Ellen José van Wolde (born 1954) is a Dutch biblical scholar. In her research she focuses mainly on the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

, applying achievements of

semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

and

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

. She became known to the general public mainly through her oration (2009) on the first three sentences of the

book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...

. Since the summer of 2021 she is Emeritus Professor at the

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century D ...

Education

Van Wolde studied theology at the Catholic University Nijmegen,

Biblical studies Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 Fo ...

at the Pontificium Institutum Biblicum in Rome, and semiotics at the

Università degli Studi di Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

. She completed her Master's in Theology (

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

) and her PhD in Biblical Studies (cum laude).

Career and research

Van Wolde was given an appointment as assistant professor at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. She later became associate professor there. In 1992, at the age of 37, she was appointed Professor of Exegesis of the Old Testament and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

at the Tilburg Theological Faculty, which was later incorporated into

Tilburg University Tilburg University is a public university, public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands. Tilb ...

. In 2009, she was appointed Professor of Old Testament Exegesis/Hebrew Bible and Source Texts Judaism at Radboud University Nijmegen. There she headed the Department of Bible Studies (from 2010-2020 ) and from 2020-2021 the (merged) Department of Textual, Historical, and Systematic Studies of Judaism and Christianity (2020-2021) at Radboud University. She retired in the summer of 2021. Ellen van Wolde is a

Biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 Fo ...

and researches the Hebrew Bible in the context of the

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...

. Her focus is on ideas about the beginning of the universe, about God and about people. She investigates these

concepts Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by sev ...

through language and text research in close connection with the

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

and

cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

(the mental processes) of people in the Ancient Near East. In doing so, she strives to uncover the thought processes and language use of people in the time, place, and culture in which the texts originated. Her insights are captured in her monograph
Reframing Biblical Studies. When Language and Text Meet Cognition, Culture and Context
' and in the articles she has published, among others on the first verses of the Bible (the verb ‘bara’), on the

flood story A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primae ...

and ‘the rainbow’ after the flood, on ‘the

Jacob's Ladder Jacob's Ladder ( he, סֻלָּם יַעֲקֹב ) is a ladder leading to heaven that was featured in a dream the biblical Patriarch Jacob had during his flight from his brother Esau in the Book of Genesis (chapter 28). The significance of th ...

’ and on ‘

Sodom and Gomorrah Sodom and Gomorrah () were two legendary biblical cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Their story parallels the Genesis flood narrative in its theme of God's anger provoked by man's sin (see Genesis 19:1–28). They are mentioned frequ ...

’.

Awards and honours

In 2005, Van Wolde was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of the Netherlands (KNAW), and in 2006 a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences & Humanities (KHMW). She was nominated and elected a member of

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

/Academy of Europe in 2013. From 2010-2016 she was a member of the General Board of the KNAW. In 2011 she was appointed Knight of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

. On the occasion of the bicentenary of the KNAW, the six-part series "The Magic of Science" was made where one of the documentaries is dedicated to her.

Selected works

Books and Papers

*''A semiotic analysis of Genesis 2-3. A semiotic theory and method of analysis applied to the story of the Garden of Eden'' (Assen 1989; also published as dissertation RU NijmegenDissertation RU Nijmegen
''A semiotic analysis of Genesis 2-3''
/ref>) *''Meneer en mevrouw Job. Job in gesprek met zijn vrouw, zijn vrienden en met God'' (Baarn 1991, 1995) *''Ruth en Noömi, twee vreemdgangers'' (Baarn 1993) *
Words become Worlds. Semantic Studies of Genesis 1-11
' (Leiden 1994) *''Verhalen over het begin. Genesis 1-11 en andere scheppingsverhalen'' (Baarn 1995) *''Zin in verhalen'' (onder redactie van Ellen van Wolde) (Amsterdam 1997; Annalen van het Thijmgenootschap, 85/2) *
Een topografie van de geest. Een verkenningstocht door het landschap van taal en betekenis, denken en geloven
' (Nijmegen 2000; Annalen van het Thijmgenootschap, 88/4 (Thijm-essay 2000)) *Bas van Iersel, ''Uitgelezen. Studies over de evangelies'', ed. Ellen van Wolde (Baarn 2000) *
Does 'innâ Denote Rape? A Semantic Analysis of a Controversial Word
', Vetus Testamentum, 52 (2002) 528-544 *
Job 28. Cognition in context
' (Leiden 2003) *''Het paradijs'' (redactie) (Zoetermeer 2006)
''Sentiments as Culturally Constructed Emotions. Anger and Love in the Hebrew Bible''
'' Biblical Interpretation. A Journal of Contemporary Approaches'' 16, pp. 1–24 (2008) *
Reframing Biblical Studies. When Language and Text Meet Culture, Cognition, and Context
'. Eisenbrauns. (Winona Lake 2009)
''Bijbelse scheppingsverhalen''
in P. Oomen & T. Smedes (Eds.), ''Evolutie, cultuur en religie. Perspectieven vanuit biologie en theologie'' (pp. 57–82), (Kampen: Klement 2010)
''Semantics and the Semantics of bara. A Rejoinder to the Arguments Advanced by B. Becking and M. Korpel''
with R.C. Rezetko, ''

Journal of Hebrew Scriptures The ''Journal of Hebrew Scriptures'' is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by the University of Alberta. It was established in 1996 with Ehud Ben Zvi as the founding editor, and covers the Hebrew Bible and the history of ancient Israel ...

'' 11(9) (2011)
''Outcry, Knowledge, and Judgment in Genesis 18-19''
In D. Lipton (Ed.), ''Universalism and Particularism at Sodom and Gomorrah. Essays in Memory of Ron Pirson'' (pp. 71–100), Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature (2012)
''One Bow or Another. A study of the bow in Gen 9: 8-17''
''

Vetus Testamentum ''Vetus Testamentum'' is a quarterly academic journal covering various aspects of the Old Testament. It is published by Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international a ...

'', 63, pp. 124–149 (2013) * Landsman, K., en E. van Wolde (eds),
The Challenge of Chance. A Multidisciplinary Approach from Science and the Humanities
' (Springer 2016)
''Separation and Creation In Genesis 1 and Psalm 104, a Continuation of the Discussion of bara''
Vetus Testamentum 67 (2017) 611-647 *
The Niphal as Middle Voice and its Consequence for Meaning
', ''

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament The ''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'' (JSOT) is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of Biblical studies. The editors-in-chief are David Shepherd (Trinity College Dublin) and Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer ( Örebro School of Theol ...

'' 43 (2019) 453-478. (most downloaded publication of Sage 2019-20) *
Psalm 102: 13-23: Qualifications Rather than Actions
', The Bible Translator 70 (2019) 207-222. *
Accusing YHWH of Fickleness: A Study of Psalm 89,47-52
', ''

Biblica Biblica, formerly International Bible Society, was founded in 1809 and is the worldwide copyright holder of the New International Version of the Bible (NIV), licensing commercial rights to Zondervan in the United States and to Hodder & Stoughton ...

'' 100 (2019) 506-526. *
A Stairway to Heaven? Jacob’s Dream in Genesis 28.10-22
', Vetus Testamentum 69 (2019) 722-735. *
A network of conventional and deliberate metaphors in Psalm 22
', Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 44.4 (2020) 642-666. *
A Prayer for Purification. Psalm 51:12-14, a Pure Heart and the verb ברא
' , Vetus Testamentum (2020) 340-360. *''Various Types of Metaphors and Their Different Functions in Psalm 51'', in D.Verde and A. Labahn (eds), ''Networks of Metaphors in the Hebrew Bible'' (BETL CCCIX) Leuven: Peeters 2020, 193-215. *
Niphal verbs in the Book of Genesis and their contribution to meaning
', in A. Hornkohl and G. Kahn (eds.), (''Semitic Languages and Cultures, 7)'', (Cambridge University: Open Books Publisher 2021) 431-453.
''Not the Name Alone: A Linguistic Study of Exodus 3:14–15''
Vetus Testamentum (2021) 1-17.

References

External Links

Radboud Universiteit: Ellen van WoldeAcademia.edu: Ellen van Wolde
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolde, Ellen van 1954 births Living people Academic staff of Radboud University Nijmegen Pontifical Biblical Institute alumni University of Bologna alumni Dutch biblical scholars Old Testament scholars Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Groningen (city) Female biblical scholars