The Minerva Center
for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times
Prof. Holger Gzella
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Holger Gzella is Professor of Old Testament at the Faculty of Catholic Theology of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich since 2019. He holds an MA in Literae Humaniores (Latin, Greek, Philosophy, and Ancient History) from Oxford University (1997), a PhD in Hebrew Bible from the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (2001), a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome (2002), and a Habilitation in Semitic Philology from the University of Heidelberg (2004). He previously held the Chair of Hebrew and Aramaic at Leiden University (2005-2019), was a merit scholarship holder of the
Cusanuswerk and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, and won various University Prizes at Oxford (Ireland and Craven Scholarships, Chancellor's Prizes for Latin Prose and Verse Composition, Gaisford Prize for Greek Prose Composition, and others).
His research is situated at the crossroads of Semitic Philology, Hebrew Bible, and the broader linguistic and cultural history of Syria-Palestine between ca. 1200 BCE and 700 CE, with particular
interests in multilingualism in Antiquity, the Achaemenid Official Aramaic literary and administrative tradition and its offshoots throughout the Near East, and scribal culture in general (including the history of scholarship as its modern counterpart). He was a member of the Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2010-2015) and is an ordinary (life) member of, among others, the Academia Europaea (since 2015) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (since 2016). (attached photo by Milette Raats).
Selected Publications:
Selected publications:
Monographs:
- Lebenszeit und Ewigkeit: Studien zur Eschatologie und Anthropologie des Septuaginta-Psalters (Bonner Biblische Beiträge 134), Berlin 2002: Philo.
- Cosmic Battle and Political Conflict: Studies in Verbal Syntax and Contextual Interpretation of Daniel (Biblica et Orientalia 47), Rome 2003: Biblical Institute Press.
- Tempus, Aspekt und Modalität im Reichsaramäischen (Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission 48), Wiesbaden 2004: Harrassowitz.
- A Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam (Handbook of Oriental Studies I/111), Leiden 2014: Brill.
- Aramaic: A History of the First World Language, Grand Rapids 2021: Eerdmans (revised edition of De eerste wereldtaal. De geschiedenis van het Aramees, 1st ed. Amsterdam 2017, 2nd ed. ibid. 2019: Athenaeum).
Edited volumes:
- Languages from the World of the Bible, Berlin and New York 2012: De Gruyter
- Aramäisches Wörterbuch (Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Alten Testament vol. IX), Stuttgart 2016: Kohlhammer; revised English edition: Aramaic Dictionary (Theolological Dictionary of the Old Testament vol. XVI), Grand Rapids 2018: Eerdmans.
Recent articles and book chapters:
- "Wehender Tag und fliehende Schatten: Die Theologie des Hohenliedes im Lichte hochspezifischen Vokabulars", Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift 71 (2020), 195-210.
- "Verheißung: Die Zukunft angesichts Gottes", in: Hans Ausloos and Bénédicte Lemmelijn (eds.), Handbuch zur Septuaginta, vol. 6: Die Theologie der Septuaginta, Gütersloh 2020: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 503-553.
- "The Aramaic Dialects of Early Roman Palestine: History, Variation, Use", in: Orientalia 89 (2020), 22-57.