Nathan MacDonald

Reader in Hebrew and Old Testament - on secondment Feb 2009-Jan 2014

Nathan MacDonald teaches in the area of Old Testament, particularly the Pentateuch and the Former Prophets. His research interests focus around ancient Israelite religion, the theological appropriation of the Old Testament, and the biblical portrayal of God.

Dr MacDonald is the author and editor of a number of books. His first monograph, Deuteronomy and the Meaning of `Monotheism' (Mohr Siebeck, 2003) was a winner of the 2007 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise. His most recent books What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat? (Eerdmans, 2008) and Not Bread Alone (Oxford University Press, 2008) consider the neglected topic of food and eating in the Old Testament. 

He was recently named one of the winners of the Sofja-Kovalevskaja Award for 2008. The award, worth €1.65 million, will see Dr MacDonald seconded to Georg-August Universität Göttingen for five years from 2009-14. At Göttingen he will lead a research team examining the different forms 'monotheism' took in the exilic and Persian periods.

He has delivered papers at the universities of Aberdeen, Cambridge, Chester, Duke, Durham, Edinburgh, Emory, Exeter, Glasgow, Gloucester, Georg-August Göttingen, Harvard, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Ruprecht-Karls Heidelberg, Ludwig-Maximillians Munich, New York University, Syracuse, Tel Aviv as well as at Princeton Theological Seminary, Tyndale University College Toronto, International Christian College Glasgow, the Society of Old Testament Studies (Cambridge), the Society of Biblical Literature (Philadelphia, Washington DC, Edinburgh, Vienna, San Diego), the Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense (Leuven), and the Tyndale Conference (Cambridge).

He has served on the Society of Old Testament Studies committee and on the editoral committee of the Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology. He was external examiner in biblical studies at Highland Theological College (2003-2006) and Old Testament editor for Themelios. Dr MacDonald has been visiting professor in Old Testament at Beijing University (Summer 2004; February 2008). He was a Humboldt Research Fellow at Ludwig-Maximillians Universität Munich (2007) where he was a guest of Prof. Dr Christoph Levin.

He has organized three conferences that focused on the relationship between the Bible and Christian Theology. A small colloquium on Old Testament and Christian Theolog y (with Andrew Mein of Westcott House, Cambridge) and major conferences on the Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology (with Richard Bauckham and Trevor Hart) and the Book of Genesis and Christian Theology (with Mark Elliott and Grant Macaskill).

Education

M.A. in Theology and Mathematics, Cambridge (1997)

M.Phil. in Classical Hebrew Studies, Cambridge (1998)

Ph.D. in Theology, Durham (2001)

Courses taught

Courses taught or taught in the past

• DI1003 History and Religion of Ancient Israel: An Introduction
• DI2002 Hebrew 2
• DI3601 Biblical Exegesis
• DI4702 Israel in Context
• DI4711 Old Testament Ethics
• DI4714 Translation from and into Hebrew
• DI4715 Pentateuch
• DI4724 Abraham in History and Interpretation: English Texts
• DI4725 Abraham in History and Interpretation: Hebrew Texts
• DI5225 Theological Interpretation of Scripture
• DI5429 Scripture and Hermeneutics

Postgraduate supervision

PhD and MPhil enquiries

Due to his secondment to the university of Göttingen for 2009-14, Dr MacDonald will not be accepting any students for supervision through the university of St Andrews. Supervision in many areas of Old Testament study is offered in St Mary's by Prof. Jim Davila and Prof. Kristin De Troyer. Supervision in theological interpretation of Old Testament is offered by Dr Mark Elliott.

Current students

• Tim Stone, The Canonical Formation of the Ketuvim (PhD; sometime with Chris Seitz).
• Amber Warhurst, A Canonical Approach to the Book of Chronicles (PhD; sometime with Chris Seitz).
• J. Antonio Alvarez, Living in Exile: Responses to Jerusalem's Fall in the Books of the Deuteronomistic History (MPhil).

Former PhD students

• Daniel R. Driver, The Logic of Scripture's Textual Authority in the Mystery of Chris t. Current employment: Assistant Professor of Old Testament, Tyndale University College, Toronto.
  
• Jonathan Y. Rowe, Michal, Contradicting Values: Understanding the Moral Dilemmas Faced by Saul's Daughter (supervised with M.I. Aguilar). Current employment: Professor, Seminario Evangélico Unido de Teología, Madrid.
  
• Joshua Moon, Jeremiah's New Covenant: An Exegetical Discussion in Dialogue with the History of Interpretation (sometime, also supervised by M.W. Elliott). Current employment: Pastor of Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis.
  
• Steve Mason, The Contours of an Elusive Phrase: Berit Olam and some Contributions to Pentateuchal Theology (now published by T&T Clark International). Current employment: Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, LeTourneau University, Texas.