Centre for Biblical Studies
Staff Affiliated to the Centre
Opportunities for Postgraduate Study
The Ehrhardt Seminar
Manchester--Trinity Western University
The Manson Memorial Lecture
The Manchester-Lausanne Seminar
Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Contact Details
The Centre for Biblical Studies within Religions and Theology at the University of Manchester is the principal home of all the University's postgraduate and staff activity in Biblical Studies. The Centre carries forward the work of the former Department of Biblical Criticism which established a world-wide reputation for Biblical Studies at Manchester, notably through the work of the holders of the Rylands Chair of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis: A.S. Peake, C.H. Dodd, T.W. Manson, F.F. Bruce, B. Lindars SSF, and C.M. Tuckett.
Staff affiliated to the Centre have interests ranging from Ugaritic Literature through to early Rabbinic Judaism. The study of the literature and cultural contexts of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and of the New Testament forms the core of the Centre's activity, but there are also specialist interests, especially the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Centre provides facilities for postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars who may wish to spend study leave working in the strongly research oriented Department at Manchester. Recent visitors have included scholars holding awards from the British Academy, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the John Rylands Research Institute.
Staff Affiliated to the Centre
Professor George J. Brooke
Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis
Research Interests: Dead Sea Scrolls; Apocrypha; Pseudepigrapha; the Use of the OT in the NT.
Dr Ariel Feldman
Newton International Postdoctoral Fellow
Research Interests: The Dead Sea Scrolls, especially Joshua tradition
Dr Todd Klutz
Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies
Research Interests: Luke-Acts, the Pastoral Epistles, Magic in Late Antiquity, Gnosticism, The Testament of Solomon.
Dr Peter Oakes
Greenwood Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies
Research Interests: Philippians, Pauline Theology, Reader Response Criticism.
Emeritus Staff
Professor Philip S. Alexander
Emeritus Professor of Post-Biblical Jewish Studies
Research Interests: Dead Sea Scrolls, the Targums, Jewish Bible Interpretation, Jewish Mysticism.
Professor Bernard Jackson
Emeritus Alliance Professor of Modern Jewish Studies
Research Interests: Biblical Law
Honorary Research Fellows
Professor Loveday Alexander
Research Interests: Luke-Acts
Dr Kent Brower
Research Interests: the Gospel of Mark; Holiness in the New Testament
Dr Adrian H.W. Curtis
Research Interests: Ugaritic Literature and Canaanite Religion, the Religion and History of Ancient Israel, The Book of Psalms.
F. Gerald Downing
Research Interests: The Synoptic Gospels, The New Testament and the Cynics.
Dr Maria Haralambakis
Research Interests: Wisdom Traditions, Church Slavonic Manuscripts, Textual Criticism.
Dr Walter Houston
Research Interests: Social Justice in the Old Testament
Dr R. Jack McKelvey
Research Interests: Pauline Studies; The Book of Revelation.
Prof. Mary Mills
Research Interests: Biblical Morality; Pain and Suffering in the Prophetic Literature
Dr Jonathan Morgan
Research Interests: Leviticus; Priestly Worldviews; Theological and Ethical Interpretations of the Hebrew Bible
Prof. Kenneth Newport
Research Interests: The Gospel of Matthew; The Use of New Testament Eschatology in England since the 17th Century.
Dr David Shepherd
Research Interests: Ezra-Nehemiah; Dead Sea Scrolls; Targums; Bible and Film
Dr Dwight Swanson
Research Interests: The Dead Sea Scrolls; Rewritten Bible
Opportunities for Postgraduate Study
The staff of the Centre are the major contributors to the M.A. in Biblical Studies offered in Religions and Theology at Manchester. Full-time members of staff also supervise students for the research degrees of M.Phil. and Ph.D.
Enquiries about postgraduate study associated with the Centre for Biblical Studies should be addressed to:
Postgraduate Admissions Office
School of Arts, Histories & Cultures
The University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
Manchester--Trinity Western University Link
Special arrangements are in place for suitably qualified students completing Master's degrees at Trinity Western University, British Columbia, to proceed to study for research degrees at Manchester. This research programme is available only on a full-time basis, but does not require full-time residence in Manchester; the facilities of Trinity Western University remain available to students on this programme, especially those provided within the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western. Special arrangements are in place with regard to fees.
Each week during semester time the Centre for Biblical Studies hosts a research seminar for staff and postgraduates to present various aspects of their research. Visiting speakers also address the seminar from time to time. The seminar is named after Dr Arnold Ehrhardt who was evicted from his chair of Roman Law in Germany in the 1930s and came to teach New Testament Studies and Early Christian History at Manchester.
The seminar has sometimes adopted a set theme and produced collaborative research publications: B. Lindars (ed.), Law and Religion: Essays on the Place of the Law in Israel and Early Christianity (Cambridge: James Clarke, 1988); G.J. Brooke (ed.), Women in the Biblical Tradition (Studies in Women and Religion 31; Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992).
Attendance at the seminar is normally compulsory for full-time postgraduate students (M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D.) and is strongly recommended for part-time students.
The Manson Memorial Lecture
T.W. Manson was Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at Manchester from 1936 until his death in 1958. Each October a lecture in New Testament Studies is given in his memory by a distinguished New Testament scholar.
Recent and forthcoming lecturers are as follows:
1994 Prof. H. Räisänen (Helsinki)
1995 Prof. R.E. Brown (Menlo Park, California)
1996 Prof. R.J. Bauckham (St. Andrews)
1997 Prof. M.J.J. Menken (Utrecht)
1998 Prof. L. Hurtado (Edinburgh)
1999 Prof. J. Riches (Glasgow)
2000 Dr N.T. Wright (Westminster)
2001 Prof. P.F. Esler (St. Andrews)
2002 Prof. J. Lieu (London)
2003 Prof. S. Freyne (Dublin)
2004 Prof. C.M. Tuckett (Oxford)
2005 Prof. J. Barclay (Durham)
2006 Prof. D. Marguerat (Lausanne)
2007 Prof. C. Rowland (Oxford)
2008 Prof. W. Horbury (Cambridge)
2009 Prof. D. Horrell (Exeter)
2010 Prof. J. Frey (Zurich)
2011 Prof. L.C.A. Alexander (Sheffield)
2012 Prof. G.H. van Kooten (Groningen)
The Manchester-Lausanne Seminar
For several years there has been close cooperation between Manchester's Centre for Biblical Studies and the Institut des Sciences Bibliques of the Université de Lausanne. This is part of a wider exchange involving all those interested in the study of religion and theology in the two universities. In most years a three day research seminar is organized, either in England or in Switzerland. Members of the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield and of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Geneva also commonly participate in these international seminars.
The following publications have resulted from these collaborative seminars:
- C.M. Tuckett (ed.), Luke's Literary Achievement: Collected Essays (Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement 116; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995)
- D. Marguerat (ed.), Le déchirement: Juifs et chrétiens au premier siècle (Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1996)
- A.H.W. Curtis and T. Römer (eds.), The Book of Jeremiah and Its Reception/Le livre de Jérémie et sa réception (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 128; Leuven: Peeters/University Press, 1997)
- G.J. Brooke and J.-D. Kaestli (eds.), Narrativity in Biblical and Related Texts/La Narrativité dans la Bible et les textes apparentés (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 149; Leuven: Peeters/University Press, 2000)
- A.H.W. Curtis and D. Marguerat (eds.), Intertextualité: La Bible en échos (Geneva: Labor et Fides, 2000)
- T. Klutz (ed.), Magic in the Biblical World: From the Rod of Aaron to the Ring of Solomon (Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement 245; London: T & T Clark International, 2003; reissued in paperback, 2004)
- P.S. Alexander and J.-D. Kaestli (eds.), The Canon of Scripture in Jewish and Christian Tradition/Le canon des Écritures dans les traditions juive et chrétienne (Publications de l'institut romand des sciences bibliques 4; Lausanne: Éditions du Zèbre, 2007
- G.J. Brooke and T. Römer (eds.), Ancient and Modern Scriptural Historiography/L'Historiographie biblique, ancienne et moderne (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 207; Leuven: Peeters/University Press, 2007)
- T. Römer (ed.), La Construction de la figure de Moïse/The Construction of the Figure of Moses (Supplément à Transeuphratène 13; Paris: Gabalda, 2007)
- M. Tait and P.S. Oakes (eds), Torah in the New Testament: Papers Delivered at the Manchester-Lausanne Seminar of June 2008 (Library of New Testament Studies 401; London: T&T Clark International, 2009)
Dead Sea Scrolls Research at Manchester
The Dead Sea Scrolls have long been a major research interest at Manchester. In recent years this has resulted in major conferences on the Temple Scroll (1987), on the Scrolls and the Septuagint (1990), and on the Copper Scroll (1997).
There is a growing archive containing items of interest to researchers. Recent acquisitions have been the unpublished letters and papers of William H. Brownlee and the Reed Collection of Dead Sea Scroll fragments.
The Centre is involved with the dissemination of Dead Sea Scrolls research to the wider public. It was closely involved with the widely acclaimed jubilee exhibition at the Manchester Museum, "Treasures from the Dead Sea: The Copper Scroll after 2000 Years".
Contact Details
For further information contact:
Professor George J. Brooke
The Centre for Biblical Studies
Religions and Theology
School of Arts, Histories & Cultures
University of Manchester
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
England
Tel: 44-(0)161-275-3609
Fax: 44-(0)161-275-3264