CV and publ - Uppsala universitet

Mats Eskhult, Curriculum Vitae and List of Publications
Born 1952, family: wife and six grown up children.
Education
BA at Uppsala University
August 6th 1979
PhD at Uppsala University
May 19th 1990
Docent of Semitic language at Uppsala University
October 10th 2002
(Test lecture: “Aramaic and Akkadian – languages in contact. Historical-linguistic influences from an
Aramaic perspective”)
Academic Positions
Lecturer at the Faculty of Theology, Uppsala University (50%) 1 Jan 1992 – 30 June 1995.
Appointment as lecturer of Semitic languages, Uppsala (40-80%) 1 July 1991 – 28 Febr 1997.
Senior lecturer of Semitic languages (100%) 1 March 1997 –
Director of undergraduate studies, Dept of Asian-African languages,1 Jan 2000 – 31Dec 2003.
Director of postgraduate studies at Dept of Linguistics and Philology, 1 July 2009 – .
Other Positions
Civil employee at Stockholm Police District, 1 May 1973 – 31 Dec 1982.
Secretary at the Dept. of Asian-African languages 75-100% 1 Jan 1982–31 August 1984 and
15 Sept 1989–30 June1990.
Scholarly profile
The dissertation Verbal Aspect and narrative Technique in Biblical Hebrew Prose (1990) has
attracted international attention and is continuously referred to. Since then a number of
articles on the Hebrew language have been published, mostly in the field of text linguistics
and stressing the diachronic perspective of Biblical Hebrew (no. 1-5, 4, 8, 11, 12, 15-17, 20,
21-23, 28, and 33) An article on expressions of circumstance in Biblical Hebrew has been
submitted to the editors (no. 31) and an extensive article on Syriac circumstantial phrases and
clauses has just appeared (no. 29).
Moreover, concern with the history of the Hebrew language gave rise to a large article on
the concept of the “language of Jesus” in 16th to 20th century scholarly discussion (no 34,
together with Josef Eskhult), and interest in Late Antiquity led to a minor study on the
application of Roman Law in Syria (no. 7), as well as to an article on early Christian attitudes
towards urbanism (30). The history of Oriental studies is also a field of concern – and a
contributing factor to the celebration of the 400-years anniversary of the Professorship of
Semitic languages at Uppsala (no. 24). In this field a number of articles were published on
Rabbi Kemper (d. 1716), on his general ideas and use of the Hebrew language (no. 9, 10, 13,
and 14), and his contemporaries (no. 25 and 26) as well as an article on the reception of
Gesenius’ lexicon in Scandinavia (no. 32). Regrettably, the research in the writings of the
Polish-Jewish author David Frischmann (d. 1922) has still solely resulted in a minor article on
the language and style in his short stories (no. 6).
Areas of responsibility at the Department and teaching experience
My responsibility includes teaching in Hebrew, Aramaic including Syriac, as well as basic
Arabic, plus recurrent courses in West-Semitic inscriptions and introductory Ugaritic.
Together with Prof. Isaksson I am responsible for the education in Hebrew and Aramaic,
covering all genres and periods – Biblical, Post-Biblical, Mediaeval and Modern in Hebrew
and Official and Middle Aramaic including Syriac in the field of Aramaic.
I have taken active part in planning both basic and the advanced levels in Hebrew and
Aramaic. In essence, my idea is that language should be studied in all its stages both from a
strict linguistic and cultural perspective.
Through my long experience of teaching (since 1981) I have a clear idea of language
acquisition and of the means and methods to achieve the goals of the separate courses.
Teaching history
(a) 1981–1991: teaching and examination of Classical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic, and texts from the
Mishnah, Midrashim and Siddur (612 hours in all).
(b) 1991–1997: teaching and examination in Northwest Semitic epigraphy, Classical Hebrew and in Official
Aramaic, introductory Targum and Talmudic Aramaic, plus texts from the Mishnah, Midrashim and from Siddur
and some Modern Hebrew. From 1996 I also taught and examined 1st and 2nd semester studies of Classical
Syriac. (1816 hours plus 200 hours a year as half time lecturer of Hebrew the Faculty of theology 1992-1995).
(c) 1997–2010: from 1 March 1997 I am on the permanent staff. Until 2004 I had reduction in teaching
obligation for duties as director of undergraduate studies. I still continue to give courses – including examination
– in West Semitic epigraphy, Classical Hebrew and Official and Middle Aramaic, and Syriac, as well as in
contemporary literary Hebrew. In the autumn semester of 2006 and 2007 I also taught basic Arabic grammar.
Pedagogical experience
During the years I have taken several pedagogical courses, of which one interestingly enough
resulted in an article in K. Apelgren and B. Giertz (eds), Pedagogisk meritportfölj, Uppsala
2001. My teaching material includes compilations (in Swedish), one containing easy Hebrew
newspaper articles with glossary and one comprising a selection of Northwest Semitic
inscriptions with an introduction to Ugaritic.
Supervision
At the time being I supervise one PhD student, Lina Petersson: Syntax of the Verb in the
Priestly Narrative in the Pentateuch: A Text Linguistic Analysis from a Diachronic
Perspective.
In addition, I have supervised a number of undergraduate theses in the subjects of Hebrew and
Aramaic/Syriac, notably:
Håkan Malmberg: Hebreisk tillfälleslitteratur – en undersökning av dissertationer i orientaliska språk vid
Uppsala universitet under 1600 och 1700-talen, 2003.
Sami Aydin: ”Mara bar Serapions brev – översatt med inledning och kommentar”, 2004.
Lina Petersson, Syntaktisk analys av narrativt P-material, 2006.
Miriam Lindgren: ”Israeliness – the identity of the Israeli society as depicted in the Hebrew University’s
Ulpan material for foreign students, 2006.
Gun Eliasson: ”Medicinska termer i medeltidens hebreiska – en studie av Shmuel Benvinishtis
översättning av Moshe ben Maimons traktat om astma Sefer ha-Qașșeret, 2006.
Nathalie Lantz, ”En jämförande studie av David Frischmann och Oscar Levertin: diskussion of likhet och
skillnader etc”, 2006.
Siv Skott: ”Interrogative sentences in Old Testament Hebrew”, 2007.
Ulf Bergström, ”The Biblical Hebrew Perfectives and Event Continuity” 2008.
Christina Hallbäck, Nya perspektiv på legenden om martyrerna Shmona och Guria, 2009.
Johan Ljungberg, Biblical Hebrew Discourse Structure and Stylistics, 2010.
Johnny Sievertsen, Tiqqūn ha-‘Ōlām: Resoration of the World for the appearance of the Messiah – A
study of the Chassidic movement, 2010.
Of these, Sami Aydin, Lina Petersson, and Miriam Lindgren are now PhD students at our department
and Siv Skott and Ulf Bergström have continued their doctoral studies at the Dept of Divinity.
Scholarly commissions
Member of doctoral thesis committee:
1994 H. Hagelia, Numbering the Stars, (Faculty of Teology, Uppsala)
2002 M. Ehrensvärd, Studies in the Syntax and the Dating of Biblical Hebrew, (PhD Thesis, Århus Denmark)
2002 Å. Engsheden, La reconstitution du verbe en égyptien de tradition 400-30 avant J.-C. ,(Dept of
Archaelology and Ancient History, Uppsala)
2003 A. Tetzel, Etymological Studies in the Western Neo-Syriac Lexicon (Turoyo) (Dept of Linguistics and
Philology, Uppsala)
2003 A. Sauma, Gregory Bar Hebraeus’s Commentary on the Book of Kings from his Storehouse of Mysteries,
(Dept of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala)
2003 L. Roos, God wants it, the Ideology of Martyrdom of the Hebrew Crusade Chronicles and its Jewish and
Christian Background, (Faculty of Theology, Uppsala).
2004 S. Holst, Verbs and War Scroll. Studies in the Hebrew Verbal System and the Qumran War Scroll, (PhD
Thesis, Århus Denmark)
Acting as faculty opponent:
1994 A. Zetterberg, Bibeln bjuder till bords (Licentiate of Divinity thesis, Uppsala)
2001 B.-K. Ljungberg, Verbal meaning. A linguistic, literary and theological framework for the interpretive
categories of the Hebrew verb as elaborated in the book of Ruth, (Docor of Divinity thesis, Lund
2005 S. Skott, Hustru och man i samtal, (Licentiate of Divinity thesis, Uppsala)
2008 H. Ahlberg, The Epic Verb in Akkadian. A Text Lingustic Approach, (Licentiate of Philosophy thesis,
Uppsala)
Sojourns in Israel/Palestine
1991, Jerusalem,August: Spoken Arabic at YMCA.
1993, Jerusalem, August: Studies in the Jewish author D. Frischmann at the National Library.
1995, Jerusalem, May and November, auscultation of various linguistic courses at Hebrew University.
2005, Jerusalem, August, studies at the Swedish Theological Institute.
The third task: to mediate current research in popular form
“Days of Humanities” at Uppsala University:
1998: “Svensk stormakt och levande hebreiska – exemplet Joh. Kemper”.
1999: “‘Rabbi’ Johan Kempers Skrifttolkning – en maktpåliggande frihet”.
2001: “Carl Schultén, språkkunnig filosof, krigare och teolog”.
2003: “Ibn Saud och kung David”.
2005: “Höga visan – dess tolkning genom tiderna”.
Current scholarly work
In preparation are: Johan Kemper’s (1670-1716) Hebrew Commentary on Matthew – edited
and translated (together with Josef Eskhult), and an article in German: “Über die
Determination adjektivischer Attribute und Sätze im Hebräischen”, to be published in
KUSATU (Mainz), plus not least: H.S. Nyberg, Hebreisk Grammatik, revised and translated
into English revision.
International experience:
Invitations as guest lecturer
26 April –12 May 1999, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Jerusalem. “2 Samuel 13-20” “Introduction to
Psalms”.
9 May 1999, Christian Swedish Study Centre, Jerusalem: ”Etymological similarities between the Semitic
languages: Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic”
3 December 2001, Dep. of Bible, Tel Aviv University: ”Idiomatic expressions in Biblical Hebrew conversational
parts, from a diachronic perspective”.
17 December 2003, The Orion Centre, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: ”Linguistic Stage and Literary Style in
Esther as Compared to Ruth”.
18 December 2008 Christian Swedish Study Centre, Jerusalem: ”Aramaic, the language of Jesus”.
14 December 2010, Dept of the Hebrew language, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: “An outline of verbal syntax
in Job from a diachronic perspective”
16 December 2010, The Orion Centre, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: “Circumstantial phrases and clauses in
Late Biblical Hebrew in the light of Classical Biblical Hebrew and other Semitic languages”.
Participation in international conferences
(a) International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT):
1995 Oxford: “Victuals in Judges 7:8?”
1998 Oslo: ”The état de langue of Ruth and Esther”,
2001 Basel: “Hebrew Infinitival Paronomasia”,
2004 Leiden: “An English translation of H.S. Nyberg’s Hebreisk grammatik”
2007 Ljubljana: “Traces of Deuteronomistic style in 2 Samuel”
(b) The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira
1999 Beer Sheba: The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira,: ”Verbal Syntax in Late Biblical Hebrew”.
2006 Strasbourg: L’Hebreu de Qumran et Ben Sira: ”Some Aspects of the Verbal System in Qumran Hebrew”.
2008 Jerusalem: Hebrew in the Second Temple Period: “Relative ha-, a Late Biblical Hebrew Phenomenon?”
(c) European Association for Biblical Literature and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL)
2001 Rom: ”Markers of text type in Biblical Hebrew, from a diachronic perspective”.
2004 SBL, San Antonio, Texas,: ”Traces of Linguistic Development in Biblical Hebrew”.
2006 Budapest: ”On the Concurrence of Syntax and Style in Ancient Hebrew”.
2010 Tartu: “Circumstantial Phrases and Clauses in Biblical Hebrew from a diachronic perspective”.
(d) Mainzer Internationales Colloquium für Althebräisch
2006: ”Die Syntax der althebräischen Inschriften verglichen mit der der nachexilischen Prosa”.
2008: ”Die Determination adjektivischer Attribute und Sätze im Hebräischen“.
(e) Various conferences
1994 Copenhagen: Fifth Congress of Jewish Studie: “Tenses in Frischmann’s Ba-Midbar”.
1996 Uppsala: VIIth Symposium Syriacum: “The Syro-Roman Lawbook and Local Legal Custom”.
2000 Leiden: Religious Polemics in Context:”Rabbi Kemper’s Case for Christianity”
2000 Järvänpää (Finland): Sällskapet för judaistisk forskning i Norden: “Some features in teh Hebrew of Johan
Kemper”
2004 Istanbul: The Language of Jesus, Svenska Forskningsinstitutet,: ”The Language of Jesus in 17th – 19th
century scholarly discussion”.
2008 Granada: Xth Symposium Syriacum: “On the Circumstantial Character of Syriac kaḏ with a Participle or
Adjective”.
2010 Halle: Biblische Exegese und Hebräische Lexikographie: hebräisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch von
Wilhelm Gesenius 200 Jahre”: “The influence of Gesenius’ lexicon as discerned in works by 19th century
Scandinavian Hebraists”.
(f) The Kivik Nordic Symposium on Semitic languages
1999: ”Egenheter i Rabbi Kempers hebreiska”
2003: ”Ibn Saud och King David”
2006: ”Från Caspari to Wright – en grammatiks vandringsväg”
2008: ”Tempus i indirekt tal in Hebreiska and Arabiska”
2010: ”Anders Svanborg’s (1770-1812) läromedel i arabiska”
List of publications
I. Monograph:
1. Verbal Aspect and Narrative Technique in Biblical Hebrew Prose, Almkvist & Wiksell
International, Studia Semitica Upsaliensia 12, Uppsala 1990.
Reviewed by W. Gross, TQ 170/1990, pp. 307-308, B. Johson SEÅ 56/1991, pp. 120-121, C.L.
Gibson ET 102/1991, p. 313, F.I. Andersen Biblica 72/1991, pp. 575-580, A. Brenner JSOT 50/1991,
p. 122, H.W. Hoffman ZAW 103/1991, pp. 152-153, D. Blum ZDMG 142/1992, pp. 153-164, M.
O'Connors JAOS 112/1992, pp. 497-498, R.J. Owens CBQ, 54/1992, pp. 520-522, Chr. Toll Ac Or ,
55 1994, pp. 205-211, D. Pardee JNES 54/1995 pp. 64-66. Detailed references in A. Niccacci, Lettura
sintattica della prosa ebraico-biblica, Jerusalem 1991, D.A. Dawson, Textlinguistics and Biblical
Hebrew, JSOTS 177, Sheffield 1994 och G. Hatav, The Semantics of Aspect and Modality: Evidence
from English and Biblical Hebrew (SLCS 34) Amsterdam-Philadelphia1997.
II Articles
1. ”Hebrew and Aramaic ’ælōqīm”, Orientalia Suecana 30, 1981, pp. 137-139.
2. ”hakaf in Jdc 8,5.15”, Or Suec 33-35, 1984-86, pp. 117-121.
3. ”Über einige hebräische Verben des Sprechens”, Or Suec 38-39, 1989-90, pp. 31-35.
4. ”Text Structure in Focus” (review article), Or Suec 40, 1991, pp. 95-101.
5. ”The Old Testament and Text Linguistics” (review article), Or Suec 43-44, 1994-95. pp. 93-103.
6. ”Tenses in Frischmann’s Ba-Midbar” in Jewish Studies in the New Europe, Proceedings of the Fifth
Congress of Jewish studies in Copenhagen 1994, ed. U. Haxen et al., Copenhagen 1998, 223-228.
7. ”The Syro-Roman Lawbook and local legal customs”, VIIum Symposium Syriacum, ed. R.
Lavenant, Roma 1998, pp. 149-157.
8. ”The verb sbb as a marker of inception in Biblical Hebrew”, Or Suec 47/1998.
9. “Svensk stormakt och levande hebreiska—exemplet Joh. Kemper” in Den nordiska mosaiken, ed.
R. Boström Andersson, Uppsala 1998, pp. 97-103.
10. “‘Rabbi’ Johan Kempers Skrifttolkning—en maktpåliggande frihet”, in Ordets makt och tankens
frihet, ed. R. Boström Andersson, Uppsala 1999, pp. 159-167.
11. “Verbal Syntax in Late Biblical Hebrew”, in Diggers at the Well, Proceedings of a third
international symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea scrolls & Ben Sira, ed. T. Muraoka & J.F.
Elwolde, Brill: Leiden 2000, pp. 84-93.
12. “Hebrew Infinitival Paronomasia”, Or Suec 49/2000, pp 27-32.
13. “Carl Schultén, språkkunnig filosof, krigare och teolog”, in Språkets gränser och gränslöshet, ed.
A. Saxena, Uppsala 2001, pp. 285-294.
14. “Rabbi Kemper’s case for Christianity in his Matthew commentary - with reference to exegesis”
in Religious polemics in context, Leiden 27-28 April 2000 (conference volume) ed. A. van der Kooij,
Peeters: Leiden 2004.
15. “Markers of text type in Biblical Hebrew from a diachronic perspective”, Festschrift Muraoka, eds.
Baasten, M.F.J. & van Peursen W.Th., in Hamlet on a Hill. Semitic and Greek Studies presented to
Professor T. Muraoka on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta
118, Peeters, Leuven 2003, pp. 153-164.
16. “The Importance of Loanwords for Dating Biblical Hebrew Texts” in
Ian Young (ed), Biblical Hebrew: Studies in Chronology and Typology, T&T Clark International,
2003 (JSOT Supplement 369), pp. 8-24.
17. “Judges 7:5-8. A Discussion”, Or Suec 51-52/2002-2003, pp. 129-133.
18. “Ibn Saud och kung David” in Saga och Sanning – Berättandets konst och berättelsens budskap,
Uppsala universitet, ed. G. Ransbo, Uppsala 2003, pp. 77-89
19. “Höga visan - dess tolkning genom tiderna”, in Vandring och förvandling – förflyttning –
förändring - framtid, ed. A Bendt, Uppsala 2006, pp.31-42.
20. “Kung Joash och pilarna”, Svensk exegetisk årsbok, 70/2005, pp. 53-61.
21. ”Traces of Linguistic Development in Biblical Hebrew”, in Hebrew Studies, ed. Z. Zevit, 46/2005,
pp. 353-370.
22. “A forthcoming Hebrew Translation of H.S. Nyberg’s Hebreisk Grammatik, Or Suec, 54, pp. 4955.
23. “Some Aspects on the Verbal System in Qumran Hebrew”, Conservatism and Innovation in the
Hebrew Language of the Hellenistic Period, Strasbourg 29-30 Mai 2006, ed. J. Joosten Brill, Leiden
2008, pp. 29-46.
24. “Some features in the Hebrew of Johan Kemper”, The Professorship of Semitic Languages at
Uppsala University 400 years, ed. B. Isaksson, Mats Eskhult, Gail Ramsay, Uppsala 2007, pp. 103113.
25. “Peringer som hebraist”, En resenär i svenska stormaktstidens språklandskap. Gustaf Peringer
Lillieblad (1651-1710), ed. E. A. Csato, G. Gren-Eklund, F. Sandgren, Uppsala 2007, pp. 127-139.
26. “Gustaf Peringer as Hebraist” Or Suec, 57/2008, pp. 145-164 (together with Josef Eskhult)
27. “Studiet av syriska i Sverige” Kifå Magazine, no. 6, mars 2009, pp. 13-19.
28. “2 Samuel and the Deuteronomist – A discussion of verbal syntax”, in Die Samuelsbücher und die
Deuteronomisten, ed. Ch. Schäfer-Lichtenberger, Stuttgart 2010.
29. “On the Circumstantial Character of Syriac kaḏ with a Participle or Adjective”, Parole de l’Orient
35 (2010) 1-27.
30. “Lost in the city: An essay on Christian attitudes towards urbanism in Late Antiquity”, ed. P.
Sinclair, Uppsala 2010
31. “Circumstantial Phrases and Clauses in Biblical Hebrew from a diachronic perspective”, FS
Niccacci, ed. G. Geiger and M. Pazzimi, Jerusalem (fortcoming 2011)
32. “The influence of Gesenius’ lexicon as discerned in works by 19th century Scandinavian
Hebraists”, ed. S. Schorch, Berlin (forthcoming 2011).
33. “Relative ha-, a Late Biblical Hebrew Phenomenon?” in proceedings from a Jerusalem conference
on Hebrew in the Second Temple period (2008) ed. by M. Kister, Orion Center, Hebrew University
(forthcoming).
34. ”The Language of Jesus in 17th – 19th century scholarly discussion” (together with J. Eskhult) in
The Language of Jesus, Sv. Forskningsinstitutet, Istanbul sept 2004, ed. A. Lahdo and W. Witakowski
(forthcoming)
III. Reviews
1. Mettinger, T.N.D., No Graven Image? Israelite aniconism in its ancient Near Eastern context,
Coniectanea Biblica, OT ser 42, Stockholm 1995, Or Suec 45-46/1996-97, p. 223.
2. Gibson, J.B.L., Davidson’s Introductory Hebrew Grammar: Syntax, Edinburg 1994, Or Suec
47/1998, pp. 155-157.
3. Pérez Fernández, M., An Introductory Grammar of Rabbinic Hebrew, Leiden 1997, Or Suec
47/1998, pp. 158.
4. Narrative Syntax and the Hebrew Bible, Papers of the Tilburg Conference 1996, ed. E. Van Wolde,
Or Suec 47/1998, pp. 158-160.
5. Young, I., Diversity in Pre-Exilic Hebrew, Tübingen 1993, Or Suec, 47/1998, p. 160.
6. Kouwenberg, N.J.C., Gemination in the Akkadian Verb, Assen 1997, Or Suec 48/1999, pp. 127-131
— Christiane Schaefer & Mats Eskhult.
7. Endo, Y, The verbal system in Classical Hebrew in the Joseph story. An approach from discourse
analysis, Assen 1996, Or Suec, 49/2000, pp. 123-131, — Mats Eskhult & John Elwolde.
8. Endo, Y, The verbal system in Classical Hebrew in the Joseph story. An approach from discourse
analysis, Assen 1996, Journal of Semitic Studies, — John Elwolde & Mats Eskhult.
9. Bo-Krister Ljungberg, Verbal meaning. A linguistic, literary and theological framework for the
interpretive categories of the Hebrew verb as elaborated in the book of Ruth, 396 pp. 2001, Avd f
exegetik, Teol inst, Lunds universitet. SEÅ, 67, 2002, pp. 161-163.
10. Bo-Krister Ljungberg, Verbal meaning. A linguistic, literary and theological framework for the
interpretive categories of the Hebrew verb as elaborated in the book of Ruth, (Avd f exegetik, Teol
inst, Lunds universitet, Lunds universitet), Journal of Translation and Textlinguistics 17/2004, pp.
88-97
11. Peursen, W. Th. Van, The Verbal System in the Hebrew Text of Ben Sira (PhD thesis), Leiden
University 1999, Or Suec, 53/2004, pp. 194-197.
12. Tryggve Mettinger, The Riddle of Resurrection, “Dying and Rising Gods in the Ancient Near East,
Coniectanea Biblica, OT ser 50, Stockholm 2001, Or Suec, 53/2004, pp. 190-192
13. M.F. Rogland, Alleged Non-Past Uses of QATAL in Classical Hebrew(PhD thesis), Leiden
University 2001, Or Suec, 53/2004, pp. 192-194.
14. Per Å. Bengtsson, Translation Techniques in Two Syro-Arabic Versions of Ruth, Studia Orientalia
Lundensia nova ser 3, Lund 2003, Or Suec, 53/2004, pp. 197.