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 a 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. 

In addition to being awarded a John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, Dr MacDonald is also the receipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship, the Sofja-Kovalevskaja Award 2008 and the David Noel Freedman Award for Excellence and Creativity in Hebrew Bible Scholarship 2011.

The Sofja-Kovalevskaja Award, worth €1.65 million, sees Dr MacDonald seconded to Georg-August-Universität Göttingen for five years from 2009-14. At Göttingen he leads a research team examining the different forms 'monotheism' took in the neo-Babylonian and Persian periods.

He has delivered papers at the universities of Aberdeen, Basel, Humboldt Universität Berlin, Cambridge, Chester, Duke, Durham, Edinburgh, Emory, Exeter, Glasgow, Gloucester, Georg-August Göttingen, Harvard, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Ruprecht-Karls Heidelberg, Innsbruck, Lausanne, Ludwig-Maximillians Munich, New York University, Syracuse, Tel Aviv, Zürich as well as at Princeton Theological Seminary, Tyndale University College Toronto, International Christian College Glasgow, the Society of Old Testament Studies (Cambridge), International Study of the Old Testament (Helsinki), the Society of Biblical Literature (Philadelphia, Washington DC, Edinburgh, Vienna, San Diego, New Orleans, London, San Francisco), the Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense (Leuven), OTSEM (Copenhagen, Göttingen), 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 and the Journal of Theological Interpretation. He is co-editor of Siphrut: Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures, a founding editor of Critical Studies on the Hebrew Bible and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Theological Interpretation, Supplement Series. 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 at St Andrews 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, Prof. Kristin De Troyer and Dr Bill Tooman. Supervision in theological interpretation of Old Testament is offered by Dr Mark Elliott.

Former PhD students

• Timothy J. Stone, The Compositional History of the Megilloth: Canon, Contoured Intertextuality, and Meaning in the Writings (sometime with Chris Seitz; forthcoming with Mohr Siebeck)
• Amber Warhurst, "Are They Not Written?" The Reappearance in Chronicles of Narratives Found in  Both the Former and Latter Prophets (sometime with Chris Seitz; forthcoming with Peeters).
  
• Daniel R. Driver, The Logic of Scripture's Textual Authority in the Mystery of Christ (now published by Mohr Siebeck). 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; now published by T&T Clark International). 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; now published by Eisenbrauns). 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.