Francis Landy

Professor Emeritus

Email:  francis.landy@ualberta.ca

 

Education:

B.A. University of Cambridge, June, 1969
D.Phil. University of Sussex, March, 1983

Expertise & Research Interests

Francis Landy specializes in the literary study of the Hebrew Bible.  He has recently completed a book on Isaiah, provisionally entitled Visions of Isaiah: Poetry, Catastrophe, Hope, to be published by Oxford University Press. He taught in the Religious Studies program at the University of Alberta for 31 years, specializing in Jewish Studies and the Hebrew Bible.  For many years he team-taught the advanced Theory and Method course with Willi Braun. His books include Paradoxes of Paradise: Identity and Difference in the Song of Songs, Hosea, a commentary in the Readings series published by Sheffield Phoenix Press, and Beauty and the Enigma and Other Essays on the Hebrew Bible.  He has also edited a volume on Leviticus entitled Text, Time, and Temple and a special issue of Method and Theory in the Study of Religion on Gil Anidjar's book Blood.  He was director of graduate studies in the Religious Studies program for many years, and steered through the establishment of its doctoral program. He has been President of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies and the Pacific Northwest Region of the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature. He is currently an Associate Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Victoria, and teaches a class on Hebrew Bible for a local synagogue.

Positions Held

Assistant Professor, University of Alberta, 1984.
Associate Professor, University of Alberta, 1989.
Professor, University of Alberta, 1994.
Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta, 2014-.
Post-retirement contract, 2014-2015.
Fellow, Centre for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Victoria, Spring 2015.
Associate Fellow, Centre for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Victoria, 2015-

Courses Taught: 

Introduction to the Study of Religion; Introduction to Western Religions; Introduction to Old Testament/Hebrew Bible; Jewish Religious Thought; The Pentateuch; the Prophets; the Writings; Intertestamental Literature; Jewish Mores, Folkways, and Customs; the Jewish Mystical Tradition; Classical Judaism; Medieval and Modern Judaism; Judaism in the Twentieth Century; Old Testament/Hebrew Bible texts; Rabbinic Texts; Rabbinic Interpretation; Concepts of Divinity; Studies in Hebrew Bible (Judges, Hosea, Job); Isaiah 1-12; Religion and Psychoanalysis; Leviticus; Amos; Midrash and Literature. Biblical Narrative; Poets, Prophets and Sages; Method and Theory in the Study of Religion; The Book of Isaiah; Introduction to Judaism; the Bible and Literary Theory; Trito-Isaiah; Kabbalah; Derrida and Religion.

Graduate Supervision:

Renee Brodie (M.A.Religious Studies)
Beth Mackenzie (M.A.Religious Studies)
Karen Leonhardt (M.A.,Religious Studies)
Karen Leonhardt (co-supervisor, Ph.D.)
Jeong-eun Park (M.A. Religious Studies)
Mihai Derbaç (M.A. Religious Studies)
Peter Sabo (M.A. Religious Studies)
Ellen Sabo (M.A. Religious Studies)
Peter Sabo (Ph.D. Religious Studies)
Lauren Chomyn (M.A. Religious Studies, co-supervisor) 

Examination Committees:

David Bergen (M.A. Religious Studies, University of Calgary, 1995)
Matthew Unger (M.A. Religious Studies, 2002)
Todd Lorentz (M.A.Religious Studies, 2002)
Danielle Lefebvre (M.A. Religious Studies, 2003)
Maryam Razavy (M.A. Religious Studies, 2004)
Tim Goltz (M.A. Religious Studies, 2004)
Kenneth Ristau (M.A. Religious Studies, 2004)
Denise Winter (M.A. English, 2004)
Brian Mee (M.Th. student, St. Stephen’s College, 2004)
Chad Kile (M.A. Religious Studies, 2006)
Dan Bogert-O’Brian (Ph.D. Ed.Policy, 1995)
Sabah al-Alsowaifan (Ph.D. Comparative Literature, 2000)
Don Fisher (Ph.D. English, 2004)
Kataryzna Vedah (Ph.D., Art and Design, 2006).
Kirsten Uszkalo (Ph.D. English. 2006)
Timothy Langille (M.A. Religious Studies, 2007)
John Parrish (M.A. Religious Studies, 2007)
Mihai Derbaç (M.A. Religious Studies, 2007)
Shya (Susan) Young (M.A. Religious Studies, 2007)
Leta Houle (M.A. Religious Studies, 2007)
Jeong-eun Park (M.A. Religious Studies, 2008)
Sarah Rollens (M.A. Religious Studies, 2008)
Patrick Hart (M.A. Religious Studies, 2008)
Maryam Razavy (Ph.D. Religious Studies – Sociology, 2008)
Randy Klassen (Ph.D. Religious Studies, University of Calgary, in progress)
David Reddall (Ph.D. Comparative Literature 2009)
Mike Kok, (MA Religious Studies, 2009).
Jeremy Hosain (MA Religious Studies, 2011).
Saylih Sayligan (MA Religious Studies, 2011)
Henry Suderman (Ph.D. Religious Studies, 2011)
Christopher Meredith (Ph.D. Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield U.K., Sept 2012)
Vaia Touna (Ph.D. candidacy, June 2013)
Anna Cwikla (M.A., Religious Studies, June 2013)
Ellen Sabo (M.A. Religious Studies, December, 2013)
Lauren Chomyn (M.A. Religious Studies, August, 2014)
Robert Mooney (M.A. Religious Studies, October, 2014)
Mark Wheller (Ph.D. candidacy. Religious Studies, October 2014)
Angela Brkich (Ph.D. Religious Studies, December 2014)
Ian D. Wilson (Ph.D. Religious Studies, March 2015)
Glen Fairen (Ph.D. Final Examination, Religious Studies, August, 2015)
Vaia Touna (Ph.D. Final Examination, Religious Studies, September 2015)
Patrick Hart (Ph.D. Candidacy Religious Studies, December 2015)
Kristian Klippenstein (Ph.D. Candidacy Exam, Religious Studies, December 2015)
Rachael Heffernan (M.A., Religious Studies, August 2016)
Michael Gillingham (M.A., Religious Studies, August 2016)
Kate Fenton (Ph.D. Candidacy, Classics, September 2016)
Mark Wheller (Ph.D., Religious Studies, December, 2016)
Peter Sabo (Ph.D., Religious Studies, June, 2017)
Jessica Swann (M.A. Religious Studies, June, 2017)

Supervisory Committees

Henry Suderman (Ph.D. Religious Studies)
Angela Brkich-Sutherland (Ph.D. Religious Studies)
Glen Fairen (Ph.D. Religious Studies)
Sonya Kostamo (Ph.D. Religious Studies)
Ian Wilson (Ph.D. Religious Studies)
Clayton Bench (Ph.D. Religious Studies)

Membership of Learned Societies: 

Society of Biblical Literature; American Academy of Religion; Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, Association of Jewish Studies; Canadian Association for Jewish Studies; North American Association for the Study of Religion. European Association of Biblical Studies; Society for Old Testament Studies.

Publications

Books

  1. Poetry, Catastrophe, and Hope in the Vision of Isaiah (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023)
  2. Beauty and the Enigma and Other Essays in the Hebrew Bible (JSOT Sup. 312; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001).
  3. Hosea Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. 1995. 2nd revised edition (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2011).
  4. Paradoxes of Paradise: Identity and Difference in the Song of Songs.  Almond Press:  Sheffield, 1983. 2nd revised edition (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2011).
  5. The Tale of Aqhat (Introduction, Translation, Commentary). Menard Press, London, 1981.

 Edited Volumes

  1. Special Issue of Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 31 (2019) on Gil Anidjar, Blood: A Critique of Christianity (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014).
  2. Text, Time and Temple: Literary, Historical, and Ritual Approaches to Leviticus ed. Francis Landy, Leigh Trevaskis, Bryan Bibb (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2015).

Articles

  1. "Affect, Desire, and the Experience of (Re)reading the Song of Songs" in Stefan Fischer and Gavin Fernandes (eds) Song of Songs: Sense, Sight, Sound and Space (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, forthcoming).
  2. "David, the Poet and Musician" in Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer (ed), The Oxford Handbook of King David (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
  3. "Psalm 8: How I Fell in Love with the Bible" in Athalya Brenner-Idan and Gale A. Yee (eds) Texts@Contexts (London: Bloomsbury, forthcoming).
  4. "'Of all the characters in scripture she is the least': the Levite's concubine and the discourse of Silence" in Benjamin T. Johnson and Keith A. Bodner (eds) Character and Characterization in Judges (T & T Clark, forthcoming).
  5. "The Face of God: Dialogue and Distance in Exodus 33:12-34.8" in Diana V. Edelman and Kristin Joachimsen (eds) Studies in Honor of Kåre Berge, SJOT 37 (2023), 102-115.
  6. "Ornitheology" in Sarah Rollens and Patrick Hart (eds) Worth More than Many Sparrows: Essays in Honour of Willi Braun (London: Equinox, 2023) 48-62.
  7. "The Fate of the Wicked In Job 38.13-15 and the Birth of the Sea" in Pierre van Hecke and Hanneke van Loon (eds) Where is the Way to the Dwelling of Light: Studies in Genesis, Job and Linguistics in Honor of Ellen van Wolde (Leiden: Brill, 2023), 248-267.
  8. "Language and Silence in Isaiah's Oracles Against the Nations" in Steed V. Davidson (ed) Prophetic Otherness: Constructions of Otherness in Prophetic Literature (London: Bloomsbury 2021), pp.105-125.
  9. "Teopoetik: Hoseas, Joel, Amos, og Mika" in Jan Dietrich and Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme (eds) Gud og os (Copenhagen: Bibelselskabets Forlag, 2021), pp.435-454.
  10. "The Poetic Vision of Isaiah" in Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer (ed) The Oxford Handbook of Isaiah (Oxford: OUP, 2020), pp.393-408.
  11. "Metaphorical Clusters in Isaiah" in Danilo Verde and Antje Labahn (eds) Networks of Metaphors in the Hebrew Bible (BETL 309; Leuven: Peeters, 2020), pp.47-60.
  12. "Shamanic Poetics: Isaiah and the Strangeness of Language" Religion and Theology 27 (2020), pp.1-14.
  13. "Erotic Words, Sacred Landscapes, Ideal Bodies: Love and Death in the Song of Songs" in Ken Seignurie (ed) A Companion to World Literature (Oxford: Wiley/Blackwell, 2020), pp.1-10.
  14. "Traps and Metaphors" in Guido Benzi, Elena di Pede, Donatella Scaiola (eds) Profeti Maggiori e Minori a Confronto/ Major and Minor Prophets Compared (Rome: LAS, 2019), pp.163-180.
  15. (Maria-Metzler, co-author). "Deconstructing Horses in Love and War" in Stefan Fischer and Gavin Fernandes (eds), The Song of Songs Afresh: Perspectives on a Biblical Love Poem (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2019), pp.151-166.
  16. "Metaphors for Death and Exile in Isaiah" in Jesper Høgenhaven, Frederik Poulsen, and Cian Power (eds) Images of Exile in the Prophetic Literature, (FZAT 2/103; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019), pp.9-26.
  17. "Ancestral Voices and Disavowal: Poetic Innovation and Intertextuality in the Eighth Century Prophets" in Marianne Grohmann and Hyun Chul Paul Kim (eds) Second Wave Intertextuality and the Hebrew Bible ( Atlanta: SBL Press, 2019), pp. 73-90.
  18. "Introduction: Gil Anidjar, Blood: A Critique of Christianity" MTSR 31(2019) pp.239-243 .
  19. "Why I am Such a Good Christian: Comments on Gil Anidjar, Blood: A Critique of Christianity" MTSR 31 (2019), pp.281-298.
  20. “Seers, Fictions, and Other Worlds” in Frauke Uhlenbruch (ed) “Not in The Spaces we Know”: Explorations in Science Fiction and the Hebrew Bible. JHS 16/9 (2016) pp.11-29.
  21. “Centre and Periphery in the Book of Judges in the Early Second Temple Period” in Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin (eds) Centres and Peripheries in the Early Second Temple Period (FAT: Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016), pp.133-162.
  22. “Between the Words I Write”. In Ian D. Wilson and Diana V. Edelman (eds) History, Memory, Hebrew Scriptures: A Festschrift for Ehud Ben Zvi (Winona  Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2015) pp. 361-74.
  23. “Prophecy as Trap” Studia Theologica 69 (2015) pp.74-91.
  24. "For Whom God’s Name is Blotted Out" in Francis Landy, Bryan Bibb and Leigh Trevaskis (eds) Reading Leviticus in its Contexts (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2015) pp.170-195.
  25. “Fluvial Fantasies” in Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin (eds.) Thinking of Water in the Early Second Temple Period (BZAW; Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 2014) pp.437-456.
  1. “Threshing Floors and Cities” in Diana Edelman and Ehud Ben Zvi (eds) Memory and the City in Ancient Israel (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2014) pp.79-98.
  2. “Maurice Blanchot on Prophetic Speech” in Ellie Tikvah Sarah, Colin Eimer and Howard Cooper (eds), Welcome to the Cavalcade: A Festschrift in Honour of Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet. (London: Kulmus, 2013), pp.356-367.
  3. “Isaiah 2: Torah and Terror”  in Duncan Burns and J.W.Rogerson (eds)   Far From Minimal: Celebrating the Work and Influence of Philip R. Davies  (LHBOTS 484; New York and London: T & T Clark, 2013), pp.259-271.
  4. “Levinas on Prophecy” in David J.A. Clines, Kent Harold Richards, and Jacob L. Wright (eds) Making a Difference: Essays on the Bible and Judaism in Honor of Tamara Cohn Eskenazi (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2012), pp.179-203.
  5. “Notes Towards a Poetics of Memory in Ancient Israel” in Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin (eds) Remembering and Forgetting in Ancient Israel (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), pp. 331-45.
  6. “Paradoxes of Prophetic Language in Isaiah” in Roland Boer, Michael Carden and Julie Kelso (eds) He Who Reads May Run: Essays in Honour of Edgar W. Conrad (LHBOTS 553; New York and London: T & T Clark, 2012), pp.28-40.
  7. “I and Eye in Isaiah or Gazing at the Invisible” Journal of Biblical Literature 131 (2012), pp.85-97.
  8. “Wither or Whither? The Study of Religion at the University of Alberta” (with Willi Braun) Religion 41 (2011), pp.145-48.
  9. “The Book that Cannot Be Read” in David J.A.Clines and Ellen van Wolde (eds) A Critical Engagement: Essays on the Hebrew Bible in Honour of J. Cheryl Exum (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2011), pp.230-55.
  10. "Three Sides of a Coin: In Conversation with Ben Zvi and Nogalski Two Sides of a Coin" Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10/11 (2010), pp.1-21.
  11. “Reading, Writing, and Exile” in Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin (eds) The Concept of Exile in Ancient Israel and Its Historical Contexts (BZAW 404; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010), pp. 257-74.
  12. “Exile in the Book of Isaiah” in Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin (eds) The Concept of Exile in Ancient Israel and Its Historical Contexts (BZAW 404; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010) pp.241-56.
  13. “David and Ittai” in Tod Linafelt, Claudia Camp and Timothy Beal (eds) The Fate of King David: The Past and Present of a Biblical Icon (LHBOTS 500; New York and London: T & T Clark, 2010) pp.19-37.
  14. “Where is Isaiah in Isaiah?” in Manfred Oeming, Hanna Liss (eds) Literary Constructions of Identity in the Ancient World (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2010) pp.283-300.
  15. “Spectrality in the Prologue to Deutero-Isaiah” in Joseph Everson and Hyun Chul Paul Kim (eds) The Desert Will Bloom: Poetic Visions in Isaiah (Atlanta: SBL, 2009), pp.131-59.
  16. “Shibboleth.” Katherine Doob Sakenfeld (ed) New Interpreters’ Dictionary of the Bible5 (Nashville: Abingdon, 2009) pp.231-32.
  17. “The Burden of Tyre.” in Ingo Kottsieper, Rüdiger Schmitt, Jakob Wöhrle (eds) Berürhingspunkte. Studien zur Religions- und Sozialgeschichte des Alten Israel und Seiner Umwelt. Festschrift für Rainer Albertz (AOAT 350; Ugarit-Verlag: Munster, 2008) pp. 239-52.
  18. “Smith, Derrida, and Amos” Willi Braun and Russell T. McCutcheon (eds) Introducing Religion: Festschrift for Jonathan Z. Smith (London: Equinox, 2008) pp.208-30.
  19. “Noah’s Ark and Mrs. Monkey” Biblical Interpretation 15 (2007) pp.351-76.
  20. “Song of Songs.” Yudit Greenberg (ed) Encyclopaedia of Love in World Religions (Oxford: ABC Clio, 2007) pp. 585-87.
  21. “Judges 1: The City of Writing, the Sacred, and the Fragmentation of the Body” in Armin Siedlecki and Wesley Bergen (eds) Uncharted Waters: Essays in Honour of David Jobling (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2006, 37-50.
  22. ”The Temple in the Akedah” in Isaac Kalimi and Peter J. Haas (eds) Biblical Interpretation in Judaism and Christianity (eds) (London: T & T Clark, 2006) pp. 237-50.
  23. “The Ghostly Prelude to Deutero-Isaiah” Biblical Interpretation 14 (2006), pp. 332-63.
  24. “The Parable of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5.1-7) or What is a Love Song doing among the Prophets?” Studies in Religion 34 (2005) pp. 147-64.
  25. “A Rejoinder to A. Brenner, ‘Regulating “Sons” and “Daughters” in the Torah and in Proverbs: Some Preliminary Insights” Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 5 (2005) (on-line)
  26. “The End of the World: Qohelet 12.1-7 and Lamentations Rabbah” in Yvonne Sherwood (ed) Derrida’s Bible (New York: Palgrave, 2004), pp.231-46.
  27. “Torah and Anti-Torah: Isaiah 2:2-4 and 1:10-26” Biblical Interpretation 11 (2003) pp,317-34.
  28. “Between David and David: Psalm 24 and David Clines” in J.Cheryl Exum and Hugh G. M. Williamson (eds) Reading from Right to Left: Essays on the Hebrew Bible in Honour of David J. A. Clines (London: Continuum, 2004), pp.275-289.
  29. “Prophetic Intercourse” in Alastair Hunter and Philip R Davies (eds), Sense and Sensitivity: Essays on Reading the Bible in Memory of Robert Carroll (JSOTS 348, Sheffield: SAP, 2002) pp,.261-279.      
  30. “Perversity, Truth and the Readerly Experience” in Ingrid Rosa Kitzberger (ed) Autobiographical Biblical Criticism (Leiden: Deo, 2002). 60-78.          
  31. "Ghostwriting Isaiah." In Philip Davies (ed.) First Person: Essays in Biblical Autobiography (London and New York: Continuum, 2002) pp.93-114.  
  32. "Récits d'amour dans la Bible hébraique" Le Monde du Bible 128 (2000) pp.53-55.
  33. "The Covenant With Death." In Tod Linafelt (ed) Strange Fire: The Hebrew Scriptures After the Holocaust. (The Biblical Seminar 71; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000) pp.220-232.
  34. "Vision and Voice in Isaiah." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament.88 (2000) pp.19-36.     
  35. “The Song of Songs.” For David N. Freedman (ed.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000) pp.1242-44.
  36. “Seraphim and Poetic Process.” In Fiona C.Black and Erin Runions (eds) The Labour of Reading: Essays in Honour of Robert C. Culley at the Time of His Retirement  ( Semeia Studies; Atlanta: ScholarsPress, 2000), pp.15-34.    
  37. "Leviticus, Deconstruction and the Body." Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 2 (1999 
  38. “Strategies of Concentration and Diffusion in Isaiah 6” Biblical Interpretation 6 (1999) pp.58-86.      
  39. “Flood and Fludd” in J.Cheryl Exum and Stephen D. Moore (eds). _Biblical Studies/Cultural Studies: The Third Sheffield Colloquium_(Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998) pp.117-159.
  40. “Do We Want our Children to Read this Book?” Semeia 77 (Danna Nolan Fewell and Gary A. Phillips (eds) The Bible and the Ethics of Reading, 1997) pp.155-175.
  41. "Sex and Sadism in Hosea" in J. Magonet (ed.) Jewish Explorations of Sexuality London: Duckworth, Providence: Berghahn, 1995, pp. 17-26.
  42. "Fantasy and the Displacement of Desire in Hosea 2.4-17" in Athalya Brenner (ed.) A Feminist Companion to the Latter Prophets (The Feminist Companion to the Bible 8; Sheffield Academic Press: Sheffield), 1995 pp.145-160.
  43. "In the Wilderness of Speech: Problems of Metaphor in Hosea."  Biblical Interpretation 3 (1995) pp.35-59.
  44. "Ruth and the Romance of Realism, or Deconstructing History" JAAR 62 (1994) pp.285-317.
  45. "Sacred Space and Public Pleasure." Muse  II (1993) 22-27.
  46. "On Metaphor, Play and Nonsense." Semeia  61 (1993) 219-237.
  47. "The Construction of the Subject and the Symbolic Order: A Reading of the Last Three Suffering Servant Songs."  Among the Prophets:  Language, Image  and Structure in the Prophetic Writings ed. Philip Davies  (Sheffield Academic Press: Sheffield,  1993) pp. 60-71.
  48. "Tracing the Voice of the Other: Isaiah 28 and the Covenant with Death."  For The New Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible ed. David J. Clines and J. Cheryl Exum (Sheffield Academic Press: Sheffield, 1993) 140-162.
  49. "Mishneh Torah: A Response to Myself and Phyllis Trible" in A Feminist Companion to the Song of Songs ed. A Brenner (Sheffield Academic Press: Sheffield 1993) pp. 260-265.
  50. "In Defense of Jakobson" in JBL III(1992) 105-13.
  51. "Jouissance and Poetics." Union Seminary Quarterly Review 45 (1991) 51-64.
  52. Preface to Jan Fokkelman Narrative Art in Genesis: Specimens of Stylistic and Structural Analysis (JSOT Press:  The Biblical Seminar 12: Sheffield, 1991) xi-xvi.
  53. "Humour as a Tool in Biblical Exegesis" in On Humour and the Comic in the Hebrew Bible ed. A. Brenner and Y.T. Radday (Sheffield Academic Press: Sheffield, 1990) 101-117. Reprint of "Humour in the Bible" Jewish Quarterly 29/1 (1980) 13-19.
  54. "On the Gender of God and the Feminist Enterprise: A Response to Shannon Clarkson" Studies in Religion 19 (1990) 485-487.
  55. "Shibboleth: The Password" Proceedings of the Tenth World Congress of Jewish Studies (1990) 91-99.
  56. "Literariness and the Bible" Jewish Quarterly 135 (Autumn, 1989), 53-57.
  57. "Narrative Techniques and Symbolic Transactions in the Akedah" in Signs and Wonders: Biblical Texts in Literary Focus ed. J. Cheryl Exum (Scholars Press: 1989) 1-40.
  58. "Between the Bible and Torah" in Approaches to the Hebrew Bible in Translation ed. Barry N. Olshen and Yael S. Feldman (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1989) pp. 83-86.
  59. "Vision and Poetic Speech in Amos" HAR 11 (1987) 223-246.
  60. "Lamentations" The Literary Guide to the Bible, pp. 329-334.
  61. "The Song of Songs" The Literary Guide to the Bible ed. Robert Alter and Frank Kermode (Harvard U.P.: Cambridge and Collins: London, 1987) 305-319.  Paperback edition 1990.         
  62. "Recent Developments in Biblical Poetics" Prooftexts 7 (1987) 163-178.
  63. "Gilead and the Fatal Word" Proceedings of the Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies (1986) 39-44.
  64. "A Possible Trace of the Theme of the Centaur in the Midrash" Synkresis D 156-161, E 121-130 (1986).
  65. "Are we in the Place of Averroes?" Semeia 32 (1985) 131-148.
  66. "Poetics and Parallelism: Some Comments on James Kugel's 'The Idea of Biblical Poetry'" JSOT 28 (1984) 61-87.
  67. "Eros and Hieros in the Song of Songs" The Heythrop Journal 24 (1983) 301-307.
  68. "The Case of Kugel: Do we Find ourselves when we Lose ourselves in the Text?"  Comparative Criticism 5 (1983) 305-316.
  69. "Two Versions of Paradise: The Metaphor of the Garden in the Song of Songs and the Garden of Eden" Harvest 28 (1982) 112-129.
  70. "The Serpent in the Garden of Eden" Harvest 27 (1981) 38-44.
  71. "Structure and Mythology in the Song of Songs" Prospice 11 (1981) 97-117.
  72. "Irony and Catharsis in Biblical Poetry: David's Lament over Saul and Jonathan" European Judaism 15/1 (1981) 3-13.
  73. "The Name of God and the Image of God and Man" Theology 84 (1981) 164-170.
  74. "Beauty and the Enigma: An Inquiry into Some Interrelated Episodes in the Song of Songs"  JSOT 17 (1980) 53-106.
  75. "The Song of Songs and the Garden of Eden" JBL 98 (1979) , pp.513-528.  

Reviews

  1. Liane Feldman, The Story of Sacrifice CBQ 84 (2022), 111-13.
  2. André Lacocque, Work and Creativity RBL (12th April, 2020).
  3. Marvin A. Sweeney, Isaiah 40-66 Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 17 (2017)
  4. Keith Bodner The Artistic Dimension: Literary Explorations of the Hebrew Bible. Hebrew Studies 57 (2016), pp.201-204.
  5. Christopher Hays A Covenant With Death: Death in the Iron Age and Its Rhetorical Uses in Proto-Isaiah Review of Biblical Literature 8/25/2016.
  6. Sarah Hammerschlag The Figural Jew: Politics and Identity in Postwar French Thought.  Bible and Critical Theory 12/1 (2016) pp.120-123.
  7. Claudia V. Camp Ben Sira and the Men Who Handle Books: Gender and the Rise of Canon-Consciousness. Bible and Critical Theory Bible and Critical Theory 12/2 (2016), pp.153-156.
  8. Laura Feldt, The Fantastic in Religious Narrative from Exodus to Elisha. Journal of Semitic Studies 59 (2014) pp.474-475.
  9. Hélène Cixous Poetry in Painting: Writings in Contemporary Arts and Aesthetics Bible and Critical Theory 9 (2014) pp.156-158.
  10. Yvonne Sherwood Biblical Blaspheming: Trials of the Sacred in a Secular Age Review of Biblical Literature 11/4/2013.
  11. Ulrich Berges , Jesaja: Der Prophet und Das Buch Review of Biblical Literature 3/1/2013.
  12. Scott Noegel and Gary Rendsburg Solomon's Vineyard: Literary and Linguistic Studies in the Song of Songs. Journal of Semitic Studies 57 (2012), pp.177-80.
  13. Dean Andrew Nicholas The Trickster Revisited: Deception as a Motif in the Pentateuch. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 73 (2011), pp. 132-33.
  14. Elie Assis Flashes of Fire: A Literary Analysis of the Song of Songs. Review of Biblical Literature 17/01/2011. 5 pages.
  15. A. Perry God’s Twilight Zone: Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 72 (2010), pp.121-123.
  16. John Jarick (ed) Sacred Conjectures: The Context and Legacy of Robert Lowth and Jean Astruc. (London and New York: T  & T Clark, 2007).  Biblical Interpretation 18 (2010), pp.85-86.
  17. John Goldingay The Message of Deutero-Isaiah: A Literary-Theological Commentary Review of Biblical Literature 4/4/2009 (4 pages)
  18. Hugh G.M. Williamson A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Isaiah 1-27: Volume 1: Commentary on Isaiah 1-5. Review of Biblical Literature 21/6/09.
  19. Brad Kelle, Hosea 2: Metaphor and Rhetoric in Historical Perspective (Atlanta SBL, 2007) Biblica.90 (2009), pp.117-120.
  20. Burkard Zapff, Jesaja 56-66 (Neuer Echter Bibel; Stuttgart: Echter, 2007).  Toronto Journal of Theology.24 (2008), pp.287-288.
  21. Daphna Arbel Beholders of Divine Secrets: Mysticism and Myth in the Hekhalot and Merkavah Literature (Albany: SUNY, 2003). Studies in Religion, 37 (2008) pp. 145-47
  22. Cheryl Exum, Song of Songs (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox). Biblical Interpretation 16 (2008) pp.83-85.
  23. Richard S. Hess Song of Songs (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005). Shofar 25 (2007) pp.,196-98.
  24. Aaron Hughes The Texture of the Divine: Imagination in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Thought (Bloomington: Indiana U.P. 2004). Studies in Religion 34 (2005) pp.587-89.
  25. Athalya Brenner I Am: Biblical Women Tell Their Own Stories (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005). Review of Biblical Literature (6/18/2005).
  26. David Jobling, Gary A. Phillips and Tamara Cohn Eskenazi (eds) Levinas and Biblical Studies (Atlanta/Leiden: SBL/Brill, 2003). Review of Biblical Literature (3/27/2005)
  27. André Lacocque and Paul Ricoeur Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutic Studies (Chicago: Chicago U.P. 2003). Review of Biblical Literature (10/9/2004).
  28. Joseph Blenkinsopp Isaiah 40-55: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Anchor Bible 19A; New York: Doubleday, 2002). Review of Biblical Literature (7/25/2004)
  29. Oona Ajzenstat Driven Back to the Text: The Premodern Sources of Levinas’s Postmodernism (Pittsburg: Duquesne University Press). Review of Biblical Literature. (1/23/2004)
  30. Israel Knohl The Divine Symphony: the Bible’s Many Voices (Philadelphia: JPS, 2003). Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 5 (2004-5).
  31. Isaac Kalimi Early Jewish Exegesis and Theological Controversy: Studies in Scripture in the Shadow of Internal and External Conflicts (Assen: Van Gorcum, 2002). Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 4 (2003-4).
  32. William Whedbee The Bible and the Comic Vision (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002). Catholic Biblical Quarterly 65 (2003) pp.625-26.
  33. Jan Fokkelman Reading Biblical Poetry (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2001). Review of Biblical Literature (7/19/2003)
  34. Dianne Bergant The Song of Songs (Berit Olam; Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2001). Review of Biblical Literature. (5/10/2003)           
  35. Tod Linafelt Surviving Lamentations: Catastrophe, Lament, and Protest in the Afterlife of a Biblical Book (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).  Journal of the American Academy of Religion 71 (2003) pp.218-22)        
  36. Joseph Blenkinsopp Isaiah 1-39 (Anchor Bible 19; New York: Doubleday, 2000). Review of Biblical Literature. (2/22/2003) 
  37. Meir Sternberg "Hebrews Between Cultures: Group Portraits and National Literature" (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998) Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 3 (2000).
  38. Adele Reinhartz, "Why Ask My Name?” Anonymity and Identity in Biblical Narrative (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). Journal of Biblical Literature 119 (2000) pp.541-543.
  39. Benjamin D. Sommer A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 40-66 (Stanford: Stanford University Press). Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, forthcoming.
  40. Jörg Barthel. Prophetenwort und Geschichte: Die Jesajaüberlieferung in Jes 6-8 und 28-31  (Forschungen zum Alten Testament 19. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.).  Journal of Biblical Literature 118 (1999), pp.543-545       
  41. Beatrice Martina Guenther The Poetics of Death: The Short Prose of Kleist and Balzac. (Albany: State Univerity of New York Press. 1996) Armando Petrucci by Michael Sullivan. Writing the Dead: Death and Writing Strategies in the Western Tradition (Stanford: Stanford University Press [Figurae: Reading Medieval Culture] 1998).   Canadian Journal of Comparative Literature 25 (1998) pp.629-633.  
  42. Ulrike Wiethaus Ecstatic Transformation: Transpersonal Psychology in the Work of Mechthild of Magdeburg (Syracuse University Press. 1996). For Religious Studies and Theology.
  43. Pinchas Giller The Enlightened Will Shine: Symbolization and Theurgy in the Later Strata of the Zohar. For Religious Studies and Theology.    
  44. Cheryl Exum Tragedy and Biblical Narrative (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P.1992) pp.206; Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical Women (Sheffield Acad.P. 1996). Prooftexts 18 (1998) pp. 95-102.
  45. John Day, Robert P. Gordon and H.G.M. Williamson (eds.) Wisdom in Ancient Israel: Essays in Honour of J.A. Emerton ( Cambridge U.P. 1995). For Religious Studies and Theology.
  46. Ariel and Chana Bloch, The Song of Songs (Random House, 1995). Journal of Semitic Studies, pp.67-69.
  47. Bible and Culture collective The Postmodern Bible (Yale U.P., 1995) (chapter on Psychoanalytic Criticism). Biblicon 1 (1997), pp.65-72.
  48. Danna N. Fewell and David M. Gunn Gender, Power, and Promise: The Subject of the Bible's First Story (Nashville: Abingdon). Biblical Interpretation.4 (1996) pp.237-239.
  49. Neusner Israel's Love Affair With God: Song of Songs (Valley Forge: Trinity P. 1993). Hebrew Studies 36 (1995) pp.204-206.
  50. H. Snaith The Song of Songs (The New Century Bible; London: SPCK, 1994). Critical Review Books in Religion 8 (1995) 151-153
  51. Thomas Jemielity Satire in the Hebrew Prophets (Louisville: Westminster). Critical Review of Books in Religion 7 (1994) 125-127
  52. Randall J. Bailey David in Love and War. For Bibliotheca Orientalis, forthcoming.
  53. Freema Gottlieb The Lamp of God: A Jewish Book of Light (Jason Aronson: New York, 1989) Midstream 37/7 (October, 1991) 47-48.  Reprinted in Jewish Book News (March 1992) 36-39.
  54. Hans-Josef Heinevetter Das Hohelied als Programmatische Komposition (Athenäum, 1989); Othmar Keel Das Hohelied (Zürcher Bibelkommentare, 1986); Raymond Tournay Word of God, Song of Love tr. Ed Crowley (Paulist Press, 1988). JBL 110 (1991) 332-336.
  55. Sister Timothea Elliot The Literary Unity of the Canticle (Peter Lang, 1989). Biblica 72 (1991) 570-572.
  56. Daniel Boyarin Intertextuality and the Study of Midrash (Indiana U.P., 1990). Canadian Review of Comparative Literature 18 (1991) 597-600.
  57. Stephen Prickett Words and the Word: Language, Poetics and Biblical Interpretation (Cambridge U.P., 1986).  Canadian Review of Comparative Literature 16 (1989) 357-361.
  58. Colette Sirat A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages (Cambridge U.P., 1985). Religious Studies and Theology 8 (1988) 41-43.
  59. Amnon Cohen Jewish Life under Islam: Jerusalem in the Sixteenth Century (Harvard U.P., 1984).  Religious Studies and Theology 8 (1988) 43-45.
  60. Edgar McKnight The Bible and the Reader: An Introduction to Literary Criticism.  Canadian Review of Comparative Literature 15 (1988) 245-247.
  61. Meir Sternberg, The Poetics of Biblical Narrative: Ideological Literature and the Drama of Reading. JAAR 56 (1988) 360-362.
  62. Poland, Lynn M., Literary Criticism and Biblical Hermeneutics. Journal of Religion 66 (1986) 466-468.
  63. Julio C. Trebolle-Barrera, Jehu y Joas: Texto y composicion literaria de 2 Reyes 9-11.  Journal of Theological Studies.  37 (1986) 141-142.
  64. Zali Gurevitch and Gabriel Levin (ed.) Poetry from Israel 1970-1980. Ariel 57 (1984) 132-133.
  65. Marcia Falk, Love Lyrics from the Bible. Heythrop Journal 25 (1984) 388-390.
  66. Enrica Salvaneschi, Cantico dei Cantici: interpretatio ludica. Heythrop Journal 25 (1984) 385-388.
  67. James Kugel, The Idea of Biblical Poetry:  Parallelism and Its History.  Heythrop Journal 24 (1983) 210-212.
  68. Kathleen Raine, The Human Face of God:  William Blake and the Book of Job. Harvest 28 (1982) 162-164.       
  69. Gabriel Josipovici, The Air We Breathe Jewish Quarterly 30 1/2 (1982) 60.
  70. Steven Brams, Biblical Games:  A Strategic Analysis of Stories in the Old Testament .  JSOT 23 (1982) 109-113.
  71. Alvin H. Rosenfeld, A Double Dying ; Sidra Dekoven Ezrahi, By Words Alone:  The Holocaust in Literature.  Jewish Quarterly 29/1 (1981) 53-56.
  72. Gerhard Lohfink, The Bible: NOW I Get It?  A Form-Critical Handbook. JSOT 18 (1980) 121-122.
  73. Moshe Dor and Natan Zach (ed.) The Burning Bush: Poems from Modern Israel; Howard Schwartz (ed.)  For a Few Hours Only:  Selected Poems of Shlomo Vinner; Yehuda Amichai (tr. Ruth Nevo), Travels of a Latter-day Benjamin of Tudela; David Jaffin,  The Half of a Circle; David Roskies,  Night Words:  A Midrash on the Holocaust; Ken Smith, Anus Mundi:  Black Sonnets. European Judaism 13 (1979) 50-53.
  74. Alfred Alvarez, Autumn to Autumn and Selected Poems 1953-1976 and Hunt Jewish Quarterly 26 (1978) 119-121.  Reprinted in American Review of Reviews.
  75. Gabriel Josipovici, Four Stories. Jewish Quarterly 25/4 (1977) 49-50.
  76. Howard Schwartz, Midrashim. Jewish Quarterly 25/2 (1977) 55.
  77. Joseph Leftwich (ed) An Anthology of Yiddish Literature; Eliezer Greenberg and Irving Howe (ed.)  Selected Stories by I.L. Peretz; Abraham Sutzkever:  Partisan Poet; Joseph Leftwich (ed.), Poems of Zalman Shazar . European Judaism 10 (1976) 43-46.

Papers

  1. "Three Bodies of God". EABS Annual Meeting, Syracuse, Sicily, July 2023 (Reading, Theory and Poetics section).
  2. "Three Bodies of God". Lecture for Centre of Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, January 2023
  3. "The Child and the King". Children in the Biblical World section. SBL Annual Meeting, Denver, November, 2022.
  4. Response to session on "Beauty in Ancient Judaism" in Philology in Hebrew Studies section, SBL Annual Meeting, Denver, November 2022
  5. "David's Last Words, Death, and Poetry" EABS Annual Meeting, Toulouse/hybrid. July 2022.
  6. Response to special session on Sacrifice and Purity in the Hebrew Bible, Deconstructive Poetics/Anthropology joint session, EABS Annual Meeting online, August, 2021.
  7. "Affect, Desire, and the Experience of (Re)Reading the Song of Songs" EABS Annual Meeting (online), August, 2021.
  8. Panelist on "Metaphor Theory and the Hebrew Bible" SBL Annual Meeting, online, November, 2020.
  9. "Job the Gever" SBL Annual Meeting, San Diego, November, 2019 (Psychology and the Bible section).
  10. "The Face of God" EABS Annual Meeting, Warsaw, August 2019
  11. "Freedom and Responsibility" EABS Annual Meeting, August 2019.
  12. "Metaphor and Affect" CSBS Annual Meeting, Vancouver June, 2019.
  13. "The Child in Isaiah 1-11" SBL Annual Meeting, Denver, November 2018 (Psychology and the Bible Section).
  14. "Metaphorical Clusters in Isaiah" SBL/EABS Annual Meeting, Helsinki, August 2018 (read for me by Claudia Camp).
  15. "Exile in the Book of Isaiah" Presidential Address, AAR/SBL Pacific Northwest Annual Meeting, May, 2018.
  16. “The Prophetic Trap”, Convegno biblico internazionale, “I profeti “maggiori” e “minori” a confronto,” Mantua, Italy, October 2017.
  17. “Shamanic Poetics: With Stammering Lips and Another Tongue with he Speak to this People” Anthropology Section, International SBL/EABS, Berlin, August 2017
  18. “Deconstructing Horses, in Love and War” (with Maria Metzler). Symposium on the Song of Songs, Berlin, August 2017. Deconstructive Poetics section, International SBL/EABS, , Berlin, August 2017.
  19. “Metaphors for Death and Exile in Isaiah”. Images of Exile in the Prophetic Literature conference, Copenhagen, May 2017.
  20. “Aniconism and Gender”. Prophetic Literature section, AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Nov.2016
  21. “What it is to Decompose a Book”, Reading, Theory and the Bible section (with Peter Sabo), AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Nov.2016.
  22. “Toward a Metapoetics of the Hebrew Bible”. Deconstructive Poetics section, EABS, Leuven, August 2016.
  23. “On Why I am Such a Good Christian” – Special section on Gil Anidjar Blood. CSBS Annual Meeting, Calgary, May 2016.
  24. “Deuteronomy and the Politics of Farewell” Abschiedsvorlesung. University of Alberta, December, 2015.
  25. “Rahab, Conquistadores, and Masquerades”, Joshua and Judges section, AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Nov. 2015
  26. “Between Centre and Periphery: Space and Gender in the Book of Judges in the Early Second Temple Period”. Centres and Peripheries in the Early Second Temple Period: International Workshop at Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, June 10-14, 2015.
  27. “Alliteration and the Body in Isaiah’s Oracles against the Nations” Body, Sensation, Affect section.  Canadian Society of Biblical Literature Meeting, Ottawa, May 2015.
  28. “Prophecy and Alterity in Isaiah’s Oracles against the Nations”. Prophetic Literature section. AAR/SBL Annual Meeting. San Diego, Nov.2014.
  29. “The Mythical and the Mystical: The Rivers of Psalm 93”. Biblical Mythology section. AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, San Diego, Nov.2014.
  30. Seminar: Isaiah 11 and the Utopian Vision. University of Oslo. Faculty of Theology. Oct.16th, 2014.
  31. “Prophecy as Trap: Isaiah 6 and Its Permutations” Mowinckel Lecture. University of Oslo: Faculty of Theology. Oct 16th, 2014. Also given at Hebrew Bible Workshop, Harvzrd University March 2015.
  32. “Seers, Fictions, and Other World(s)” SBL/EABS International Meeting, Vienna, July 2014.
  33. “Like a Dream, A Vision of the Night (Isaiah 29.7-8)” (with Peter Sabo). AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Baltimore, Nov.2013.
  34. “What Has Athens to do with Jerusalem? Orbis Tertius and the Poetics of the Outside” AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Baltimore, Nov.2013.
  35. Review of The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible, CSBS Annual Meeting, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Victoria, June, 2013.
  36. Response to session on Morny Joy (ed) After Appropriation. CSSR Annual Meeting, Congress of the Humanities, Victoria, May 2013.
  37. Member of panel of Gary Yamasaki Perspective Criticism. AAR/SBL Pacific-Northwest Regional Meeting, Seattle, May 2013.
  38. “Death, Ghosts, Exile, Repetition: Reading for the Uncanny in Lamentations (with Peter Sabo). SBL Annual Meeting, Chicago, 2012.
  39. “Hélène Cixous and the Oracles Against the Nations” AAR Annual Meeting, Chicago, 2012.
  40. “Threshing Floors and Cities” in International SBL Annual Meeting, Amsterdam, August, 2012.
  41. Fluvial Fantasies" In "Thinking of Water in the Late Persian/Early Hellenistic Period in Judah" University of Alberta-LMU Workshop, University of Alberta, May 2012
  42. “Is Phaedrus Also Among the Prophets?" (with Peter Sabo) AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 2011.
  43. “Reading, Writing, and the Parable of the Book" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 2011
  44. "Jerusalem, Joy of all the Earth"  Urban Dreams and Ancient Realities Conference.  Oct. 21-22nd. 2011, University of Alberta.
  45. "Prophetic Signs and Secrecy" Society of Old Testament Study Summer Meeting, Oxford, July 2011.
  46. “Wither or Whither? The Study of Religion at the University of Alberta."  Special session on Crisis and Creativity in the Study of Religion.  XX International Association for the History of Religions  Congress, Toronto, August 2011 (with Willi Braun).
  47. "The Figure of the Child in Isaiah 11" SBL International Meeting, London, July 2011.
  48. “Notes Towards a Poetics of Memory in Ancient Israel" Workshop on Remembering and Forgetting in Judah's early Second Temple period, Ludwig Maximilan University, Munich, June 27-July 1st, 2011
  49. “What do Stories about the Prophets Want?” Deception and the Bible conference, Bristol, Dec.2010.
  50. "Reception History: Theory and Practice in the Blackwell Commentary Series".  SBL Annual Meeting, Atlanta 2010.
  51. “I and Eye in Isaiah or Gazing at the Invisible” Presidential Address. Canadian Society of Biblical Studies. May 2010
  52. Response to James Nogalski and Ehud Ben Zvi One Book or Twelve? Pacific Northwest AAR/SBL Regional Meeting,  May 2010.
  53. “The Spectral Mother and the Lost Children” SBL Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Nov.2009.
  54. “Bible and Critique of Religion/Religion as Critique” NAASR/SBL Joint Session, New Orleans, Nov.2009
  55. “Reading, Writing, and Exile” Concepts of Exile in Ancient Israel and Its Contexts Workshop. Munich, June, 2009.
  56. “Rahab and Dona Marina” CSBS Annual Meeting, Ottawa, May 2009
  57. “Varieties of Apocalypse in the Hebrew Bible” Colloquium on Apocalypticism and Messianism, University of Alberta, May 2009.
  58. “What Does Criticism Do?” SBL Annual Meeting, Boston, Nov.2008.
  59. Danna Fewell, The Children of Israel: Reading the Bible for the Sake of Our Children (Abingdon)
  60. “Paradoxes of Prophetic Language in Isaiah”, SBL Annual International Meeting, Auckland, New Zealand, July 2008.
  61. Comments on Ehud Ben Zvi’s History, Literature and Theology in the Book of Chronicles (Pacific Northwest Annual Meeting, AAR/SBL) Newburg, Oregon, May 2008
  62. “Exile in the Book of Isaiah.” The Concept of Exile in Israel and Its Ancient Contexts Workshop. Ludwig Maximilien University, Munich-University of Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta. April 2008.
  63. “Poetics and Imagination in Rabbi Isaac the Blind’s Commentary on Sefer Yetsirah”, Association for Jewish Studies Annual Meeting, San Diego, December 2006.
  64. “Otherwise than Isaiah, or How Not to Understand.” Paper read at the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, November 2006.
  65. Response to Peter Miscall, An Adventure in Reading the Scroll of Isaiah, AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Washington, November, 2006.
  66. “Where is Isaiah in Isaiah.” Conference on Literary Fiction and the Construction of Identity in Ancient Literatures, University of Heidelberg/Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg, July 2006.
  67. “Apocalypse and Apophasis: Paronomasia, Proverbs and Prolixity in Isaiah 28.19-22” Canadian Society of Biblical Studies Annual Meeting, May 2006.
  68. “Isaiah, Mystique and Mystery” Pacific Northwest Region of the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, May 2006.
  69. “Rabbi Isaac the Blind’s Commentary on the Sefer Yetsirah.” University of Alberta, February, 2006.
  70. “Images of the Feminine in Isaiah”. University of British Columbia, November 2005.
  71. “The Fall of Lucifer in Isaiah and Mesopotamian Parallels” University of British Columbia, November, 2005.
  72. “Text as Revelation: Jewish Perspectives.” Paper read at the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, May 2005
  73. “Language, Exile and Utopia in Isaiah.” Lecture at the University of Florence, May, 2005. Also delivered at the University of Sheffield, February, 2006.\
  74. “Does Isaiah 40:1-11 Answer to Isaiah 6? Spectrality and Autonomy in Deutero-Isaiah” Formation of Isaiah Seminar, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Antonio, November 22nd, 2004. (Society of Biblical Literature Seminar papers, online. 33 pages).
  75. “Jacques Derrida’s Archive Fever and Edith Wyschogrod’s The Ethics of Remembering.” MEMI Annual Meeting, University of Alberta, May 2004.
  76. “Madonna the Kabbalist.” The Sacred in Contemporary Society Series, University of Alberta, March 2004.
  77. “Isaiah in the Context of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship.” Ryukoku University, October 2003.
  78. “Judaism: Concepts, History, and Practice” Ryukoku University. October, 2003.
  79. “Rotten Grapes Produce the Best Wine: Isaiah’s Beerenauslese” University of Lethbridge, October, 2003. Andrew’s College, Saskatoon, Jan.2004).
  80. “The End of the World: Qohelet 12.1-7, Lamentations Rabbah, and Abraham Abulafia” for “Reading a Page of Scripture with a Little Help from Jacques Derrida” section of the AAR/SBL Meeting, Toronto, Nov.2002.
  81. Discussant and referent at Colloquium organized by Dutch Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, “The Book of Job: Suffering and Cognition in Context,” Amsterdam, April, 2002.
  82. "Judges 1: The City of Writing, the Sacred, and the Fragmentation of the Body" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Denver, November 2001. Presented also at University of Calgary, March 2002.
  83. "The Discourse of Sexuality in Isaiah 1-12" SBL International Meeting, Rome, July 2001.
  84. "The Divine Trap in Amos 3.3-8" CSBS Annual Meeting, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Quebec, May 2001.
  85. "For Three Sins of X and for Four I Will Not Retract It: Structure and Rhetorical Entrapment in Amos' Oracles Against the Nations (1.3-2.3)" Pacific North-West AAR/SBL Regional Meeting, Edmonton, May, 2001.
  86. "Perversity, Truth and the Readerly Experience" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Nashville, November 2000.
  87. Panelist on "Who Do You Say That I Am?" Provincial Museum, October 2000.
  88. "Abraham Abulafia's Commentary on the Book of Creation" University of Alberta Philosophy Colloquium, March 2000.
  89. "Kabbalah between Christian and Islamic Worlds" Edmonton Mediterranean Institute, February, 2000.
  90. "The Man Question: An Answer?" Response to Biblical and Cultural Studies Session, AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Boston, November 1999.
  91. "Six Walks in the Canonical Woods" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Boston, November, 1999.
  92. "Prelude to a Poetics of Biblical Hebrew Poetry" SBL International Meeting. Lahti, Finland, July 1999.
  93. "Leviticus, Deconstruction and the Body" CSBS Annual Meeting, Sherbrooke, Quebec, June, 1999.
  94. "Towards a Post-Holocaust Reading of Isaiah" CSBS Annual Meeting, Sherbrooke, Quebec, June, 1999.
  95. "Noah's Ark and Mrs. Monkey" PN AAR/SBL Regional Meeting, Tacoma, April 1999.
  96. “Vision and Voice in Isaiah” PN AAR/SBL Regional Meeting, Portland, May 1998.             
  97. “Hidden Texts in Isaiah.” AAR/SBL Annual Meeting. San Francisco. Nov.1997                    
  98. "Nancy Jay's Theory of Sacrifice" CSBS Annual Meeting, St.John's, Newfoundland, June, 1997
  99. "Flood and Fludd" For the Third Sheffield Colloquium: The Bible Into Culture. Sheffield, England, April, 1997
  100. “Isaiah and the Politics of Death”, Faculty of Arts Research Connections Series, Feb. 1997         
  101. “Seraphim and Poetic Process” AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Nov.1996.
  102. Response to David Atkinson and Daniel Bogert-O’Brien, “What’s the Point of Liberal Education”, CIRLA Conference, Banff, May, 1996.
  103. “Strategies of Concentration and Diffusion in Isaiah 6” Pacific North-West AAR/ SBL regional meeting, Great Falls, Montana, and CSBS Annual Meeting, St. Catherine’s, May and June, 1996.     
  104. “Ethics and Interpretation” AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, Nov.1996.
  105. Seminars on "The Burdens of Isaiah" at Oxford and Edinburgh Universities May
  106. "Metaphor, Mysticism, Misogyny: A Reader-Response Commentary on Hosea." McCalla Professorship Lecture. April 1995.
  107. "Prophetic Burdens in Isaiah 13-23" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Chicago, Nov. 1994.
  108. Response to Gender and Cultural Criticism Consultation Session, "Queens of Hollywood: Biblical Spectacles and Hollywood Glitz." AAR/SBL Annual     Meeting, Chicago, Nov. 1994
  109. Introduction to Plenary Session, "Biblical Scholarship in the Twenty-First Century." AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Chicago, Nov. 1994
  110. "Varieties of Metaphor in Hosea." Religious Studies Colloquium, Edmonton, October 1993.       
  111. "Parables and Princesses in the Bahir." AAR/SBL NW Pacific Regional Meeting, Edmonton, May 1993.                    
  112. "Disintegrating Metaphor in Hosea." AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 1992.     
  113. "Is Fancy Free? Imagination and Discipline in the Study of Religion."  Pneuma and Gnosis series, U of A Chaplaincy, November, 1992.                     
  114. "Isaiah 28 and the Covenant with Death." SBL International Congress, Melbourne Australia, July 1992.
  115. “Parable, Prostitution and Paradox: A Reading of Hosea 1."  The Erhardt Seminar, University of Manchester, May 1991.               
  116. "Language, Prostitution and Prophecy: Narrative and Distantiation in Hosea 1," Dept. of Biblical Studies Seminar, University of Sheffield, April, 1991.               
  117. "You Mean There's Comedy in the Bible?" Conference on Comedy in the Bible, University of Sussex, March, 1991.                   
  118. "Construction and Deconstruction in the Psalms" SBL International Meeting, Vienna, August 1990.
  119. "Who is Blind as the Servant of the Lord? Or his Interpreter?"  Jewish-Christian Bible Week, Bendorf, West Germany, July 1990.                   
  120. "Between Centre and Periphery Her Story" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Anaheim, November 1989.
  121. Response to Mieke Bal on "The Current State of Feminist Biblical Scholarship," Westar Conference, Toronto, October 1989.
  122. "Jewish Approaches to Bereavement." Symposium on Death, Dying and Grieving, Edmonton, June 1989.        
  123. "Reader, Poetics and Anti-Poetics" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Chicago, November 1988.
  124. "Ruth: Romance for Deconstruction?"  CSBS Annual Meeting, Windsor, June 1988, and SBL International Meeting, Sheffield, August 1988.
  125. "Vision and Poetic Speech in Amos" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Atlanta, November 1986.
  126. Review of Robert Alter The Art of Biblical Poetry. CSBS Annual Meeting, Winnipeg, June 1986.
  127. "Literary Anorexia and Proverbial Wisdom" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Anaheim, November 1985.
  128. "Rhetorical Stratagems and Symbolic Inversions in Isaiah 19" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Chicago, December 1984.
  129. "Egypt in the Prophets" Conference on Egyptology and the Bible, Jerusalem, April 1984.
  130. "Symbolic Transaction and the Binding of Isaac" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Dallas, December 1983.
  131. Response to Othmar Keel on the Song of Songs at the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) Congress, Salamanca, August 1983.
  132. "Honey in the Old Testament" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, New York, December 1982.
  133. "The Wife-Sister Motif and the Character of Isaac" AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, San Francisco, December 1981.

Grants:

  • Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, for 1990-91: $8,000.
  • Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, for 1991-94: $27,000.
  • McCalla Professorship, 1993-94.
  • SSHRC 4A Grant for 1995-96: $4,000
  • SSHRC Grant for 1996-99: $19,000.
  • SSHRC Grant for 2003-2006. $77,,012.
  • SAS Grant 2007: $2,919
  • SSHRC 4A Grant 2008: $7,500
  • SAS Travel Grant 2008: $3000.

Administration

  • Departmental Library Representative 1984-89, 1995-96.
  • Undergraduate and Honors Student Advisor 1986-90, 1991-94, 1996-99.
  • Graduate Coordinator Religious Studies, 1999-2004.
  • Chair, Departmental Teaching Awards Committee, 1999-2001.
  • Member, Academic Affairs Committee, 1999-2002.
  • Chair, Faculty Ad Hoc Committee for the William McHardy Alexander Award for Sessional Teaching. 2003.
  • Member of various Faculty and GFC Appeals Committees
  • Member, Departmental Graduate Committee. 1999-2003.
  • Member, Teaching Awards Committee, Faculty of Arts, 2002-2003.
  • Departmental Visiting Speakers Committee (2002-3).
  • Acting Director of Interdisciplinary Program in Religious Studies (2003-4).
  • Graduate Coordinator for Religious Studies (2005-2008)
  • Graduate Coordinator, Religious Studies (2011-12)

Editorial Work

  • On editorial boards of the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, Biblical Interpretation. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Bible and Critical Theory.
  • Editorial board member of Studies in Religion, 2005-6.
  • English Language Editor, Studies in Religion, 2006-2008
  • Editor in chief. Studies in Religion 2008-2012.
  • Editorial Board, Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2004 -2016

Service

  • Member, SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship Committee, 2000-2003.
  • Coordinator, Literary Approaches to the Hebrew Bible section, Canadian Society of Biblical Literature, 2003-6.
  • Member-at-large, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, 2006-2009.
  • Member, SSHRC Post-doctoral Fellowship Committee, 2007-2009/
  • Vice President, Canadian Society for Biblical Studies, 2008-.2009
  • President, Canadian Society for Biblical Studies, 2009-2010.
  • External Reviewer, Undergraduate Programs, Dept of Religion, University of Manitoba, March 2012.
  • External Reviewer, Graduate Programs, Depts of Religion and Religion and Culture, Universities of Manitoba/Winnipeg, January, 2014.
  • President, AAR/SBL, Pacific Northwest Region, 2017-2018.