Education

Ph.D., HUC-JIR, M.Phil., Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion
BA, Wheaton College

Biographical Summary

Jeff Cooley joined the theology faculty at Boston College in 2009. Before coming to BC, he was a member of the Classics department at Xavier University, first as an adjunct instructor (2003-2006) and then as a visiting assistant professor (2003-2009).

Research Interests

Hebrew Bible in its ancient Near Eastern context; calendars; Sabbath; the tabernacle; the intersection of ancient scholarship and literature; divination in the ancient Near East; myth and method; intercultural contact in the ancient Mediterranean

Teaching

Biblical Heritage I-II

Biblical Hebrew

Myth and Religion in Ancient Israel and the Near East Genesis

Select Professional Activities and Awards

Society of Biblical Literature

American Oriental Society

American Schools of Oriental Research

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute: Holy Land and Holy City in Classical Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Oxford England, July 9-August 12, 2008

Literature and Culture in the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece, Rome, and the Near East – An Advanced Research Seminar, Venice International University, November 2006, September 2007

Refereed Publications Since 2002

Poetic Astronomy in the Ancient Near East: The Reflexes of Celestial Science in the Literature of Ancient Mesopotamia, Ugarit and Israel. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, forthcoming.

“The Story of Saul’s Election (1 Sam 9-10) in Light of Mantic Practice in Ancient Iraq.” Journal of Biblical Literature (in press).

“Astral Religion in Ugarit and Ancient Israel.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies (in press).

“Celestial Divination in Ugarit and Ancient Israel: A Reappraisal.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies (in press).

“Early Mesopotamian Astral Science and Divination in the Myth of Inana and Šukaletuda.” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 5 (2008): 75-98.

“Inana and Šhukaletuda: A Sumerian Astral Myth” KASKAL 5 (2008): 161-172.

“‘I want to dim the brilliance of Šulpae!’ Mesopotamian Celestial Divination and the Myth of Erra and Išum.” Iraq 70 (2008): 179-188.

Selected Presentations

“The Israelite and Jewish Sabbaths in Religio-Historical Perspective.” Annual Meeting of the Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society, Loudenville, OH, March 26, 2009.

“Pedagogy and Myth in Classical and Ancient Mesopotamian Celestial Science.” Ohio Visiting Classics Professor Lecture, College of Wooster, Wooster, OH, February 1, 2007.

“The Ideal Calendar in Mesopotamian, Israelite and Early Jewish Tradition.” Annual Meeting of the Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society, Erie, April 10-11, 2003.