Jo Ann Hackett

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Jo Ann Hackett
Born (1949-08-14) August 14, 1949 (age 75)
Louisville, Kentucky, US
Education

Jo Ann Hackett (born August 14, 1949) is an American scholar of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and of Biblical Hebrew and other ancient Northwest Semitic languages such as Phoenician, Punic, and Aramaic.

Contents

Early life and education

Hackett was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and grew up in Jeffersonville, Indiana. She graduated from Jeffersonville High School in 1966. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from DePauw University, 1970; her Master of Arts in Religious Studies from Indiana University, 1975; and her Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, 1980.

Career

Hackett began her teaching career as an assistant professor of Religious Studies at Occidental College, Los Angeles. She taught at Indiana University Bloomington, where she received tenure in 1990. The same year, she moved to Harvard University, as Professor of the Practice of Biblical Hebrew and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy and Director of the Program in Biblical Hebrew. She remained at Harvard until 2009, when she became Professor of Biblical Studies in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She retired from teaching in 2018, as Professor Emerita. She has also taught at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and at the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Scholarship

Hackett's first book presented a philological analysis of a long ancient inscription found at the site of Deir ʕAllā in Jordan, an inscription that featured the biblical character Balaam. [1] She also wrote several articles about the inscription, and has written extensively about related ancient Northwest Semitic dialects such as Biblical Hebrew, Phoenician, and Ugaritic, also co-editing a book on Northwest Semitic epigraphy in honor of her Doktorvater, Frank Moore Cross. [2] She is the author of a popular textbook, A Basic Introduction to Biblical Hebrew. [3] Hackett was also among the first scholars to write about the Hebrew Bible from a feminist perspective, with such articles as “In the Days of Jael: Reclaiming the History of Women in Ancient Israel,” [4] "Rehabilitating Hagar: Fragments of an Epic Pattern," [5] and "Can a Sexist Model Liberate Us?" [6] In addition to many other articles on the Hebrew Bible, she has contributed the introduction and notes to the biblical book of Numbers in the HarperCollins Study Bible, [7] and the introduction and notes to the books of Books of Samuel in the Women's Bible Commentary. [8] She served for many years on the executive council of the Society of Biblical Literature, on the board of the American Schools of Oriental Research, and as an editor of the series Harvard Semitic Studies and of several academic journals.

Honors and awards

In 1996–97, Hackett was the Hugh Pilkington Research Fellow in Biblical Studies at Christ Church, Oxford University. In 2002, she was a Fellow at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies. In 2006, she received the Everett S. Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award from Harvard University. [9] She was presented with a Festschrift in 2015, Epigraphy, Philology, and the Hebrew Bible: Methodological Perspectives on Philological and Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible in Honor of Jo Ann Hackett [10] included contributions from Gary A. Rendsburg and F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp. In 2016 she was inducted into the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balaam</span> Prophet in the Book of Numbers

Balaam, son of Beor, was a biblical character, a non-Israelite prophet and diviner who lived in Pethor, a region or settlement which has never been located. According to chapters Numbers 22–24 of the Book of Numbers, he was hired by King Balak of Moab to curse Israel, but instead he blessed the Israelites, as dictated by God. Subsequently, the plan to entice the Israelites into idol worship and sexual immorality is attributed to him . Balaam is also mentioned in the Book of Micah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asherah</span> Ancient Semitic goddess

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah</span> Prophetess in the Bible

According to the Book of Judges, Deborah was a prophetess of Judaism, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, and the only female judge mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Many scholars contend that the phrase, "a woman of Lappidoth", as translated from biblical Hebrew in Judges 4:4 denotes her marital status as the wife of Lapidoth. Alternatively, "lappid" translates as "torch" or "lightning", therefore the phrase, "woman of Lappidoth" could be referencing Deborah as a "fiery woman." Deborah told Barak, an Israelite general from Kedesh in Naphtali, that God commanded him to lead an attack against the forces of Jabin king of Canaan and his military commander Sisera ; the entire narrative is recounted in chapter 4.

The Canaanite languages, sometimes referred to as Canaanite dialects, are one of four subgroups of the Northwest Semitic languages, the others being the still living Aramaic, Ugaritic and Amorite. These closely related languages originate in the Levant and Mesopotamia, and were spoken by the ancient Semitic-speaking peoples of an area encompassing what is today, Israel, Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula, Lebanon, Syria, as well as some areas of southwestern Turkey (Anatolia), western and southern Iraq (Mesopotamia) and the northwestern corner of Saudi Arabia. From the 9th century BC they also spread to the Iberian Peninsula,North Africa and Mediterranean in the form of Phoenician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deir Alla</span> City in Balqa Governorate, Jordan

Deir Alla is the site of an ancient Near Eastern town in Balqa Governorate, Jordan. The Deir Alla Inscription, datable to ca. 840–760 BCE, was found here.

Northwest Semitic is a division of the Semitic languages comprising the indigenous languages of the Levant. It emerged from Proto-Semitic in the Early Bronze Age. It is first attested in proper names identified as Amorite in the Middle Bronze Age. The oldest coherent texts are in Ugaritic, dating to the Late Bronze Age, which by the time of the Bronze Age collapse are joined by Old Aramaic, and by the Iron Age by Sutean and the Canaanite languages.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Moore Cross</span> American scholar and academic

Frank Moore Cross Jr. was the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 magnum opusCanaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, and his work in Northwest Semitic epigraphy. Many of his essays on the latter topic have since been collected in Leaves from an Epigrapher's Notebook.

Gerald "Gary" Neil Knoppers was a professor in the Department of Theology at University of Notre Dame. He wrote books and articles regarding a range of Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern topics. He is particularly renowned for his work on 1 Chronicles, writing I Chronicles 1 – 9 and I Chronicles 10 – 29, which together comprise a significant treatment of the work of the Chronicler. In May 2005 the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies granted the R. B. Y. Scott Award to Knoppers for his two-volume Anchor Bible commentary on I Chronicles

Mark Stratton John Matthew Smith is an American Old Testament scholar and professor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deir Alla inscription</span> An ancient inscription

The Deir 'Alla inscription or Balaam inscription, known as KAI 312, is a famous inscription discovered during a 1967 excavation in Deir 'Alla, Jordan. It is currently at the Jordan Archaeological Museum. It is written in a peculiar Northwest Semitic dialect, and has provoked much debate among scholars and had a strong impact on the study of Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Rollston</span> American philologist

Prof. Christopher A. Rollston is a scholar of the ancient Near East, specializing in Hebrew Bible, Greek New Testament, Old Testament Apocrypha, Northwest Semitic literature, epigraphy and paleography.

Choon-Leong Seow, known as C. L. Seow, is a distinguished biblical scholar, semitist, epigrapher, and historian of Near Eastern religion, currently as Vanderbilt, Buffington, Cupples Chair in Divinity and Distinguished Professor of Hebrew Bible at Vanderbilt University. An expert in wisdom literature, Seow has written widely in the field of biblical studies.

F. W. "Chip" Dobbs-Allsopp is a biblical scholar, epigrapher, and literary theorist. Currently professor of Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, at Princeton Theological Seminary, he has taught and written extensively on Semitic languages, the origins of alphabetic writing, biblical poetry, poetics, and literary criticism.

Aaron David Rubin is an American linguistics researcher. He is currently the Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies at The University of Georgia. From 2004 to 2023 he was Malvin and Lea Bank Professor of Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Jewish Studies, and Linguistics at Penn State University. His main area of study is the Semitic language family, focusing on Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, and the modern languages of Southern Arabia, especially Mehri and Jibbali. He has also worked extensively on non-Semitic Jewish languages, as well as on Hebrew and Jewish manuscripts. At Penn State, he has taught numerous language courses, as well lecture courses on the Bible, Jewish and Ancient Near Eastern literature, and the history of writing systems. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions</span>

The Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions, also known as Northwest Semitic inscriptions, are the primary extra-Biblical source for understanding of the society and history of the ancient Phoenicians, Hebrews and Arameans. Semitic inscriptions may occur on stone slabs, pottery ostraca, ornaments, and range from simple names to full texts. The older inscriptions form a Canaanite–Aramaic dialect continuum, exemplified by writings which scholars have struggled to fit into either category, such as the Stele of Zakkur and the Deir Alla Inscription.

Giovanni Garbini was an Italian Orientalist and Semitist. His biblical studies revealed historical omissions and helped scholars to interpret the biblical narrative in the larger context of the history of the ancient Near East. He worked as a university lecturer in the Istituto Universitario Orientale in Naples, at the Scuola Normale in Pisa and finally in Sapienza in Rome until his retirement. He was a member of the Lincean Academy since 1990, and a member of the Leone Caetani foundation for Islamic studies.

Jacqueline Vayntrub is an American scholar of Biblical studies and an associate professor of the Hebrew Bible at Yale Divinity School. Vayntrub earned her MA from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and her PhD from University of Chicago, and before her appointment at Yale, held a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University and an assistant professorship at Brandeis University. In 2019–2020, she was a fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

References

  1. ↑ The Balaam Text from Deir Alla (Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984).
  2. ↑ An Eye for Form: Paleographic Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross. Co-editor with Walter Aufrecht (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2014).
  3. ↑ A Basic Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers; 2nd printing, October 2010).
  4. ↑ “In the Days of Jael: Reclaiming the History of Women in Ancient Israel,” Immaculate and Powerful: The Female in Sacred Image and Social Reality, Clarissa Atkinson, Constance Buchanan, and Margaret Miles, ed. (Boston: Beacon, 1985) pages 15–38;
  5. ↑ "Rehabilitating Hagar: Fragments of an Epic Pattern," Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel, Peggy Day, ed. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1989) pages 12–27
  6. ↑ "Can a Sexist Model Liberate Us? Ancient Near Eastern 'Fertility’ Goddesses," Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 5 (1989): pages 65–76
  7. ↑ The HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version (New York: HarperCollins, 1993).
  8. ↑ "1st and 2nd Samuel," Women’s Bible Commentary (20th-anniversary edition; Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2012) pages 150–163.
  9. ↑ "Previous Recipients of the Everett S. Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award"
  10. ↑ Epigraphy, Philology, and the Hebrew Bible: Methodological Perspectives on Philological and Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible in Honor of Jo Ann Hackett, edited by Jeremy M. Hutton and Aaron D. Rubin (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015).
  11. ↑ "Johns Hopkins inducts 16 new members into Society of Scholars" April 12, 2016
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