Prof. dr. Markus Zehnder
Education, degrees
  • 2017: Courses in University Didactics, Biola University
  • 2005: Course in University Didactics, Weiterbildungszentrum Ruhr-Universität Bochum
  • 2004: Course in University Didactics, Theological Faculty Basel University / Institut für Pädagogik Bielefeld
  • 2003: Habilitation, Basel University
  • 1998-2001: Postdoctoral studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Harvard University
  • 1997: Ph.D. (Dr. Theol.), Basel University
  • 1983-1990: Theological studies, Basel University
  • 1975-1983: Gymnasium am Kohlenberg, Basel
Academic positions and teaching experience
  • 2023-present: Professor of Old Testament at IHL, Bad Liebenzell (Germany)
  • 2019-present: Guest Lecturer at STH Basel (Switzerland)
  • 2016-2023: Professor for Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University (USA)
  • 2013-2018: Chair of the Old Testament Department, ETF Leuven
  • 2012-present: Co-Director of the Norwegian Summer Academy for Biblical Studies, Kristiansand (N)
  • 2008-2009: Research Fellow at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (D)
  • 2006-present: Professor for Biblical Studies at Ansgar College and Theological Seminary, Kristiansand (N)
  • 2005-2006: Professor for Old Testament at the Theological Seminary Ewersbach (D)
  • 2005: Visiting Professor for Old Testament at the Freie Theologische Hochschule Giessen (D)
  • 2004-2016: Assistant Professor for Old Testament at Basel University
  • 2002-2003: Academic Collaborator, Swiss National Science Foundation (“Quellen zur Geschichte des Partherreiches)
  • 1998-2001: Research Fellow of the Swiss National Science Foundation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Harvard University
  • 1996-1998: Lecturer for Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew at the Theologisch-Diakonisches Seminar Aarau (CH)
Membership and Offices in Learned Societies
  • 2011-present: Canadian Society for Biblical Studies
  • 2007-present: Norwegian Old Testament Society
  • 1996-present: Society of Biblical Literature
Selected Bibliography

Books

  • The Bible and Immigration: A Critical and Empirical Reassessment. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2021 = Bibel und Migration. Eine kritische und empirische Neubewertung. Bibel und Ethik 8. Münster: LIT Verlag, 2023.
  • With Hallvard Hagelia, eds. Bible and Money: Economy and Socioeconomic Ethics in the Bible. Bible in the Modern World 76. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2020.
  • With Peter Wick, eds. Biblical Ethics: Tensions Between Justice and Mercy, Law and Love. Gorgias Biblical Studies 70. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2019.
  • With Hallvard Hagelia, eds. Interreligious Relations: Biblical Perspectives. London: Bloomsbury, 2017.
  • Editor of: New Studies in the Book of Isaiah – Essays in Honor of Hallvard Hagelia. Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures and Its Contexts 21. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2014.
  • With Hallvard Hagelia, eds. Encountering Violence in the Bible: The Bible in the Modern World. The Bible in the Modern World 55. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2013.
  • With Peter Wick, eds. The Parthian Empire and its Religions – Das Partherreich und seine Religionen. Pietas 5. Gutenberg: Computus, 2012.
  • Umgang mit Fremden in Israel und Assyrien. Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament 168. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2005.
  • Wegmetaphorik im Alten Testament – Eine semantische Untersuchung der alttestamentlichen und altorientalischen Weg-Lexeme mit besonderer Berücksichtigung ihrer metaphorischen Verwendung. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 268. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1999.

Book Chapters

  • “Nations.” In Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception 20, edited by Constance M. Furey et al., 876–79. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2022.
  • “Reading Biblical Texts Ethically: A Discussion of Ruben Zimmermann´s Method of ‘Implicit Ethics’ from an Old Testament Perspective.” In Key Approaches to Biblical Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue, edited by Volker Rabens, Jacqueline N. Grey, and Mariam Kamell Kovalyshin, 50–64. Biblical Interpretation Series 189. Leiden: Brill, 2021.
  • “Government and Economy in the Hebrew Bible: Taxes and Related Matters. An Overview, with Some Conclusions concerning Current Issues.” In Bible and Money: Economy and Socio-economic Ethics in the Bible, edited by Markus Zehnder and Hallvard Hagelia, 144–74. Bible in the Modern World 76. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2020.
  • “Love in the Bible, and Law, Justice, and Mercy: Some Observations on the Semantic Profile of the Main Hebrew and Greek terms denoting ‘Love’, with a Special View on the Intersection with Terms Denoting ‘Law’, ‘Justice’ and ‘Mercy’.” In Biblical Ethics: Tensions Between Justice and Mercy, Law and Love, edited by Markus Zehnder & Peter Wick, 15–66. Gorgias Biblical Studies 70. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2019.
  • “Literary and Other Observations on Passages Dealing with Foreigners in the Book of Deuteronomy: The Command to Love the Ger Read in Context.” In Sepher Torath Mosheh: Studies in the Composition and Interpretation of Deuteronomy, edited by Daniel L. Block and Richard L. Schultz, 192–231. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2017.
  • “Interreligious Relations in the Future as Described in the Latter Prophets.” In Interreligious Relations: Biblical Perspectives, edited by Hagelia Hallvard and Markus Zehnder, 89–118. London: Bloomsbury, 2017.
  • “Structural Complexity, Semantic Ambiguity, and the Question of Literary Integrity: A New Reading of Leviticus 26,14-45.” In Nächstenliebe und Gottesfurcht – Beiträge aus alttestamentlicher, semitistischer und altorientalistischer Wissenschaft für Hans-Peter Mathys zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Markus Saur and Hanna Jenni, 503–30. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 439. Münster: Ugarit, 2016.
  • “The Enigmatic Figure of the ‘Servant of the Lord’: Observations on the Relationship Between the ‘Servant of the Lord’ in Isaiah 40-55 and Other Salvific Figures in the Hebrew Bible.” In New Studies in the Book of Isaiah – Essays in Honor of Hallvard Hagelia, edited by Markus Zehnder, 231–82. Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures and its Contexts 21. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2014.
  • “The Annihilation of the Canaanites: Reassessing the Brutality of the Biblical Witnesses.” In Encountering Violence in the Bible, edited by Markus Zehnder and Hallvard Hagelia, 263–90. The Bible in the Modern World 55. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2013.
  • “Religionspolitik im antiken Vorderen Orient: Assyrer und Parther.” In: Peter Wick and Markus Zehnder (eds.). The Parthian Empire and its Religions. Pietas, 5. Gutenberg: Computus, 2012, 27-52.
  • “Religious Dynamics in the Parthian Empire: Hatra and Arbela.” In: Peter Wick and Markus Zehnder (eds.). The Parthian Empire and its Religions. Pietas, 5. Gutenberg: Computus, 2012, 103-140.
  • “The Christian Canon in a Comparative Perspective – Response to R.M. Davidson.” In: Volkhard Krech and Marion Steinicke (eds.). Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe – Encounters, Notions, and Comparative Perspectives. Leiden: Brill, 2012, 343-362.
  • “Fluch und Segen im Buch Deuteronomium: Beobachtungen und Fragen.” In: Georg Fischer e.a. (eds.). Deuteronomium – Tora für eine neue Generation. BZABR, 17. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2011, 193-211.
  • “Good Governance in the Analects of Confucius and in the Book of Proverbs.” In: Teng Wensheng / Shan Chun (eds.). Symposium in Celebrating the 2560 Anniversary of Confucius. Beijing: International Confucius Association, 2010, 219-249.
  • “Quellen zur Geschichte des Partherreiches: Aramäische Texte.” In: Ursula Hackl e.a. (eds.). Quellen zur Geschichte des Partherreiches Bd. 3. NTOA, 85. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010, 175-401.
  • “Die Aramaisierung Assyriens als Folge der Expansion des assyrischen Reiches.” In: Jürg Luchsinger e.a. (eds.). “… der seine Lust hat am Wort des Herrn!“, Festschrift für Ernst Jenni. AOAT, 336. Münster:  Ugarit-Verlag, 2007, 417-438.
  • “Jesaja 14,1f.: Widersprüchliche Erwartungen zur Stellung der Nicht-Israeliten in der Zukunft?” In: Beat Huwyler e.a. (eds.). Prophetie und Psalmen, Festschrift für Klaus Seybold. AOAT, 280. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2001, 2-29.
  • “Zentrale Aspekte der Semantik der hebräischen Weg-Lexeme.” In: Andreas Wagner (ed.). Studien zur hebräischen Grammatik. OBO, 156, Freiburg: Universitäts-Verlag / Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1997, 155-170.

Journal Articles

  • “The Promise Section in Leviticus 26:3-13: Structural Observations and Consequences for the Interpretation.” Biblical Notes / Biblische Notizen 188 (2021): 51–62.
  • “The Question of the ´Divine Status´ of the Davidic Messiah.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 30 (2020): 485–514.
  • “Mass-Migration to the Western World in Light of the Hebrew Bible: The Challenge of Complexity.” European Journal of Theology 27, no. 1 (2018): 4–17.
  • “Erwägungen zur Migration im Licht des Alten Testaments.” Berliner Theologische Zeitschrift 33 (2016): 197–218.
  • “Why the Danielic ‘Son of Man’ Is a Divine Being.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 24 (2014): 331–47.
  • “Cause or Value? Problems in the Understanding of Gen 9,6a.” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 122 (2010): 81–89.
  • “Building on Stone? Deuteronomy and Esarhaddon’s Loyalty Oaths (Part 1): Some Preliminary Observations.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 19 (2009): 341–74.
  • “Building on Stone? Deuteronomy and Esarhaddon’s Loyalty Oaths (Part 2): Further Observations.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 19 (2009): 511–35.
  • “Bible et homosexualité. Deux nouvelles contributions au débat.” Hokhma 93 (2008): 59–80.
  • “Observations on the Relationship of David and Jonathan and the Debate on Homosexuality.” Westminster Theological Journal 69 (2007): 127–74.
  • “Anstösse aus Dtn 23,2-9 zur Frage nach dem Umgang mit Fremden.” Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 52 (2005): 300–14.
  • “Phonological Subtext: A Short Note on Isaiah 42:1-9.” Biblische Notizen 123 (2005): 35–40.
  • “Variation in Grammatical Gender in Biblical Hebrew.” Journal of Semitic Studies 49 (2004): 21–45.
  • “A Fresh Look at Malachi II 13-16.” Vetus Testamentum 53 (2003): 224–59.
  • “Exegetische Beobachtungen zu den David-Jonathan-Geschichten.” Biblica 79 (1998): 153–79.