 (2018). “Sin and Guilt,” for SBL’s Bible Odyssey (ed. M. Brettler; 600 words), http://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/related-articles/sin-and-guilt-in-the-hebrew-bible.aspx. Reviews Review of B. Maiden, Cognitive Science and Ancient Israelite Religion: New Perspectives on Texts, Artifacts, and Culture, Review of Biblical Literature (RBL; forthcoming). Review of C. Nihan and J. Rhyder, eds., Text and Ritual in the Pentateuch: A Systematic and Comparative Approach, RBL (forthcoming). Review of P. Barmash and M. Hamilton, eds., In the Shadow of Empire: Israel and Judah in the Long Sixth Century BCE, RBL (https://www.sblcentral.org/home/bookDetails/1000674). University of Memphis | Michael.B.Hundley@memphis.edu Review of A. Davis, Reconstructing the Temple: The Royal Rhetoric of Temple Innovation in the Ancient Near East and Israel, Strata (forthcoming). Review of M. Simone, “Your God is a Devouring Fire”: Fire as a Motif of Presence and Agency in the Hebrew Bible, Catholic Biblical Quarterly 83 (2021): 503-505. Review of J. Doedens, The Sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4: Analysis and History of Exegesis, RBL, [http://www.bookreviews.org](2020). Review of S. Milstein, Tracking the Master Scribe: Revision through Introduction in Biblical and Mesopotamian Literature, Marginalia (https://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/authors-and-ownership). Review of A. Wright, The Origin of Evil Spirits: The Reception of Genesis 6:-1-4 in Early Jewish Literature, RBL [http://www.bookreviews.org](2018). Review of B. Doak, Phoenician Aniconism in Its Mediterranean and Ancient Near Eastern Contexts, RBL [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2017). Review of I. De Hulster et al., eds., Iconographic Exegesis of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament: An Introduction to Its Method and Practice, RBL, [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2017). Review of M. Lynch, Monotheism and Institutions in the Book of Chronicles: Temple, Priesthood, and Kingship in PostExilic Perspective, RBL [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2015). Review of C. L. Crouch et al., eds., Mediating Between Heaven and Earth. Communication with the Divine in the Ancient Near East, Theologische Literaturzeitung, 104/4 (2015): 375-377. Review of S. Flynn, YHWH is King: Development of [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2015). Divine Kingship in Ancient Israel, RBL Review of B. Howell, In the Eyes of God: A Contextual Approach to Biblical Anthropomorphic Metaphors, RBL [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2015). Review of T. Kazen, Emotions in Biblical Law, JHS [http://www.jhsonline.org/reviews_vol.html] (2014). Review of L Feldt, The Fantastic in Religious Narrative from Exodus to Elisha, RBL [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2013). Review of C. von Heijne, The Messenger of the Lord in Early Jewish Interpretations of Genesis, JHS [http://www.jhsonline.org/reviews_vol.html] (2013). Review of E. Teeter, Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt, RBL [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2012). Review of B. Pongratz-Leisten, ed., Reconsidering the Concept of [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2012). Revolutionary Monotheism, RBL Review of E. Hamori, “When Gods Were Men”: The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature, RBL [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2012). Review of A. Wood, Of Wings and Wheels: A Synthetic Study of [http://www.jhsonline.org/reviews_vol.html] (2012). the Biblical Cherubim, JHS University of Memphis | Michael.B.Hundley@memphis.edu Review of D. Bernat, Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Priestly Tradition, RBL [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2011). Review of R. Westbrook and B. Wells, Everyday Law in Biblical Israel, VT (forthcoming). Review of F. Mirguet, La représentation du divin dans les récits du Pentateuque: Médiations syntaxiques et narratives, VT 61/4 (2011): 702. Review of M. Boda, A Severe Mercy: Sin and Its Remedy in the Old Testament, VT 61/3 (2011): 525. Review of M. George, Israel’s Tabernacle as Social Space, VT 61/3 (2011): 532. Review of L. Schiffman, The Courtyards of the House of the Lord: Studies on the Temple Scroll, VT 61/3 (2011): 540– 541. Review of R. Hess, Israelite Religions: A Biblical and Archaeological Survey, VT 60/2 (2010): 296. Review of I. Werrett, Ritual Purity and the Dead Sea Scrolls, VT 60/2 (2010): 302–303. Review of J. Stackert, Rewriting the Torah: Literary Revision in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation, VT 59/2 (2009): 336. Review of M. de Jong, Isaiah among the Ancient Near Eastern Prophets: A Comparative Study of the Earliest Stages of the Isaiah Tradition and the Neo-Assyrian Prophecies, VT 59/1 (2009): 166. Review of J. Lawrence, Washing in Water: Trajectories of Ritual Bathing in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple fLiterature, VT 58/3 (2008): 430–431. Review of C. Nihan, From Priestly Torah to Pentateuch: A Study in the Composition of the Book of Leviticus, VT 58/2 (2008): 280–281. MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION Books Ancient Gods and Monsters: The Bible, the Ancient Near East and Beyond (interest expressed by Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press). Articles “Yahweh and His Monsters.” SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS “Dream Gods: The Divine Body in Visions of Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, and the Ancient Near East,” SBL Annual Meeting, joint session of Comparative Method in Biblical Studies, Israelite Prophetic Literature, Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Bible, San Antonio, November ’23. “High Gods and Their Monsters,” SBL International Meeting, Ancient Near East Program Unit, Praetoria, South Africa, July ’23. University of Memphis | Michael.B.Hundley@memphis.edu “Deified Instruments and Divine Music,” SBL Annual Meeting, joint session of Cultic Personnel in the Biblical World and Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature, San Antonio, November ’21. “The Clothes Make the Man: Priestly Garments in the Bible and Ancient Near East,” SBL, Cultic Personnel in the Biblical World, Boston, November ’20 (canceled due to COVID 19). “Fire and Stone: The Non-Anthropomorphic Divine in Genesis and Exodus,” ISBL, Adelaide, July ’20 (canceled due to COVID 19). “Monstrous Gods? A Comparison of Yahweh and Marduk,” SBL Regional Meeting, May ’19. “David, the Last Giant Slayer,” SBL Annual Meeting, The Bible, Myth, and Myth Theory Section, November ’18. “Remembering the Lost Ark,” SBL, Religious Competition Section, November ’17. “What is a God in Genesis?”, SBL, Genesis Section, November ’16. “Addressing an Immaterial Problem in a Material World: Damage Control in Priestly and Other Ritual Systems,” SBL, Biblical Law and Ritual in the Biblical World, Atlanta, November ’15. “Ritual and/or Magic? A Comparison of Priestly and Mesopotamian Texts,” ISBL, Joint Session of the Pentateuch and Ritual in the Biblical World sections, Buenos Aires, July ’15. “The Rise of YHWH in Context,” Augustana College, May ’14. “What is an Angel in Genesis?”, SBL Annual Meeting, Genesis Section, Baltimore, November ’13. “What is an Angel in Genesis and Exodus?”, at the University of Edinburgh, May ’13. “Divine Fluidity? The Priestly Texts in their Ancient Near Eastern Contexts,” at the University of Pennsylvania, February ’13. “What is the Golden Calf ?”, at the University of Pennsylvania, February ’13. “The Canonized Portrait of Angels in Genesis and Exodus,” Helsinki-Munich-Tartu Annual Meeting, Formation of Canons and Other Topics, Tallinn, September ’12. “What is a God in Genesis 12–36?” SBL International Meeting, a joint session of the SBL Ancient Near East section, ISBL Assyriology and the Bible Consultation and the EABS Israel and the Ancient Near East Research Group, Amsterdam, July '12. “Bemerkungen zu hethitischen Gottesvorstellungen,” LMU alttestamentliche Sozietät, Munich, Jan '12. “Mesopotamian and Hittite Conceptions of the Divine,” LMU Assyriologie, Hethitologie, und vorderasiatisch Archäologie Kolloquium, Munich, December '11. “Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting? The Dual Nature of the Sacred Tent in the Priestly Texts,” SBL Annual Meeting, a joint session of Biblical Law and the Ritual in the Biblical World sections in honor of Jacob Milgrom, San Francisco, November '11. University of Memphis | Michael.B.Hundley@memphis.edu “Authority and the Priestly Texts,” Authoritativeness of Scripture Symposium, Tallinn, Estonia, September '11. “Hier ein Gott, da ein Gott: Bemerkungen zum altorientalischen Hintergrund des Gottes Gegenwart in Genesis,” LMU alttestamentliche Sozietät, Munich, July '11. “The Way Forward is Back to the Beginning: Reflections on the Priestly Texts,” Remembering (and Forgetting) in Judah's Early Second Temple Period, an International workshop at LMU Munich, June '11. “What is Divine Presence?” SBL Annual Meeting, Early Jewish Monotheism Section, Atlanta, November '10. “An Elusive Precision: The Nature and Limits of Divine Language in the Priestly Texts,” IOSOT XX, Helsinki, August '10. “Sacred Space and Sacred Objects in the Priestly Texts: A Reappraisal,” European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS) Annual Conference in association with SBL, The Bible and Sacred Space Section, Tartu, Estonia, July '10. “Before YHWH at the Entrance of the Tent of Meeting,” SBL Annual Meeting, Ritual in the Biblical World Section, New Orleans, November '09. “God’s Technicolor Coat: An Examination of Divine Glory in the Priestly Texts,” SBL International Meeting, Pentateuch Section, Rome, July '09. “Keeping God’s House: Regular Divine Service in the Priestly Tabernacle,” University of Cambridge Faculty of Divinity and Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Old Testament Seminar, January '09. “To Be or Not to Be: A Reexamination of Divine Presence in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History,” SBL Annual Meeting, Deuteronomistic History Section, Boston, November '08. “To Be or Not to Be: A Reexamination of Divine Presence in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History,” Oxford-Cambridge Old Testament Seminar, May '08. “Here a Goat, There a Goat: An Examination of the Day of Atonement through the Lens of the hattat Ritual,” Cambridge M. Phil. Old Testament Seminar, November '06. PROFESSIONAL SERVICE Program Unit Co-Chair of the SBL Cultic Personnel in the Biblical World Program Unit (2023-) Steering Committee of the SBL Cultic Personnel in the Biblical World Program Unit (2021-2023) Program Unit Chair of the Pentateuch (Torah) Section of the SBL International Meeting (2015-2020) Blogger for the Huffington Post Manuscript and Book Proposal Reviewer, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Brill, Routledge, Bloomsbury Press, Transnational Press Peer Reviewer, Vetus Testamentum, Egypt and the Levant Research Proposal Reviewer, Estonian Research Council Faculty Advisor, Unitarian Universalist Student Alliance, University of Memphis PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS Society of Biblical Literature American Oriental Society University of Memphis | Michael.B.Hundley@memphis.edu Theta Chi Beta AREAS OF RESEARCH SPECIALIZATION ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ All aspects of biblical Priestly literature, especially the cult, ritual and ritual theory, ideology of the tabernacle and divine presence Temples, perceptions of deity, divine presence, divine service, and damage control rituals in the ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Hittite Anatolia, Syria-Palestine) Perceptions of the divine in the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East Iconography and Divine Embodiment Gods and Monsters Gender and Divinity Ritual and Sacred Space Magic Genre and Rhetoric UPCOMING RESEARCH PLANS Short-term: ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ Complete monograph Ancient Gods and Monsters An article on divine presence outside of temple contexts in the Deuteronomistic History, especially in Joshua and Judges An article on David as the last giant slayer An article on biblical and ANE priestly garments Medium- and Long-Term: ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ An edited volume on ancient gods and monsters A short book comparing Hindu and ANE conceptions of divine presence A monograph on the role gender plays in the ANE divine spheres and the implications of the Israelite (male) deity’s assimilation or expulsion of all major deities, including female ones A monograph on how genre influences divine presentation in the Hebrew Bible and ANE A monograph on the various conceptions of divine presence in the Hebrew Bible An exploration of my Native American (Lakota) heritage focusing on perceptions of deity COURSES TAUGHT ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ Rhodes College The Bible and Mythology University of Memphis: Introduction to Religion (regular and honors); Ancient Gods and Monsters; Holocaust Studies; Studies in Islam and its Culture Central Washington University: World Religions; World Mythologies; Judaism; Christianity; Islam; Everyday Religion and Morality Syracuse University: The Bible; Gods and Monsters; The Early History of God; Religions of the World; Independent Study: The Bible in Context University of Scranton: University of Memphis | Michael.B.Hundley@memphis.edu ∙ ∙ ∙ Introduction to the Bible; Gods and Monsters; FYS: Bible: Sacred Story, Sacred Meaning; Introduction to Old Testament Exegesis (Graduate Level) Georgetown University Introduction to Biblical Literature St. Joseph’s University Hebrew Bible; Israelite Religion University of Cambridge: Intermediate Hebrew Supervisor in: Elementary Hebrew; One God? Hearing the Old Testament; The Literature, History and Theology of the Exilic Age; Intermediate Hebrew; Poets, Prophets, Storytellers and Sages; Social Anthropology and Religion SELECT AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ McNair Scholars Mentor, 2021-22 Nominated for a H.O.P.E. Award for teaching excellence, 2022 Featured in the section Cool Cats in the CWU magazine PULSE, 2022 CWU Award for Faculty Impact, men’s basketball, 2016-19 Invited to be faculty liaison for the CWU women’s soccer team, 2018 Elected to the Theta Chi Beta Honor Society, 2016 The John Coventry Prize in Theology for the student achieving the highest mark or recommendation, University of Cambridge, St. Edmund’s College, 2010 The Hort Memorial Fund, University of Cambridge, 2009 The Santander Award, St. Edmund’s College, 2008 The Bethune-Baker Fund, University of Cambridge, 2007 Induction into the Phi Alpha Chi Theological Honor Society, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2005 The Graham Scholarship, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2004 The Trustee Scholarship, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2004 ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE I have explored over 50 archaeological sites in Israel, as well as many in Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Cyprus, Crete and Italy. WEBSITES https://memphis.academia.edu/MichaelHundley https://www.memphis.edu/rlgn/people/mhundley.php https://www.amazon.com/author/michael-b-hundley REFERENCES Professor Sarah Baker, Duke University Professor William Gilders, Emory University Professor Dr. Christoph Levin, LMU Munich Dr. Naphtali Meshel, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Professor Tryggve Mettinger, Lund University Professor Sara Milstein, University of British Columbia sarah.lynn.baker@duke.edu william.gilders@emory.edu levin@lmu.de naphtali.meshel@mail.huji.ac.ik tryggve.mettinger@ctr.lu.se sara.milstein@ubc.ca University of Memphis | Michael.B.Hundley@memphis.edu Professor Dr. Reinhard Müller, University of Göttingen Professor Dr. Christophe Nihan, University of Munster Professor Benjamin D. Sommer, Jewish Theological Seminary Professor Lily Vuong, Central Washington University Professor James W. Watts, Syracuse University Professor Bruce Wells, University of Texas at Austin reinhard.mueller@theologie.uni-goettingen.de christophe.nihan@uni-muenster.de besommer@jtsa.edu lily.vuong@cwu.edu jwwatts@syr.edu bruce.wells@austin.utexas.edu University of Memphis | Michael.B.Hundley@memphis.edu