Faculty Member, Oriental Studies
University Lecturer in Aramaic and Syriac
Wolfson College
About
I am the University Lecturer in Aramaic and Syriac (i.e. tenured faculty member) in the Oriental Institute in Oxford, where I teach 3,000 years of Aramaic language and literature, and attempt to persuade colleagues and students that their lives will remain sadly incomplete (and their research woefully inadequate) without at least some knowledge of this beautiful and rich culture.
My primary research interests are in Syriac literature, language, theology, and history (from their origins to the present); and my secondary field is Aramaic dialectology.
At present I am writing a series of books and articles on the following subjects: the Syriac Psalms, their text and exegesis; multilingualism in the Late Antique Near East; the politics of Syriac language use in Early Modern South India; Syriac lexicography.
As part of the Oxford University Arshama Project (see website) I am currently enjoying the unusual (but exhilarating!) experience of teaching Imperial Achaemenid Aramaic to a group of 52 colleagues and graduate students (perhaps the largest such group since Alexander the Great's successors ended Aramaic civil-service training in Iran?). So far they are being remarkably patient with me...
Contact Information
| Homepage: | |
| Address: | The Oriental Institute,
|
