Prof William Tooman
Head of School
Principal of St Mary's College
Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism
Biography
Following completion of a comprehensive undergraduate degree in Divinity, William Tooman pursued graduate studies in Northwest Semitic languages and ancient Hebrew literature. He completed his PhD in Hebrew and Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006 under the supervision of Prof Michael V. Fox.
After a brief teaching appointment in Jewish Studies at UW-Madison, Dr Tooman secured his first academic post in 2006 as Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Edgewood College, a private Dominican liberal arts college. In 2009, he was appointed Lecturer in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at the University of St Andrews, and he was promoted to Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism in 2023. He has been co-director of the Institute of Bible, Theology, and Hermeneutics since 2018.
Teaching
Undergraduate Modules:
DI1003 Old Testament 1: Torah and Prophets
DI2002 Hebrew 2
DI3711 Reading the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
DI4700 Hebrew Prose and Poetry
DI4711 Prophets: Hebrew Texts
DI4715 Torah: Covenant and Composition
DI4726 Hebrew Reading and Syntax
Postgraduate Modules:
DI5105 Textual Criticism
DI5106 Advanced Hebrew Readings
Context, Formation, and Meaning of the Biblical Canons (University of Zürich; co-taught with Prof Dr Konrad Schmid)
Research areas
I specialize in the literature and thought of ancient Judaism, including the Hebrew Bible. The object of my research is to recover, as fully as possible, the full spectrum of literary conventions used by ancient Jewish writers and the competencies of ancient Jewish readers (up to circa 250 CE). My specific research interest is the intersection of poetics and literary evolution and transmission, particularly as they impact ancient Jewish interpretation. (Research domains: textual-criticism, historical-criticism, inner-biblical interpretation, comparative poetics, aesthetics, coherence, scribal practice, law in narrative.)
Prof Tooman is co-PI, with Prof Andrew Teeter (Harvard), of the long-term research project Texture: Historical Poetics of Ancient Jewish Literature (https://texturepoetics.com).
PhD supervision
- Aaron Shaw
- Riane Mcconnell
- Samuel Draper
- Andrew Meeson
- David Taylor
- Zara Zhang
Selected publications
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Standards of (in)coherence in ancient Jewish literature
Teeter, D. A. (Editor) & Tooman, W. (Editor), 27 Jul 2020, In: Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel. 9, 2Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue › peer-review
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Open access
Authenticating oral and memory variants in ancient Hebrew literature
Tooman, W. A., 1 Apr 2019, In: Journal of Semitic Studies. 64, 1, p. 91-114Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Gog of Magog: Reuse of Scripture and Compositional Technique in Ezekiel 38-39
Tooman, W. A., 2011, Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck. 354 p. (Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reiche; vol. 52)Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Wisdom and Torah at Qumran: Evidence from the Sapiential Texts
Tooman, W. A., 2013, Wisdom and Torah : The Reception of ‘Torah’ in the Wisdom Literature of the Second Temple Period. Schipper, B. U. & Teeter, D. A. (eds.). Leiden and Boston: Brill, p. 203-232 (Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplement Series).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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The Temple Scroll (11Q19): Papers Presented at the Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting, St Andrews, July 7-11, 2013
Tooman, W. A. (Editor), 26 Aug 2014, Brescia: Morcelliana. 160 p. (HENOCH: historical and textual studies in ancient and medieval Judaism and Christianity; vol. 36)Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Ezekiel: current debates and future directions
Tooman, W. A. (Editor) & Barter, P. L. (Editor), 2017, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 567 p. (Forschungen zum Alten Testament ; vol. 112)Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Open access
The Servant-Messiah and the Messiah's servants in Targum Jonathan Isaiah
Tooman, W. A., 13 Aug 2021, Isaiah’s servants in early Judaism and Christianity: the Isaian servant and the exegetical formation of community identity. Lyons, M. A. & Stromberg, J. (eds.). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, p. 317-336 (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe; vol. 554).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Open access
The hermeneutics of scribal rewriting in Targum Jonathan Ezek 1
Tooman, W. A., 1 Dec 2014, In: Journal of Ancient Judaism. 5, 3, p. 393-414 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Ezekiel's Radical Challenge to Inviolability
Tooman, W. A., 2009, In: Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. 121, 4, p. 498-514 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Covenant and Presence in the Composition and Theology of Ezekiel
Tooman, W. A., 2013, Divine Presence and Absence in Persian Period Judaism. Macdonald, N. & de Hulster, I. (eds.). Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, p. 151-82 (Forschungen zum Alten Testament).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter