Monday Seminar:
Sidnie Crawford
Kingdon Fellow (2016-2017)
Classics and Religious Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
When we think of “the Bible” in the 21st century, we usually think of a fixed text, in an ancient language, that is revered by one or more religious communities as “the word of God.” How did ancient Jews think about the texts that became the Bible? How were those texts handed down by scribes? How did communities preserve them? The seminar will discuss the biblical manuscripts from the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls in order to answer those questions.
Sidnie White Crawford is Willa Cather Professor of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she teaches in the areas of Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, and Hebrew language. She is an internationally recognized scholar in the areas of Dead Sea Scrolls and Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Her most recent book, edited with Cecilia Wassen, is The Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and the Concept of a Library, published by E. J. Brill (2016). Sidnie currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, the American headquarters for archaeological research in the Holy Land, and as a member of the Society of Biblical Literature Council. She is also a member of numerous editorial boards, including Hermeneia: A Commentary Series (Fortress Press), The Textual History of the Bible (Brill), and The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition (SBL Press). In her free time, Dr. Crawford enjoys international travel, classical music, in particular, early music and opera, and watching sports, especially Husker football and women’s volleyball. She usually lives in Lincoln, NE with her husband, Dr. Dan D. Crawford, and their cat, Mollie, but is delighted to be spending the year at the IRH and enjoying all that Madison has to offer.