Theodore J. Lewis

THEODORE J. LEWIS, the first Blum-Iwry Professor in Near Eastern Studies, joined Hopkins in 2002 and researches religions of ancient Israel and Syria. In addition to the texts of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), he works with alphabetic cuneiform texts from the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit, the most important archival material for understanding the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age religions of Syria and Israel, surpassing even the more famous Dead Sea Scrolls. He is general editor of the book series Writings from the Ancient World (co-published by the Society of Biblical Literature and E. J. Brill) and past editor of the journal Near Eastern Archaeology (for the American School of Oriental Research). He is the author of Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit, and co-author of Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. He is currently writing The Religion of Ancient Israel for the Anchor Bible Reference Library series.