Interviews
Several times a year, members of the OBSO Editorial Board interview some of the most influential figures in the field of Biblical studies, from scholars to writers to artists. Click on the conversations listed below to follow some of the latest discussions regarding the text as well as Biblical history, literature, and theology.
We invite you to send us feedback on and suggestions for these interviews by visiting and filling out our contact page.
Shalom M. Paul
Shalom M. Paul is the Yehezkel Kaufmann Professor Emeritus of Bible Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His most recent work, Isaiah 40–66: A Commentary is regarded as the premier resource on the topic of "Second Isaiah", the distinctive voice that scholars believe was added to the prophecy years after it was first written. In this interview, Professor Marc Zvi Brettler discusses with Paul his interest in Isaiah and the Near Eastern context from which it emerged.
Vincent L. Wimbush
Vincent L. Wimbush is Professor of Religion and Director of the Institute for Signifying Scriptures at Claremont Graduate University. He is the author of The Bible and African Americans: A Brief History and the editor of African Americans and the Bible: Sacred Texts and Social Textures and Theorizing Scriptures: New Critical Orientations to a Cultural Phenomenon. His scholarship has expanded to what he describes as a "transdisciplinary study of scriptures, " combining "the anthropology, sociology and psychology" associated with the reception history of sacred text. In an interview below with Adele Reinhartz (University of Ottawa), Professor Wimbush discusses the evolving scope of his work, specifically his exploration of the ways in which the culture of the Black Atlantic has interpreted scripture.
Emanuel Tov
Born in Amsterdam, Emanuel Tov emigrated to Israel in 1961. He studied Bible and Greek literature at the Hebrew University and continued his studies at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at Harvard University between 1967 and 1969. He obtained his Ph.D. degree at the Hebrew University in 1973.
Since 1986, Tov has been a professor in the Department of Bible of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem from which he retired in 2009. Tov has specialized in various aspects of the textual criticism of Hebrew and Greek Scripture as well as in the Qumran Scrolls. In addition to writing numerous books and articles, Professor Tov is involved in several research projects, but since 1990 most of his energy has been invested in directing the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project. Under his guidance, thirty-three volumes appeared from 1992 to 2010 in the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series, including an overall concordance. In this interview (also available in an audio format on the OUPBlog ), Professor Marc Brettler discusses with Professor Tov his early days as a scholar of Biblical Studies, his major influences, and the legacy of his work—most notably his landmark book Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (2001), which continues to set the standard for his field.Amy-Jill Levine
A self-described "Yankee Jewish feminist," Professor Amy-Jill Levine (Vanderbilt University) is a member of Congregation Sherith Israel, an Orthodox Synagogue, although her academic career has been decidedly unorthodox. Her recent books include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (HarperOne), The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and the Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us, co-authored with Douglas Knight (HarperOne), and the Jewish Annotated New Testament, co-edited with Marc Z. Brettler (Oxford). In this interview with Professor Adele Reinhartz (University of Ottawa), Levine describes her experiences as a person raised in the Jewish tradition who became fascinated by the varying popular and scholarly interpretations of the New Testament.
