Professor Katherine Southwood

I came to Oxford in October 2013 having previously held a post at St Mary's University College, Twickenham where, with Philip Esler’s leadership and with Chris Keith we set up the then ‘Centre for the Social Scientific Study of the Bible’ inaugurated shortly after I started my Oxford job. Prior to that I was Kennicott Fellow at the Oriental Institute, Oxford.

I was the co-editor of the Journal of Theological Studies from 2012–14. I am currently on various editorial and review board for journals including JTS, JBL and HBT. I was Programme Unit Chair for the Social Sciences and the Interpretation of Hebrew Scripture from 2017–21. Before that I was Programme Unit chair for SBL’s ‘Exile as Forced Migration’ unit. As such I have organised ten themed panels at international conferences.

I have a wide range of teaching experience and I am keen to supervise doctoral students, especially those with an interest in interdisciplinary approaches to ancient texts. I designed two papers for the faculty’s reformed syllabus, these are The Narrative World of the Hebrew Bible and Biblical Interpretation: Perspectives from the Social Sciences.

Research Area

Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

My major research interests are reflected in my monographs. Currently, my research is on the body and death, building on the research themes initiated within Job’s Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising (a monograph that uses research from within the Medical humanities to analyse the interactions between Job and his friends). This research is important to me because of the ethical and epistemological issues raised by pain and illness. Although this research took place before Covid-19, many of the questions that covid raised, such as the balance between responsibility/blame and agency/power, are questions that Job and his friends are also concerned with. I have received a large grant from St John’s college for this research. As part of the research for this monograph, I convened several dialogues. These included an weekly seminar on The Personification of Pain in different Religions: Engaging with Religious Texts through Medical Anthropology, Co-convened with Elisabeth Hsu (School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford). Using a Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Public Engagement with Research Award I organised three other conferences convened specifically for dialogue between NHS Chaplains and Academics: On 'meaning', 'value', and training in the context of illness and caring for those who are ill; Illness and Language; Illness as a Moral Event. Likewise, I organised a conference funded through a TORCH medical humanities award: Accounts of Illness in Historical and Modern Texts: Exploring Methods in Medical Humanities Research Across Disciplines. More recently I have been considering the important role that imagination plays in research in the humanities in the Psalms and the use of the Critical Imagination book.

Marriage by Capture in Judges 21 was an attempt to understand a series of very problematic marriage systems represented in the Hebrew Bible that monetise women’s virginity. In such systems, shame is a tool enabling rapists to call their targets ‘wives’. Although an uncomfortable topic, I felt it was important to understand this topic from within in order to unravel the interconnected systems of oppression that allow such systems to exist. This is important because it isn’t just a story in a Biblical text. I used ethnographic research to find evidence of various types of so-called marriage by capture (rape marriage) in South East Asia, the Caucasus, Western Bosnia, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, parts of Africa, the Amazon, Sri Lanka, and in Yugoslavian folklore (Southwood 2017:71–84). Since writing the monograph, I have revised the way I engage with this material, emphasising the need to be at once critical and dethatched, but also to engage with affect and emotion. I have an article pending publication on this: 'Critical empathy and reading Judges 21: A self-critical corrective' in The Bible and Violence, edited by Johanna Stiebert, Chris Greenough, Mmapula Kebaneilwe and Tinyiko Maluleke (Bloomsbury; accepted, under contract).

My Ethnicity and the Mixed Marriage Crisis monograph addressed the question of ethnicity in the context of return migration among the post-exilic community at around the point when Yahwism turned to Judaism. Migration and identity, and questions of power relations and belonging, are key themes in the Biblical material, just as they are important topics today. I also thought about the specific role that gender plays in migration in my Women and Exile book.

I believe libraries are vitally important. I was a key contact for Libraries in the Humanities from 2018–23. I chaired the Humanities Committee for Library Provision and Strategy as well as the Humanities Library Users Group for the University’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre. I was a Bodleian Curator. I am on the Humanities Divisional Board. I am on various other committees including Theology’s Faculty Board and St John’s College’s Governing Body.

I am currently Fellow for Welfare in St John's and I was Fellow for Women (2018–20), I oversaw a series of events in 10/19–09/20 which marked the 40th anniversary of the admission of women to the College. This initiative was entitled ‘40 years of women: Aspiring towards equality and diversity at St John’s College’.

You can find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Katheri20819365.

Keynote lectures

‘The Body and Death (specific title tbc)’, 25th Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, Berlin, July 2025 (Invited by Prof. Dr. Dr. Bernd U. Schipper)

‘Job as a work of laughtears and learning: Comedy, pain, and audiences’ empathy’, International Jewish-Christian Bible Week, Osnabruck, July 2022

‘ "But now … do not let all this hardship seem insignificant before you”: Ethnic History and Nehemiah 9’ Symposium on ‘Ethnicity and the Bible’, Lund University, September 2013

Publications & Research Outputs

Monographs (single-authored books consisting of approximately 100,000 words)

Job’s Body and the Dramatized Comedy of “Moralising”. “Studies in the Biblical World” Routledge: Oxford and New York, 2021. ISBN 0 978 0367462575. https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/45956/9781000163452.pdf?sequence=1

Marriage by Capture in the Book of Judges: An Anthropological Approach (Society for Old Testament Studies Series, inaugural volume marking the society’s centenary) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. ISBN 978 1 107 14524 5.

Ethnicity and the Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10: An Anthropological Approach (Oxford Theological Monograph Series.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN 978 0 19 964434 6.

Edited volumes (books/journals made up of essays that I’ve edited/co-edited and initiated)

Co-edited Special volume on the topic of ‘Does wisdom have a sense of humour?’ with Alex Kirk (Durham) in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel. Proposal accepted, in preparation.

Religion in Ancient Israel: Studies in Honour of John Day. Co-edited with Stuart Weeks and Hugh Williamson. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series (T&T Clark). Under contract.

Death Imagined: Ancient Perceptions of Death and Dying. Co-edited with Karolina Sekita. Liverpool University Press (Liverpool Studies in Ancient History series). Under contract.

“Psalms and the Use of the Critical Imagination: Essays in Honour of Susan Gillingham. Co-edited with Holly Morse. Contracted for the (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series (T&T Clark). 2022. ISBN: 9780567696328.

Women and Exilic Identity in the Hebrew Bible. Co-edited with Martien Halverson-Taylor. (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, 631). London and New York: T & T Clark, 2018. Pp. x + 179. ISBN 978 0 567668448. Paperback published 27th June 2019.

Co-edited Special volume on the topic of ‘Involuntary Migration in the Ancestral Narratives’ with Casey Strine (Sheffield) in Hebrew Studies 60 (2019), pp. 39-106.

Peer-reviewed articles and chapters (papers of around 6-8,000 words that I’ve submitted and published after review by academic peers)

‘The motif of Joseph’s weeping: disenfranchised grief and ritually revisiting the past to reclaim the future’ in Religion Special Journal issue ‘Unheard Voices: Cultural Anthropological Approaches to Physical Suffering in the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint’ edited by Régine Hunziker-Rodewald and Blaženka Scheuer. Submitted.

‘Nobody is safe: Systems of Oppression, Ambiguity and the use of Violence in Judges’ in The Bible and Violence. Edited by Johanna Stiebert, Chris Greenough, Mmapula Kebaneilwe and Tinyiko Maluleke. Bloomsbury. Accepted. Under Contract.

‘Pain and Suffering in Second Temple Judaism’ In Encyclopaedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Edited by Benjamin G. Wright. In preparation.

Critical empathy and reading Judges 21: A self-critical corrective in The Bible and Violence. Edited by Johanna Stiebert, Chris Greenough, Mmapula Kebaneilwe and Tinyiko Maluleke. Bloomsbury. Accepted.

Ethnic and marginal groups in the Hebrew Bible: A case for exploring human connections and belonging in Esther’ In Routledge Handbook of the Ancient Near East and the Social Sciences. Edited by Jason Silverman and Emanuel Pfoh. Routledge. Submitted. Under contract

‘Sociological and Anthropological approaches to the Hebrew Bible’ in The Oxford Handbook of the Hebrew Bible, Gender and Sexuality. Edited by Deborah Rooke. Submitted. Under contract

‘Laughtears in Job: Comedy and Pain as Channels for Learning through Engaging the Audience’s Empathy’ in European Judaism. Accepted for publication for 2024.

‘Trauma, brokenness, and pain in the Book of Lamentations: Empathetic attention as a hermeneutic for thinking about rehabilitation of health’ in Jews and Health: History, Tradition, and Practice Ed, Catherine Hezser. Accepted. Under Contract

‘The Hebrew Bible and the Social Sciences’ in Understanding the Hebrew Bible: Essays by Members of the Society for Old Testament Study. Edited by John Barton. Accepted. Under Contract

‘Job “opened his mouth and cursed”: Job 3 as a Culturally Political Comedy’ in Political Theologies in the Hebrew Bible. Edited by Mark Brett and Rachelle Gilmour. Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplement Series. Paderborn: Brill, 2023, 196–210.

‘For Moses “had indeed married a Cushite wife”: Metaphors, Power, and Ethnicity in Numbers 12’ in The T & T Clark Handbook of Anthropology and the Hebrew Bible. Edited by Emanuel Pfoh. Bloomsbury: T&T Clark, 2023, 287–305.

With James W. Southwood (Clinical Psychologist, NHS England) ‘Job as a work of laughtears and learning: Comedy, pain, and audiences’ empathy’ Bible and Critical Theory. 18/2 (2023), 1–16.

'The social dynamics surrounding Yahwistic women’s supposed ritual deviance in Ezekiel 13:17–23'. In Journal of Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies 4.2 (2022), 28–45.

‘Comical moments and comical characterisations in Tobit: the undermining of self-righteous piety, simplistic retribution, and limited Yahwism’ Journal for the Study of Old Testament. May 2022, 1–17.

‘The resistance to mainstream assumptions about retribution in Job and Tobit as positive deviance’ Avar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Life and Society in the Ancient Near East, 1:1 (inaugural issue 1/1), 2022, 89–112.

‘Performing Deference in Ahiqar: The significance of Politics of Resistance in the Narrative and Proverbs of Ahiqar’ Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. (133/1), 2021, 42–55.

‘The “foreigner” and the eunuch: The politics of belonging in Isaiah 56:1-8’ Biblical Interpretation (2020), 1–23.

‘The “innards” in the Psalms and Job as Metaphors for Illness’ in Horizons in Biblical Theology (42) 2020, 159–185.

‘Metaphor, Illness, and Identity in Psalm 88 and 102’. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (2) 2019, 228–246.

‘You are all quacks; if only you would shut up’ (Job 13:4b-5a): Sin and illness in the sacred and secular. Theology 121(2) 2018, 84–91.

‘“This man has come into my house”: Hospitality in Genesis 19; 34; and Judges 19’. Biblical Interpretation (26), 2018, 469–484.

'The Social and Cultural History of Ancient Israel' in The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Companion Ed. John Barton. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016, 54–85. ISBN 978 0 691 15471 8.

‘The impact of the second-generation returnees as a model for understanding the post-exilic context’ in By the Rivers of Babylon: New Perspectives on Second Temple Judaism from Cuneiform Texts Eds. J, Stökl and C. Waerzeggers. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015, 322–335. ISBN 978 3 11 041700 5.

‘Will Naomi’s Nation be Ruth’s Nation?: Ethnic Translation as a Metaphor for Ruth’s Assimilation within Judah’ in Humanities 3 Special Issue ‘Translation as the Foundation for Humanistic Investigations’ 2014, 102–131.

‘‘‘But now … do not let all this hardship seem insignificant before you”: Ethnic History and Nehemiah 9’ Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok Special Issue on ‘Ethnicity’ 2014, 1–23.

Foreword to a republication of Smith-Christopher, D., The Religion of the Landless: The Social Context of the Babylonian Exile. Wipf and Stock, 2014. ISBN 9781608994786, xiii-xiv

‘Ethnicity’ in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception Ed. Leong Seow. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2014.

‘Ethnicity and Ethnography’ in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Bible and Ethics. Ed. Robert L. Brawey. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN 9780199829910

‘“And they could not understand Jewish Speech”: Ethnicity, Language, and Nehemiah’s intermarriage crisis’ Journal of Theological Studies 62 Part 1, April 2011, 1–19.

‘Die “Heilige Nachkommenschaft” und die “fremden Frauen”: “Mischehen” als inner-jüdische Angelegenheit?’ in Zwischen Integration und Ausgrenzung: Migration, religiöse Identität(en) und Bildung – theologisch refleckiert. Eds J. Rahner, and M. Schambeck. (Bamberger Theologisches Forum, 13.) Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2011, 61–82. ISBN 978 3 643 11051 0.

‘An Ethnic affair?: Ezra’s Intermarriage Crisis Against a Context of Self-Ascription and Ascription of Others’ in Mixed Marriages. Intermarriage and Group Identity in the Second Temple Period. Ed. C. Frevel. (Library of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament.) London and New York: T&T Clark, 2011, 46–59. ISBN 978 0 567 31050 7.

‘The Holy Seed: The Ethnic Significance of Endogamous Boundaries and their Transgression in Ezra 9-10’ in Lipschits, O., and Oeming, M., (Eds), The Judeans in the Achaemenid Age: Negotiating Identity in an International Context, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns 2011, 189–224. ISBN 978 1 57506 197 9.

Public outreach articles

bibleodyssey.org ‘Intermarriage in Ezra’ (SBL publication for the general public). https://bibleodyssey.org/people/related-articles/intermarriage-in-ezra-nehemiah/

‘Intermarriage in Ezra’ (HarperCollins Study Bible Project).

Marriage by Capture in the Hebrew Bible. A popular essay designed to appeal to a general audience. http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2017/01/sou418012.shtml

‘Judges’ in Society for Old Testament Wiki, a society initiative designed to provide reliable, continuously updated, information about the Biblical material and related topics. http://sots-ot.wikispaces.com/judges 2016.

International conference presentations: invited papers

‘Pain in the book of Job: Review of Katherine Southwood Job’s Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising’. Reviewers: Stuart Weeks; Katharine Dell; Jackie Vayntrub (The Language of Pain in Ancient Israel and Early Judaism programme unit, SBL International Meeting, Salzburg, July 2022). Invited by Danilo Verde and Martina Weingärtner.

Review panel participant on ‘Laura Carlson Hasler’s Archival Historiography in Jewish Antiquity (OUP, 2020)’. (Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah program unit of the SBL Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Nov. 2021). Invited by Philip Yoo and Aubrey Buster.

Exile in Isaiah (Formation in the Book of Isaiah Panel, SBL Annual Meeting, San Antonio, November 2021), Invited by Dr Judith Gärtner.

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Migration (“Social Scientific Theory and Applications” team of the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires, Helsinki, Finalnd, Oct. 2021). Invited by Professor Jason Silvermann.

‘For Moses “had indeed married a Cushite wife”: Metaphors, Power, and Ethnicity in Numbers 12’ (“Biblical Studies Research Seminar”, Department of Theology, Uppsala, Sweden, [Zoom, owing to covid-19], September 2020). Invited by Professor Göran Eidevall.

Job ‘opened his mouth and cursed’: Job 3 as a Culturally Political Comedy (Political Theology, Society for Biblical Studies, Adelaide [Zoom, owing to covid-19], July 2020). Invited by Professor Mark Brett.

Respondant to John Ahn ‘Forced and Return Migrations Resulting in Political Poles: Babylon-Ezekiel and Egypt-Jeremiah’. (Political Theology, Society for Biblical Studies, Adelaide [Zoom, owing to covid-19], July 2020). Invited by Professor Mark Brett.

Critical Studies in Exile and Restoration. (Conference on Exile, McMaster University, Canada, October 2018). Invited by Professor Mark Boda.

Migration, Illness, and Identity in Ancient Religious Texts. (Conference on Migration and Biblicla Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, April 2016). Invited by Dr David Shepherd.

Identity within the scrolls: methods of reconstruction (SBL IM, Tartu, Estonia, June 2010). Invited by Prof David Chalcraft.

The Holy Seed and Foreign Women: Ethnic-intermarriage or intermarriage? (SBL IM, Tartu, June 2010). Invited by Prof Christian Frevel.

An ethnic affair?: Ezra’s intermarriage crisis against a context of self-ascription and ascription of Others. (Intermarriage and Group Identity in the Persian and Hellenistic Period, SBL International Meeting, Rome, Italy, 2009, 07/2009) Invited by Prof Christian Frevel.

The ‘intermingling’ ofבני הגולה : Ethnic-intermarriage and Assimilation in Ezra 9-10 (EABS conference, Lisbon, Spain, 08/2008).

Foreign women’ (and their strange gods?): Religious and ethnic intermarriage in Ezra 9-10 and Neh.13: 23-27 post triple melting-pot (SBL Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 11/2008).

The Holy Seed: The Ethnic Significance of Endogamous Boundaries and their Transgression in Ezra 9-10 (Conference at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, entitled ‘The Judeans in the Achaemenid Age’ 04/2008).

Conference presentations: invited papers

‘Metaphor, Illness, and Identity in Psalm 88 and 102’ an online talk for the Psalms in Interfaith Contexts Series (invited by Dr Thea Gomelauri, Oxford Interfaith Forum, June 2023)

Round table discussion of ‘Lisa Miller’s The Awakened Brain’ Oxford (invited by Dr Thea Gomelauri, Oxford Interfaith Forum, April 2023).

‘Critical empathy and reading Judges 21: A self-critical corrective.’ (invited by Johanna Stiebert, The Shiloh Project research day University of Leeds 31st January 2023).

‘How to engage with disturbing texts in the Hebrew Bible, and why we should not ignore them’ (invited by Johanna Stiebert, The Shiloh Project Community Engagement day, ‘Scholars as Living Books’ University of Leeds 30th January 2023).

‘Trauma, brokenness, and pain in the Book of Lamentations: Empathetic attention as a hermeneutic for thinking about rehabilitation of health’ (Post Graduate Diploma in Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, December 2022). Invited by Steven Firmin.

‘The social dynamics surrounding Yahwistic women’s supposed ritual deviance in Ezekiel 13:17-23’ (University of Cambridge October 2022). Invited by Katharine Dell.

‘Research talk, on the implications of God: An Anatomy.’ (University of Exeter May 2022). Invited by David Horrell.

‘God-talk: An introduction to Theology’ (Talk for The Journal of the Oxford Graduate Theological Society, Oxford, February 2022). Invited by Natasha Chawla.

‘Necromancy and misogyny in 1 Sam 28 and Ezekiel 13:17-23’ (Talk for ‘Womxn in Theology’, Oxford, Spring 2022). Invited by Alexandria Green and Mary Whittingdale.

‘Comedy in Theology?: A case study with the book of Job’ (PGDip Research Seminar, Faculty of Theology and Religion, Oxford, October 2021). Invited by Dr Ashley Moyse.

‘Muted Group Theory and Esther’ (Biblical Studies Research Seminar, Edinburgh University, September 2021). Invited by Dr Susanne Miller.

‘Can we talk of comedy in Job?’ (Summer Meeting, Society for Old Testament Study, Sheffield University, July 2021). Invited by Professor Hugh Pyper, President of SOTS.

Illness in the Book of Job and the Health Advice of Job’s Friends (Centre for Jewish Studies, SOAS, November 2020). Invited by Professor Catherine Hezser.

‘When Friends Moralize: Job’s Body and the Dramatized Comedy of “Advice”’ (Department of Theology and Religion, University of Exeter, November 2020). Invited by Dr Andrew Jones.

‘Illness and responsibility in Job 19’ (‘The Boundaries and Meaning of Illness’, Collaborating Centre for Values-Based Practice Advanced Studies Seminar, St Catherine’s College, Oxford October 2019). Invited by Dr Andrew Papanikitas.

Challenging material in the Hebrew Bible: The difficulties involved in communicating with a non-specialist audience. (Centre for the Bible in the Humanities, Oriel College, Oxford, May 2019). Invited by Professor Hindy Najman.

‘“And then I was attacked by the Almighty”: The description of somatic pain in Job 6 as symbolic protest’ (Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, Sheffield University, March 2019). Invited by Dr Meredith Warren.

‘Illness and the quest for “meaning”: moralising explanations of bodily dysfunction in Job’ (Reading Classical Association, University of Reading, February 2019). Invited by Martin Hughes.

‘Illness metaphors in Job and the Psalms: Socio-cultural meanings attributed to the dysfunction of the body’ (Department of Theology and Religion, University of Durham, December 2018). Invited by Drs David Janzen and Andrew Mein.

‘The “innards” in the Psalms and Job as Metaphors for Illness’ (Centre for the Bible, Ethics, and Theology, Nottingham University, October 2018). Invited by Dr Carly Crouch.

‘When an illness is viewed as resulting from carelessness … the ill person becomes treated with moral opprobrium’ (Lupton 2012:50): Job’s body as “sin visualised”. (Centre for Humanities and Health, King’s College London, September 2018). Invited by Dr Neil Vickers.

The dark side of the Hebrew Bible: Challenging topics in “sacred” texts. (Research soiree, introductory talk for non-specialists, Oxford, March 2018). Invited by St John’s College, Fellow for Research.

Job’s rejection of “illness as punishment” (Diaconia Workshop, Oxford, February 2018). Invited by Dr Joshua Hordern.

What light do the medical humanities shed on the Book of Job? And what can Job contribute to the medical humanities? (Seminar in University of Edinburgh, New College, February 2017). Invited by Dr Matt Novensen

Metaphor, Illness, and Identity in Psalm 88 and 102. (Conference on Concepts of Disease between Dysfunction, Responsibility, Failure and Sin. ROQ site Oxford. January 2017). Invited by Dr Joshua Hordern.

Marriage by capture in Judges 21: Intermarriage and ethnicity in Ezra 9-10 and Judges 21. (Oxford Old Testament Seminar, October 2015). Invited by Professor Hindy Najman.

Virginity, Marriage, and Male ethnic honour: Judges 21 as an example of Marriage by capture. (International Centre for Biblical Interpretation, May 2015). Invited by Dr Pekka Pitaken, University of Gloucestershire.

Panel discussion ‘Still Searching for Ancient Israel: A Debate Revisited’ with Jim Aitken and Hans Barstad. (Society of Old Testament Study Summer Meeting, July 2013). Invited by Dr Hilary Marlow.

Judges 19-21, Ezra, and the “internal outsider” (Cambridge OT Seminar, February 2012). Invited by Dr Katharine Dell.

Marriage by Capture and Virginity in Judges 21 (St. Mary’s University College, January 2012). Invited by Professor Philip Esler.

The impact of the second-generation returnees as a model for understanding the post-exilic context. (UCL, workshop on Exile and Return, 2012). Invited by Dr Jon Stökl and Dr Caroline Waerzeggers.

Post-exilic Yehud and ancestral return migration: Ethnic responses to the return from exile. (SBL IM, London July 2012). Invited by Professor John Ahn.

Ethnicity and the Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10. (Summer Meeting of the Society for Old Testament Study, St Hilda’s College, Oxford, July 2011). Invited by Professor John Sawyer, President SOTS.

Wives for the Benjaminites: The Significance of Bride Abduction and Virginity within Judges 21 (Oriental Institute, Oxford, June 2011). Invited by Dr Alisen Salvesen.

There’s no place like home?: Perceived, created and exacerbated ethnic differences in Ezra’s intermarriage crisis. (Oxford Old Testament Seminar, November 2010). Invited by Dr John Jarick.

“And they could not understand Jewish speech”: Language, ethnicity, and Nehemiah’s intermarriage crisis (KCL Seminar, London, Michaelmas 2010). Invited by Dr Edward Adams.

Longing, Belonging or Despair: Return Migration as a Tool For Understanding Ezra’s Intermarriage Crisis. (Social Sciences and Biblical Studies Symposium University of Derby, April 2010). Invited by Prof David Chalcraft.

Conference presentations

"What shall we do for wives for those who are left?": Reactions to Judges 21 when placed within an analytical framework informed by modern social-anthropological theories of marriage (SBL IM, London July 2012).

Comparative Review of Mark Brett’s Decolonizing God and David Goodblatt’s Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism (Oxford Graduate Seminar, Oriel College, Hilary 2009).

Not ‘Fitting In’?: Ethnic Intermarriage, Power, and Anomalies in Ezra 9-10 (Oxford Graduate Seminar, Oriel College, Michaelmas 2009).

The paradoxical “diasporic space” of the Holy Seed: Viewing Ezra’s mixed marriage crisis through the lens of return migration and of ethnic-intermarriage. (Oxford Graduate Seminar, Oriel College, 02/2009).

Intermarrying the Disciplines: Ethnic-endogamy in Ezra 9-10 and Genesis and the use of Models from Anthropology and Sociology (Pre-circulated paper, Graduate Conference, Kings College London, 05/2008).

Abraham’s Seed and Strange Women: Endogamous Boundaries in Ezra-Nehemiah and Genesis (Oxbridge Joint Graduate Conference, Oxford, 05/2008).

Ezra 9-10: The abominable ethos of the ethnos? (Old Testament Graduate Seminar, Oxford, 04/2007).

Review, prior to publication, of Diana Lipton’s Longing for Egypt and Other Tales of the Unexpected (Old Testament Graduate Seminar, Oxford, 11/2007).

Book reviews

Review of The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Wisdom and Literature, Edited by Katherine J. Dell, Suzanna R. Miller, and Arthur Jan Keefer. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022). In Church Times 2023 https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/21-april/books-arts/book-reviews/the-cambridge-companion-to-biblical-wisdom-and-literature-by-katharine-j-dell-suzanna-r-millar-and-arthur-jan-keefer-editors

Review of ‘Israel and Judah Redefined: Migration, Trauma and Empire in the Sixth Century BCE’ by C. L Crouch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021). In Society for Old Testament Study Booklist (July 2022), p. 29.

Review of ‘Black/Africana Studies and Black/Africana Biblical Studies’ by Abraham Smith (Leiden: Brill, 2021). In Society for Old Testament Study Booklist (July 2022), pp. 136-137.

Review of ‘God: An Anatomy’ by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (Picador: London, 2021). In Church Times 2022 https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/4-february/books-arts/book-reviews/god-an-anatomy-by-francesca-stavrakopoulou

Review of ‘The Performative Dimensions of Rhetorical Questions in the Hebrew Bible: Do you know? Do you not hear?’ by Jim W. Adams (London and New York: T&T Clark, 2020). In Journal of Theological Studies, 72/2, 2021, pp. 894-896.

Review of ‘Review of ‘Ethical God-Talk in the Book of Job: Speaking to the Almighty’ by William C. Pohl IV (London and New York: T&T Clark, 2020). In Review of Biblical Literature, 10/2021.

Review of ‘Gender-Play in the Hebrew Bible: The Ways the Bible Challenges Its Gender Norms’ by A. B. Kalmanofsky (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2017). In Modern Believing 2021, pp. 268-269.

Review of ‘Style and Context of Old Greek Job’ by Marieke Dhont. (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2017). In Society for Old Testament Study Booklist July 2019, p. 443-44.

Review of ‘Ezra and the Second Wilderness’ by Philip Yoo. (Oxford: OUP, 2017). In Journal of Theological Studies January 2019, 348-350.

Review of ‘Inside the Whirlwind: The Book of Job through African Eyes’ by Jason A Carter. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2017). In Society for Old Testament Study Booklist July 2019, p. 88.

Review of ‘Handbook of Primary Care Ethics’ edited by Andrew Papanikitas and John Spicer. (Boco Raton, FL: Taylor and Francis Group, 2018). In Literature and Theology. June 2019, pp., 503-504.

Review of ‘Immigrants and Innovative Law: Deuteronomy’s Theological and Social Vision for the גר’ by Mark Awabdy (Tubingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2014). In Journal of Theological Studies 68/2, 2017, 699-700.

Review of ‘Exploring Zechariah, volume 1: The Development of Zechariah and its role within the twelve’ by Mark Boda. (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2017). In Expository Times (129/11), 2018, p. 534.

Review of ‘How Things Feel: Biblical Studies, Affect Theory, and the (Im)personal’ by Maia Kotrosits. (Leiden: Brill, 2016). In Society for Old Testament Study Book List 2018, p.144-145.

Review of ‘Wholeness & Holiness: Medicine, Disease, Purity and the Levitical Priesthood’ by Michael Glasby. (Apostolos Old Testament Studies. London: Apostolos Publishing, 2017). In Society for Old Testament Study Book List 2018 booklist, p. 181-182

Review of ‘Political Trauma and Healing: Biblical Ethics for a Postcolonial World’ by Mark G Brett. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016). In Society for Old Testament Study Book List 2017, p. 140.

Review of ‘Reading Ruth in the Restoration Period: A Call for Inclusion’ by Jones III, E. A., (Library of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Studies, 604; Bloomsbury: T&T Clark, 2016). In Society for Old Testament Study Book List 2017, p. 97.

Review of ‘Dismembering the Whole: Composition and Purpose of Judges 19-21’ by Edenburg, C., (Ancient Israel and its Literature, 24; Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2016). In Society for Old Testament Study Book List 2017, p. 67.

Review of ‘New Perspectives on Ezra-Nehemiah: History and Historiography, Text, Literature, and Interpretation’. Edited by Isaac Kalimi. Pp. xv + 296. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2012. In Journal of Theological Studies. 64(1), April 2013, 193-196.

Review of ‘Resolviendo: Narratives of survival in the Hebrew bible and in Cuba today’ by Garcia-Alfonso, C., (Studies in biblical Literature, 132; New York, NY: Peter Lang, 2010), pp. xii + 119. Society of Old Testament Study Book List 2013, 17.

Review of ‘Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Construction of Early Jewish Identity’ by Becking, B., (Forschungen zum Alten Testament, 80). Tübingen: Mohn Siebeck, 2011. In Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period. 44(1), 2013, 90.

Review of ‘The Holy Seed has been Defiled: The Interethnic Marriage Dilemma in Ezra 9-10’ by Johnson, Willa M., (Hebrew Bible Monographs, 33). Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2011. In Society of Old Testament Study Book List 2012, 125

Review of ‘Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth: A Social Identity Approach’ by Lau, Peter H. W. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 2011. In Society of Old Testament Study Book List 2012, 126

Review of ‘Ben Sira on Family, Gender, and Sexuality’ by Balla, Ibolya. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 2011. In Society of Old Testament Study Book List 2012, 176

Review of ‘Sex, Wives, and Warriors: Reading Biblical Narrative with its Ancient Audience.’ By Esler, Philip, F. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2011. In Holy Land Studies: A Multidisciplinary Journal. November 2011, 249-253.

Review of ‘The Narratives of Rape in Genesis 34: Interpreting Dinah’s Silence’. By Caroline Blyth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. In The Journal of Theological Studies 62(1) April 2011, 265-268.

Review of ‘Exile as Forced Migrations: A Sociological, Literary, and Theological Approach on the Displacement and Resettlement of the Southern Kingdom of Judah’ by John. J. Ahn. Göttingen: De Gruyter, 2011. In The Journal of Theological Studies 62(1) April 2011, 277-281.

Review of ‘Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism’ by David Goodblatt in The Journal of Theological Studies 61(2) Oct 2010, 707-710.

Review of ‘Judaism: The First Phase’ by Joseph Blenkinsopp in The Journal of Theological Studies 61(2) Oct 2010, 716-718.

Review of ‘Levirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient Judaism’ by Dvora Weisberg in The Journal of Theological Studies 61(2) Oct 2010, 753-755.

Review of ‘“Let the Little Children Come to Me”: Childhood and Children in Early Christianity’ by Cornelia Horn and John Martens in The Journal of Theological Studies 61(2) Oct 2010, 753-755

Review of ‘A Theocratic Yehud?’ by Jeremiah W. Cataldo in Journal for the Society of Old Testament Study 34/49 2010, 51Commentary

‘Zechariah’ Wisdom Commentary Series (Liturgical Press). Accepted, forthcoming.

‘Ezra-Nehemiah’ in The Fortress Commentary on the Old Testament Eds Gale A. Yee, Hugh R. Page, and Matthew J. Coomber. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014. ISBN 9780800699161

Media

God Talk. Seven talks published on YouTube organised by the Journal of the Oxford Graduate Theological Society.