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Prof William Tooman

Head of School

Principal of St Mary's College

Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism

Phone

+44 (0)1334 46 2848

Email

wt21@st-andrews.ac.uk

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Biography

Following completion of a comprehensive undergraduate degree in Divinity, William Tooman pursued graduate studies in Northwest Semitic languages and ancient Hebrew literature.ÌýÌýHe completed his PhD in Hebrew and Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006 under the supervision of Prof Michael V. Fox.

ÌýAfter a brief teaching appointment in Jewish Studies at UW-Madison, Dr Tooman secured his first academic post in 2006 as Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Edgewood College, a private Dominican liberal arts college. In 2009, he was appointed Lecturer in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at the University of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, and he was promoted to Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism in 2023.ÌýÌýHe has been co-director of the Institute of Bible, Theology, and Hermeneutics since 2018.

Teaching

Undergraduate Modules:

DI1003 Old Testament 1: Torah and Prophets

DI2002 Hebrew 2Ìý

DI3711 Reading the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

DI4700 Hebrew Prose and Poetry

DI4711 Prophets: Hebrew Texts

DI4715 Torah: Covenant and Composition

DI4726 Hebrew Reading and SyntaxÌý

Postgraduate Modules:

DI5105 Textual CriticismÌý

DI5106ÌýAdvanced Hebrew ReadingsÌý

Context, Formation, and Meaning of the Biblical Canons (University of Zürich; co-taught with Prof Dr Konrad Schmid)

Research areas

I specialize in the literature and thought of ancient Judaism, including the Hebrew Bible. The object of my research is to recover, as fully as possible, the full spectrum of literary conventions used by ancient Jewish writers and the competencies of ancient Jewish readers (up to circa 250 CE). My specific research interest is the intersection of poetics and literary evolution and transmission, particularly as they impact ancient Jewish interpretation. (Research domains: textual-criticism, historical-criticism, inner-biblical interpretation, comparative poetics, aesthetics, coherence, scribal practice, law in narrative.)

Prof Tooman is co-PI, with Prof Andrew Teeter (Harvard), of the long-term research project Texture: Historical Poetics of Ancient Jewish Literature ().

PhD supervision

• SamuelÌýDraper
• AaronÌýShaw
• DavidÌýTaylor
• ZaraÌýZhang

Selected publications

• Teeter, D. A. (Editor) & Tooman, W. (Editor), 27 Jul 2020, In: Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel. 9, 2

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue › peer-review

• Open access
  Tooman, W. A., 1 Apr 2019, In: Journal of Semitic Studies. 64, 1, p. 91-114

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Tooman, W. A., 2011, Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck. 354 p. (Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reiche; vol. 52)

  Research output: Book/Report › Book

• Tooman, W. A., 2013, Wisdom and Torah : The Reception of ‘Torah’ in the Wisdom Literature of the Second Temple Period. Schipper, B. U. & Teeter, D. A. (eds.). Leiden and Boston: Brill, p. 203-232 (Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplement Series).

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

• Tooman, W. A. (Editor), 26 Aug 2014, Brescia: Morcelliana. 160 p. (HENOCH: historical and textual studies in ancient and medieval Judaism and Christianity; vol. 36)

  Research output: Book/Report › Book

• Tooman, W. A. (Editor) & Barter, P. L. (Editor), 2017, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 567 p. (Forschungen zum Alten Testament ; vol. 112)

  Research output: Book/Report › Book

• Open access
  Tooman, W. A., 13 Aug 2021, Isaiah’s servants in early Judaism and Christianity: the Isaian servant and the exegetical formation of community identity. Lyons, M. A. & Stromberg, J. (eds.). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, p. 317-336 (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe; vol. 554).

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

• Open access
  Tooman, W. A., 1 Dec 2014, In: Journal of Ancient Judaism. 5, 3, p. 393-414 22 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Tooman, W. A., 2009, In: Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. 121, 4, p. 498-514 17 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Tooman, W. A., 2013, Divine Presence and Absence in Persian Period Judaism. Macdonald, N. & de Hulster, I. (eds.). Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, p. 151-82 (Forschungen zum Alten Testament).

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

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