The Minerva Center
for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times
Prof. Benedikt Hensel
University of Zurich
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Benedikt Hensel (born in 1979) is currently working as visiting interim professor at the University of Zurich. He earned his PhD in 2008 and his Habilitation in 2016, both at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. He started his academic carrier as research assistant in the “Imperial Aramaic Inscriptions Project” (Univ. of Heidelberg; funded by the Thyssen Foundation) in 2006. After three years as pastor (2011-2013) he conducted the research project “The Relationship of Judah and Samaria in the Post-exilic Periods” (2013-2016) at the University of Mainz (Habilitation end 2016), before he got a research position at the University of Zurich (Konrad Schmid) in the international “The History of the Pentateuch”-Project (2017-2020; funded by the Swiss National Foundation), followed by a Professorship “Hebrew Bible Studies Biblical Archaeology (interim at the University of Mainz, 2019-2020). He has been a visiting scholar at the Universities of Haifa (2015), Tel Aviv (2018) and Montpellier (2018).
Selected Publications:
Selected Publications:
A. Books
1. Juda und Samaria: Zum Verhältnis zweier nach-exilischer Jahwismen/Juda and Samaria. On the Relationship of Two Post-exilic YHWH-communities (Forschungen zum Alten Testament I/110), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2016.
2. Die Vertauschung des Erstgeburtssegens in der Genesis: Eine Analyse der narrativ-theologischen Grundstruktur des ersten Buches der Tora (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 423), de Gruyter: Berlin/New York, 2011.
3. D. Schwiderski (Hg.), Die alt- und reichsaramäischen Inschriften, Band 1: Konkordanz. Unter Mitarbeit von Walter Bührer und Benedikt Hensel (Fontes et Subsidia ad Bibliam pertinentes 4), de Gruyter: Berlin/New York, 2008.
B. Edited Volumes
1. About Edom and Idumea in the Persian Period. Recent Research and Approaches from Archaeology, Hebrew Bible Studies and Ancient Near East Studies (Worlds of the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean), Equinox: Sheffield, edited by Hensel, B./Ben Zvi, E./Edelman, D.V. (forthcoming, 2021).
2. The History of the Jacob Cycle (Genesis 25-35). Recent Research on the Compilation, the Redaction and the Reception of the Biblical Narrative and Its Historical and Cultural Contexts (Archaeology and Bible 4), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2021, edited by Hensel, B.
3. Yahwistic Diversity and the Hebrew Bible: Tracing Perspectives of Group Identity from Judah, Samaria, and Diaspora in Biblical Traditions (Forschungen zum Alten Testament, II. Reihe 120), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2020, edited by Hensel, B./Nocquet, D./Adamczewski, B.
4. Seit wann gibt es „jenes Israel“? Gesammelte Studien zum TNK und zum antiken Judentum. (Beiträge zum Verstehen der Bibel 17), LIT-Verlag: Münster, 2011, edited by Hensel, B./Dinkelaker, V./Zeidler, F.
C. Articles
1. The Ark Narrative(s) of 1 Sam *4:1b–7:1 / 2 Sam 6* between Philistia, Jerusalem, and Assyria: A New Approach for a Historical Contextualization and Literary-Historical Classification. In: Berlejung, A. et al (ed.), Jerusalem and the West (ORA/Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times), Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen (forthcoming, 2021).
2. Gottesfürchtige Seeleute (Jon 1,5–16) und bußfertige Feinde (Jon 3,5–10) Zwei unterschiedliche Modelle des „Heil für die Völker“ im Jonabuch, Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 133/2 (2021).
3. The Complexity of a Site: “Edom” in the Persian Period from the Perspectives of Historical Research, Hebrew Bible Studies, and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. In: B. Hensel, E. Ben Zvi, and D. V. Edelman (eds.), About Edom and Idumea in the Persian Period. Recent Research and Approaches from Archaeology, Hebrew Bible Studies and Ancient Near East Studies (Worlds of the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean), Equinox, Sheffield (forthcoming).
4. Edom in the Jacob Cycle (Gen *25–35): New Insights on Its Positive Relations with Israel, the Literary-Historical Development of Its Role, and Its Historical Background(s). In: Hensel, B. (ed.), The History of the Jacob Cycle (Genesis 25-35). Recent Research on the Compilation, the Redaction and the Reception of the Biblical Narrative and Its Historical and Cultural Contexts (Archaeology and Bible 4), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2021, 57-134.
5. Debating Temple and Torah in the Second Temple Period: Theological and Political Aspects of the Final Redaction(s) of the Pentateuch. In: Witte, M./Schröter, J./Lepper. V. (Hg.), Torah, Temple, Land. Construction of Judaism in Antiquity (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism), Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen 2021, 27-49.
6. Neue Horizonte im Alten eröffnen? Biblisch-theologische und hermeneutische Beobachtungen zu Mt 1-2. In: Biblische Zeitschrift 64/1 (2020), 1-20.
7. Cult Centralization in the Persian Period: Biblical and Historical Perspectives, Semitica 60 (2018), 221-272.
Von „Israeliten“ zu „Ausländern“: Zur Entwicklung anti-samaritanischer Polemik ab der hasmonäischen Zeit, Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 126/4 (2014), 475-493.