Choon-Leong Seow (; born August 4, 1952), 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
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
. An expert in
wisdom literature
Wisdom literature is a genre of literature common in the ancient Near East. It consists of statements by sages and the wise that offer teachings about divinity and virtue. Although this genre uses techniques of traditional oral storytelling, it w ...
, Seow has written widely in the field of
biblical studies.
Education
Born and raised in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
, Seow holds a Bachelor of Arts from
Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...
, a Master of Divinity from
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...
, and a
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. His teachers include
Patrick D. Miller,
Jimmy Jack McBee Roberts, Thomas Oden Lambdin, and – for his dissertation –
Frank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross Jr. (1921–2012) was the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages Emeritus at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 ''magnum opus'' ''Canaanite Myth and ...
.
Career
Seow began teaching at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1983, earning the rank of associate professor in 1990 and occupying the newly established Henry Snyder Gehman Chair in 1995. Twenty years later, in 2015, he transitioned to Vanderbilt University as Vanderbilt, Buffington, Cupples Chair in Divinity and Distinguished Professor of Hebrew Bible. In addition, Seow has taught at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Harvard University, and institutions in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa.
Seow has written on a broad range of topics related to the study of the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
, including wisdom literature, the history of ancient Israelite religion,
Northwest Semitic
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 A ...
philology, Hebrew poetry and the theological interpretation of the Bible. Much of Seow's recent work has focused on the “history of consequences,” which examines how the Bible has been interpreted throughout history and the impact of those interpretations.
To date, Seow has published seven book-length works, including commentaries on Job, Daniel, I-II Kings, and Ecclesiasties. He has also published over forty scholarly articles and essays. He is the main editor for Hebrew Bible/Old Testament for the ''Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception'' (de Gruyter) and the general editor of the Illuminations commentary series (Eerdmans). He has served on the editorial boards of numerous publications, including the Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft series (de Gruyter), ''Maarav'', ''Catholic Biblical Quarterly'', ''Journal of Biblical Literature'', the Writings from the Ancient World series (SBL Press), and the Abingdon Old Testament Commentary Series.
Selected works
* ''Job 1-21'' (Illuminations). Eerdmans, 2013.
* ''Hebrew Inscriptions: Texts from the Biblical Period of the Monarchy'' (Co-written with
F.W. Dobbs-Allsopp
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 o ...
,
Jimmy Jack McBee Roberts
Jimmy Jack McBee Roberts (born May 28, 1939), known as J. J. M. Roberts, is William Henry Green Professor of Old Testament Literature (Emeritus) at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. A member of the Churches of Christ, Robert ...
, R. E. Whitaker). Yale University Press, 2004.
* ''Daniel'' (Westminster Bible Companion). Westminster/John Knox, 2003.
* “I & II Kings” in ''New Interpreter's Bible'', Volume III (Abingdon, 1999, 1–296).
* ''Ecclesiastes: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary'' (Anchor Bible 18c). Yale University Press, 1997.
* ''A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew.'' Second edition: Abingdon, 1995; First edition: Abingdon, 1987. Translated into Chinese in Taiwan (2001) and China (2007).
* ''Myth, Drama, and the Politics of David's Dance'' (Harvard Semitic Monograph 46). Scholars Press, 1989.
References
External links
Personal websitePrinceton Theological Seminary profilePrinceton Theological Seminary biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seow, Choon-Leong
Living people
Old Testament scholars
Christian Hebraists
Princeton Theological Seminary alumni
Princeton Theological Seminary faculty
Harvard University alumni
American Presbyterians
American people of Chinese descent
American biblical scholars
Year of birth missing (living people)