The PhD comprehensive exams for HB/NWS students consist of four sections: (1) Hebrew and Northwest Semitic languages; (2) biblical criticism; (3) Syro-Pal history; and (4) a minor language of study (mine is Akkadian). For the HB criticism and Syro-Pal sections, I’ve curated this chronological annotated bibliography of secondary resources about which the examinee should be familiar. This list is by no means comprehensive (how can it be when the exam tests our mastery of hundreds of years of material?), but it can serve as a starting point to review the fundamentals. Some of these were required readings for various HB/NWS/ANE classes in the doctoral program at JHU. Others include important contributions by historic and present JHU faculty. The descriptions below are either the abstract or, when the abstract is not available, my own summary. For each of these, we should know–at a minimum–the subfield(s), approach, and methodology(/ies) employed by the particular author(s) as well as, if applicable, the specific contribution or argument of the article/book.
Bibliography in progress. Last updated: 05/08/2025
Brian Donnelly-Lewis. 2022. "The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon: A New Collation Based on the Multispectral Images, with Translation and Commentary," in BASOR 388
Abstract: “This paper provides a new collation of the Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon on the basis of the multispectral images produced by Gregory Bearman and William Christens-Barry in collaboration with a number of imaging labs in 2009. It proposes 59 letters in total, with 12 new readings, including 5 new partial reconstructions, all supported by an analysis of these detailed, high-definition images. This new collation permits a renewed attempt at translation of the ostracon, which is interpreted as a record of the summons of a defendant in a legal dispute. In the course of analysis, it is argued that if the decipherment is accepted, the language of the text appears to be an archaic, dialectal form of Hebrew.”
Timothy S. Hogue. 2021. "With Apologies to Hazael: Theater, Spectacle, and Counter-monumentality at Tel Dan," HeBAI 10/3
Abstract: “The Tel Dan Stele is an essential piece of evidence for reconstructing Iron Age Levantine monumentality. Not only can we reasonably reconstruct the circumstances of the stele’s production, the circumstances of its discovery also provide important clues as to its later reception. In particular, it is clear from the stele’s broken state and reuse at Dan that it was utilized in counter-monumental practice. The stele was intentionally destroyed when the Israelites conquered Dan and its pieces were reused as building materials in the city’s gateway. Both the stele’s destruction and its reuse in the gate’s reconstruction were patterned performances, allowing the Israelites to perform their defeat of Aram before the Danites. These actions constituted a ritual forgetting of the ideology formerly afforded by the stele: the dominance of Hazael and the kingdom of Aram-Damascus. Thus embedded in counter-monumental practice, the stele was transformed into an ephemeral symbol of Aram-Damascus’ defeat.”
Joel Baden and Jeffrey Stackert. 2021. "Introduction," in The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch
Description forthcoming.
Thomas Dozeman. 2021. “Form and Tradition Criticism,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch
Reinhard Müller. 2021. “Positions on Redaction,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch
Jean-Louis Ska. 2021. "Beginnings of a Critical Reading,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch
Rudolf Smend. 2021. “Graf-Kuenen-Wellhausen School,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch
Abstract: “The Tel Dan Stele is an essential piece of evidence for reconstructing Iron Age Levantine monumentality. Not only can we reasonably reconstruct the circumstances of the stele’s production, the circumstances of its discovery also provide important clues as to its later reception. In particular, it is clear from the stele’s broken state and reuse at Dan that it was utilized in counter-monumental practice. The stele was intentionally destroyed when the Israelites conquered Dan and its pieces were reused as building materials in the city’s gateway. Both the stele’s destruction and its reuse in the gate’s reconstruction were patterned performances, allowing the Israelites to perform their defeat of Aram before the Danites. These actions constituted a ritual forgetting of the ideology formerly afforded by the stele: the dominance of Hazael and the kingdom of Aram-Damascus. Thus embedded in counter-monumental practice, the stele was transformed into an ephemeral symbol of Aram-Damascus’ defeat.”
Jeffrey Stackert. 2021. “Legal Codes,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch
Jakob Wöhrle. 2021. “The Priestly Writing(s): Scope and Nature,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch
Benjamin Sass. 2019. "The Pseudo-Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from Byblos: Their Elusive Dating, and Their Affinities with the Early Phoenician Inscriptions," in Cultures et sociétés syro-mésopotamiennes. Mélanges offerts à Olivier Rouault
William M. Schniedewind. 2019. "The Gezer Calendar as an Adaptation of the Mesopotamian Lexical Tradition (Ura 1)," in Semitica 61
Na'ama Pat-El and Aren Wilson-Wright. 2018. "Features of Aramaeo-Canaanite," JAOS 138/4
Abstract: “The Gezer Calendar is a school exercise adapted from cuneiform lexical tradition. A parallel for such adaptation of the cuneiform school tradition is known among the Amarna Scholarly Tablets, and a fragmentary cuneiform text from Ashkelon shows that this very lexical tradition was known in Canaan at the end of the Late Bronze Age.”
Thomas Schneider. 2018. "A Double Abecedary? HalaA Double Abecedary? Halaḥam and ʾAbgad on the TT99 Ostracon," BASOR 379
Ben Haring. 2015. "Halaḥam on an Ostracon of the Early New Kingdom?" JNES 74/2
Kyle Keimer. 2015. "The Impact of Ductus on Script Form and Development in Monumental Northwest Semitic Inscriptions," in UF 46
Abstract: “While much ink has been spilled on what monumental stone alphabetic inscriptions themselves say and how the various alphabetic scripts look, there is a near absence of studies on why the scripts look a certain way. Paleographers have generally simply asserted that script variation and development is diachronic and regional. While this is true to a certain degree, it is hardly unequivocal. Moreover, the actual impetus for script development is left to theorizing. With this article, I will show that by studying inscriptions as artifacts themselves and carefully investigating the technology and ductus behind their production it is possible to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of alphabetic script development and variation. I will further demonstrate a link between that technology and the individual agency of the masons themselves, a wholly new aspect in the investigation of ancient Near Eastern monumental inscriptions.”
Gordon J. Hamilton. 2014. "Reconceptualizing the Periods of Early Alphabetic Scripts," in “An Eye for Form": Epigraphic Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross
André Lemaire. 2014. "A History of Northwest Semitic Epigraphy," in “An Eye for Form": Epigraphic Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross
Heather D. D. Parker. 2013 (revised 2018). "The Levant Comes of Age: The Ninth Century BCE Through Script Traditions" (JHU PhD dissertation)
Dennis Pardee. 2013. "A Brief Case for Phoenician as the Language of the 'Gezer Calendar'," in Linguistic Studies in Phoenician
John Huehnergard and Aaron Rubin. 2012. "Phyla and Waves: Models of Classification of the Semitic Languages," in The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook
Reinhard G. Lehmann. 2012. "27–30–22–26 – How Many Letters Needs an Alphabet? The Case of Semitic," in The Idea of Writing: Writing Across Borders
Shmuel Ahituv. 2008. Echoes from the Past: Hebrew and Cognate Inscriptions from the Biblical Period
Gordon J. Hamilton. 2006. The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts
Hallvard Hagelia. 2005. "Philological Issues in the Tel Dan Inscription," in Current Issues in the Analysis of Semitic Grammar and Lexicon I Oslo-Göteborg Cooperation 3rd-5th June 2004
Michael Dick. 2004. “The ‘History of David’s Rise to Power’ and the Neo-Babylonian Succession Apologies," in David and Zion: Biblical Studies in Honor of J. J. M. Roberts
W. Randall Garr. 2004 (repr. of 1985). Dialect Geography of Syria-Palestine, 1000-586 BCE
Book description: “The book opens with an introduction that gives the methodology used, a survey of past studies, the corpus of texts used in the study, and Garr’s goals. The next three chapters provide a comprehensive list of phonological, morphological, and syntactical features, which are then gathered into a comprehensive table and analyzed for their relevance to dialectical classification. Conclusions and a rich bibliography follow, as well as indexes of subject, texts cited, and words.”
Douglas M. Gropp and Theodore J. Lewis. 1985. "Notes on Some Problems in the Aramaic Text of the Hadd-Yith'i Bilingual," in BASOR 259
Abstract: “While the Aramaic of the Hadd-yithʿi bilingual shares some orthographic and grammatical features, as well as lexical items, with other Old Aramaic inscriptions, it also manifests some striking deviations. This paper discusses problems in the Aramaic text largely from a historical-grammatical viewpoint. Attention is given to the technique of the Aramaic translation, which evinces a developed translation tradition and displays a large degree of autonomy from the Akkadian original. The surprisingly early and full use of internal matres lectionis in this text is discussed, with its possible implications for understanding the origin of the system. Finally, a solution to the enigma of the composite character of the inscription is proposed.”
Theodore J. Lewis. 1985. “The Songs of Hannah and Deborah: HDL-II," JBL 104
My summary: The Song of Hannah (1 Sam 2) and the Song of Deborah (Judg 5) use the verb חדל with a disputed meaning. D. W. Thomas and P. Calderone independently suggested that the verb represents ḥdl-II meaning “to become/grow plump” on the basis of a potential Arabic cognate ḫadula. Lewis questions the existence of ḥdl-II in Hebrew and suggests an alternative reading where ḥdl with the meaning “to cease, refrain from” makes sense in these occurrences. He states clearly that this article is intended “to curb the perpetuation of this [ḥdl-II] interpretation” (p. 106) and that “it is best to stay with ḥdl-I in Judg 5:7 as well as in 1 Sam 2:5 and to resist the entry ḥdl-II into our Hebrew lexicons” (p. 108).