Daniel Picus, PhD

he/him/his, Associate Professor

About

Education

B.A Classics, Macalester College

M.St Jewish Studies in the Greco-Roman Period, University of Oxford

Ph.D Religious Studies, Brown University

Daniel Picus is a specialist in late antique Judaism and Christianity. He is interested in religious practices and rituals that center around reading and texts: not just how ancient Jews and Christians read the bible in an interpretive context, but how they made meaning with it through ritual, practice, liturgy, and ethical formation.  His current project, tentatively entitled Where Heaven and Earth Meet, looks at how the rabbis of late antiquity (200-600 CE or so) discuss the practice of reading the Torah as part of a regular liturgical cycle. Some of his other research has looked at ancient Jewish medical incantations, the intersection of text and object in early rabbinic Judaism, and metaphors for orality. At the moment, he is co-editing a special issue of the journal Philological Encounters with Dr. J. Gregory Given.

He is a member of the steering committee (and past co-chair) for the Book History and Biblical Literatures program group in the Society of Biblical Literature, and an associate editor at the Ancient Jew Review.

At Western, Professor Picus teaches a variety of courses in the Global Humanities and Religions department. These include:

HUMA 121: Introduction to the Ancient Mediterranean

REL 231: Introduction to the Study of Religion

HUMA 322: Religion, Reading, and Power

REL 334: Hebrew Bible and the Religion of Ancient Israel

REL 336: New Testament and Early Christianity

REL 390: Secret Books of the Bible

REL 490: Senior Seminar (past topics have included the Talmud and rabbinic literature, ancient interpretations of Genesis)

If a student has any background in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, or Aramaic and is interested in reading with me (especially to supplement a class), I'm often able to do so!