Prof. Dr. Nathan MacDonald

Profile

Academic positionFull Professor
Research fieldsTheology,Jewish Studies
KeywordsOld Testament, Pentateuch, Priesthood, Redaction Criticism, Inner-biblical Interpretation

Current contact address

CountryUnited Kingdom
CityCambridge
InstitutionUniversity of Cambridge
InstituteFaculty of Divinity
Homepagehttp://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/directory/nathan-macdonald

Host during sponsorship

Prof. Dr. Christoph LevinEvangelisch-Theologische Fakultät, Abteilung Altes Testament, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), München
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hermann SpieckermannTheologische Fakultät, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen
Start of initial sponsorship01/03/2007

Programme(s)

2006Humboldt Research Fellowship Programme
2008Sofja Kovalevskaja Award Programme

Nominator's project description

It is well known that there are three great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Scholarly research has shown that for the earliest of these, Judaism, monotheism developed over a long period of time. Dr. MacDonald's research project examines the development of post-exilic Judaism since the sixth century BC. It is normally assumed that from that period, Jewish monotheism took a fixed shape. Dr. MacDonald seeks to show that for some time Judaism had a variety of monotheistic forms. These understood the implications of God's exclusivity in significantly different ways. It took centuries for post-exilic Judaism to establish the consequences of her monotheistic claims. Dr. MacDonald will analyse this fascinating process in his project. It promises important insights into the formation of Jewish monotheism, which was the basis for all future monotheistic beliefs.

Publications (partial selection)

2011Nathan MacDonald: Edom and Seir in the Narratives and Itineraries of Numbers 20-21 and Deuteronomy 1-3. In: Deuteronomium - Tora für eine neue Generation (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtsgeschichte), 2011, 88-103
2011Nathan MacDonald: Wähle das Leben - Review of E. Ehrenreich. In: Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtsgeschichte, 2011, 318-320