Professor Hugh G.M. Williamson

Position:

Faculty / College Address:

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Research interests:

Professor Williamson's main current research project is a multi-volumed commentary on the Hebrew text of Isaiah 1-27 for the International Critical Commentary series. Volume 1 appeared in 2006, and he is currently writing volume 2, on chapters 6-12. At a lesser level, he continues to maintain an active interest in the history and literature of the Persian period on which he previously concentrated, as well as on the history and archaeology of ancient Israel in general. As secretary of the executive committee of the Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database project, he also remains active in research on Classical Hebrew language.

Current Projects:

• The Hebrew text of the Book of Isaiah
• Semantic database of Ancient Hebrew

Courses Taught:

• Elementary and advanced classical Hebrew
• Reading classes on a wide variety of Biblical texts
• Ancient Israelite history

Recent publications:

• A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Isaiah 1-27, 1: Isaiah 1-5 (xxxviii + 410 pp.  International Critical Commentary; London, 2006)
• Holy, Holy, Holy: The Story of a Liturgical Formula (36 pp. Julius-Wellhausen-Vorlesung 1; Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008)
• Ed. (with B.T. Arnold), A Dictionary of the Historical Books of the Old Testament (xxiii + 1060 pp.  Illinois, 2005)
• Ed. Understanding the History of Ancient Israel (xx + 432 pp.  Proceedings of the British Academy 143.  Oxford 2007)
• Ed. (with D.G. Firth), Interpreting Isaiah: Issues and Approaches (288 pp.  Nottingham: Apollos, 2009)
• ‘William McKane 1921-2004’, Proceedings of the British Academy 150 (2007), 127-46
• ‘Place-Names as Superlatives in Classical Hebrew’, in S. Dolansky (ed.), Sacred History, Sacred Literature: Essays on Ancient Israel, the Bible, and Religion in Honor of R. E. Friedman on his Sixtieth Birthday (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2008), 73-79
• ‘How did the Deuteronomists Envisage the Past?’, in H.M. Barstad and P. Briant (eds), The Past in the Past: Concepts of Past Reality in Ancient Near Eastern and Early Greek Thought (The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, Oslo, Serie B: Skrifter 130; Oslo: Novus Press, 2009), 133-52
• ‘Do We Need a New Bible? Reflections on the Proposed Oxford Hebrew Bible’, Biblica 90 (2009), 153-75
• ‘Poetic Vision in Isaiah 7:18-25’, in A.J. Everson and H.C.P. Kim (eds), The Desert Will Bloom: Poetic Visions in Isaiah (SBL Ancient Israel and Its Literature 4; Atlanta: SBL, 2009), 77-89

Other info:

• Journal Editor: Vetus Testamentum
• Series editor, Oudtestamentiche Studiën
• President, Society for Old Testament Study, 2004
• Chairman, Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society
• Chairman of the Humanities Group, British Academy
• Secretary, Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database project