Dr. Robert A. Kugler

PhD 1994 University of Notre Dame

M.Div. with Honors, 1984 Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary

BA with Honors 1979 Lewis & Clark College

His special area of research deals with the interface between the sociohistorical contexts of early Judaism and Christianity and the religions’ interpretation of their received texts and traditions. He is particularly engaged with interpretive traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in Jewish and Christian literature from Greco-Roman Egypt, as well as with the documentary evidence for Judean life in Hellenistic Egypt. He is the author or co-editor of five books and numerous essays in edited volumes. He has also published articles in journals and proceedings such as Revue de Qumran, Dead Sea Discoveries, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Journal of Biblical Literature, and Zeitschrift für alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, and the Proceedings of the XXV International Congress of Papyrology.

 Books published

• From Patriarch to Priest: The Levi-Priestly Tradition from Aramaic Levi to Testament of Levi (SBLEJL 09; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996).
• The Dead Sea Scrolls at Fifty: Proceedings of the 1997 Society of Biblical Literature Qumran Section Meetings (ed. Robert Kugler and Eileen Schuller; SBLEJL 15; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999).
• Religion at Qumran (ed. John J. Collins and Robert A. Kugler; Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000).
• Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001).
• The Book of Leviticus: Composition and Reception (ed. Rolf Rendtorff and Robert Kugler; Formation and Interpretation of Old Testament Literature Series; Leiden: Brill, 2003).
• Introduction to the Bible (co-authored with Patrick Hartin; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009).
• The Book of Leviticus at Qumran, with Kyung Baek (Leiden: Brill, 2017).
• Resolving Disputes in Second Century BCE Herakeopolis: A Study in Jewish Legal Reasoning (Leiden: Brill, 2022).

Books in progress/under contract

• Testament of Job: A Commentary (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter).

Grants 

• ACLS Fellow, 2016.
• Andrew W. Mellon Summer Research Grant (Lewis & Clark College), 2010, 2012.
• Franklin Research Grant, American Philosophical Society, 1995, 2012.
• ACLS Research Stipend, 1995.

Selected articles and contributions to edited volumes 

• “Revisiting CPR 18.11,” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 59 (2022): 275-87.
• “Legal Principles and Torah Stipulations: Jewish legal reasoning in Hellenistic Egypt,” XVII International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Aberdeen, Scotland, August 2019, Proceedings (ed. Michaël van der Meer; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2022), 165-84.
• “Finding ‘Judaism’ in Documentary Papyri: The Case of Petitions from the Herakleopolis Archive,” in Torah, Temple, Land: Constructions of Judaism in Antiquity (ed. Markus Witte, Jens Schröter, and Verena Lepper; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021), 119-137.
• “γερουσια,” in Historical and Theological Dictionary of the Septuagint (ed. Eberhard Bons; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021), 2.1506-1514
• “βεβαιος” in Historical and Theological Dictionary of the Septuagint (ed. Eberhard Bons; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020), 1.1284-1290.
• Translations and commentary on P.Polit.Iud. 1-7 (557-63), SB 26.16801 (581) and contribution to the Introduction to the P.Polit.Iud. archive for Corpus Papyrorum Iudaicarum IV (ed. Tal Ilan and Noach Hacham; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2020), 67-92 (in association with I. Fikhman and S. Szanto).
• “Documentary Papyri” in Early Judaism and its Modern Interpreters (ed. M. Henze and Rodney Werline; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2020), 205-215.
• “Leviticus,” “Sacrifices and Offerings,” and “Zadokites,” in T & T Clark Companion to Second Temple Judaism (ed. Daniel Gurtner and Loren Stuckenbruck; T & T Clark: London, 2020), 1.326-30, 2.89-91, 2.836-38
• “Testaments” in Early Judaism and its Modern Interpreters (ed. M. Henze and Rodney Werline; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2020), 329-52.
• “Ethnicity: A Fresh Religious Context for the Dead Sea Scrolls,” in A Companion to the Dead Sea Scrolls (ed. G. Brooke and C. Hempel; London: T & T Clark, 2018), 75-83.
• “The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,” in Early Jewish Literature: An Anthology (ed. B. Embry, A. Wright, R. Herms; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018), 600-616.
• “The Testament of Abraham,” in Early Jewish Literature: An Anthology (ed. B. Embry, A. Wright, R. Herms; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018), 617-622.
• “Of Echoes of Jewish Scriptures and Adaptations of Livestock Inventories in the Testament of Job,” in Reading the Bible in Ancient Traditions and Modern Editions: Studies in Memory of Peter W. Flint (ed. Andrew Perrin, et al.; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2017), 587-602.
• “Continuing Exile Among the People of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Nuancing N. T. Wright’s Hypothesis,” in Exile: A Conversation with N. T. Wright (ed. James Scott; Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2017), 163-182.
• “On Anthropology and Honor in the Testament of Job,” in Dust of the Ground and Breath of Life (Gen 2.7): The Problem of a Dualistic Anthropology in Early Judaism and Christianity (ed. Jacques van Ruiten and George H. van Kooten; Leiden: Brill, 2016), 117-126.
• “Judean Legal Reasoning in P.Polit.Iud. 3–5: A Research Report,” in Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Papyrology Warsaw, 29 July–3 August 2013 (ed. T. Derda et al.; Warsaw: Raphael Taubenschlag Foundation, 2016), 3.1565–78.
• “What Really Troubled Andronikos? A Note on P.Polit.Iud. 1,” in Sibyls, Scriptures, and Scrolls: John Collins at Seventy (ed. Joel Baden, et al.; Leiden: Brill, 2016), 1.673-87.
• “Judean Marriage Custom and Law in Second-Century BCE Egypt: A Case of Migrating Ideas and a Fixed Ethnic Minority,” in Minderheiten und Migration in der griechisch-römischen Welt (ed. Patrick Sänger; Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2016), 123-139.
• “Book of Job,” for the Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016 [Digital]).
• “The War Rule Texts and a New Theory of the People of the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Brief Thought Experiment,” in The War Scroll, Violence, War and Peace in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature: Essays in Honour of Martin G. Abegg on the Occasion of 65^th Birthday (ed. Kipp Davis, et al.; Leiden: Brill, 2015), 163-172.
• “Leviticus, Book of,” in Fortress Commentary on the Old Testament (ed. Hugh Page; Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2014), 179-210.
• “Writing Scripturally in the Testament of Job: Advancing Our Notions of Scripture and Authority in Judean Literature of the Early Roman Era,” in Scriptural Authority in Early Jewish and Christian Literature (ed. Geza Xeravits, Isaac Kalimi, and Tobias Nicklas; DCL Studies; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013), 251-60.
• *“Uncovering Echoes of LXX Legal Norms in Hellenistic Egyptian Documentary Papyri: The Case of the Second-Century Herakleopolite Nome,” in XIV Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (ed. Melvin Peters, et al.; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2013), 143-53.
•  “Peton Contests Paying Double Rent on Farmland (P.Heid.Inv. G 5100): A Slice of Judean Experience in the Second Century BCE Herakleopolite Nome,” in A Teacher for All Generations: Essays in Honor of James C. VanderKam (ed. Eric Mason et al.; JSJS, 153/I & 153/II; Leiden: Brill, 2012) II. 537-51.
• “The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Not-So-Ambiguous Witness to Early Jewish Interpretive Practices,” in Companion to Biblical Interpretation in Early Judaism (ed. Matthias Henze; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012), 337-60.
• “Uncovering New Dimensions of Early Judean Interpretation of the Greek Torah: Ptolemaic Law Interpreted by its own Rhetoric,” in Changes in Scripture: Rewriting and Interpreting Authoritative Traditions in the Second temple Period (ed. H. von Weissenberg, J. Pakkala and M. Martilla; BZAW 419; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2011), 165-75.
• “A Note on Lev 26:41, 43; 4Q434 1 II 3 and 4Q504 1–2 recto 5-6; and 1QS 8:3 (par. 4Q259 2:12): On Human Agency in the Divine Economy at Qumran,” in Prayer and Poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature: Essays in Honor of Eileen Schuller on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday (ed. J. S. Penner, K. Penner and C. Wassen; Leiden: Brill, 2011), 233-38.
• “Dispelling an Illusion of Otherness? A First Look at Juridical Practice in the Heracleopolis Papyri,” in The “Other” in Second Temple Judaism (ed. Daniel Harlow et al.; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011), 457-70.
• “Uncovering New Dimensions of Early Judean Interpretation of the Greek Torah: Ptolemaic Law Interpreted by its own Rhetoric,” in Changes in Scripture: Rewriting and Interpreting Authoritative Traditions in the Second temple Period (ed. H. von Weissenberg, J. Pakkala and M. Martilla; BZAW 419; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2011), 165-75.
• “Dorotheos Petitions for the Return of Philippa (P.Polit.Jud. 7): A Case Study in the Jews and their Law in Ptolemaic Egypt,” in Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth International Congress of Papyrology: American Studies in Papyrology, ed. Traianos Gagos et al. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2010) 389-97.
• “Of Calendars, Community Rules, and Common Knowledge: Understanding 4QSe- 4QOtot, with Help from Ritual Studies,” in How to Read the Dead Sea Scrolls: Methods and Theories in Scrolls Research (ed. Maxine Grossman; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010), 215-228.
• “The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Not-So-Ambiguous Witness to Early Jewish Interpretive Practices,” in Companion to Biblical Interpretation in Early Judaism (ed. Matthias Henze; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, forthcoming in 2010).
• “Priests” (2756 words), “Dead Sea Scrolls” (2654 words), “Testaments” (2335 words), “Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs” (2054 words), “Levi” (822 words), “4Q215” (813 words), “Aaron” (690 words) (total words: 12,214) in The Dictionary of Early Judaism (ed. John J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010), ad loc.
• “Priests and Levites,” in The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (ed. Katherine Sakenfeld; Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2009) (16,000 words).
• “Whose Scripture? Whose Community? Reflections on the Dead Sea Scrolls Then and Now, By Way of Aramaic Levi,” Dead Sea Discoveries 15 (2008): 5-23.
• “Relexicalizing Leviticus in 4QMMT: The Beginnings of Qumran Antilanguage?” in The Social Sciences and Biblical Translation (ed. Dietmar Neufeld; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2008), 129-40.
• “4Q225 2 i 1–2: A Possible Reconstruction and Explanation,” Journal of Biblical Literature 126 (2007) 172-81.
• “Joseph at Qumran: The Importance of 4Q372 1 in Extending a Tradition,” in Studies in the Hebrew Bible, Qumran and the Septuagingt Presented to Eugene Ulrich (ed. P. W. Flint, E. Tov and J. Vanderkam; Leiden: Brill, 2006) 261-76.
• “Canon,” in Dictionary of the Hebrew Bible: Historical Books (ed. Bill T. Arnold and H.G.M. Williamson; Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2005) 142-50.
• “Hearing the Story of Moses in Ptolemaic Egypt: Artapanus Accommodates the Tradition,” in The Wisdom of Egypt: Jewish, Early Christian, and Gnostic Essays in Honour of Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (AGJU/AJEC; eds. George H. van Kooten & Anthony Hilhorst; Leiden: Brill, 2005) 67-80.
• “On Women and Honor in the Testament of Job,” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 14 (2004) 43-62 (with Richard Rohrbaugh). [Peer reviewed]
• “Women at Qumran: Introducing the Essays,” (with Esther Chazon), Dead Sea Discoveries 11 (2004) 31-37.

Paper presentations and panel participation

• “Analyzing the Legal Reasoning in CPR XVIII 7 & 11: A Model for CPJ IV Editions of Legal Texts?” presented in the Hellenistic Judaism Section, Atlanta, GA, November 2015.
• “’I courted Nikaia … but her father gave her to another man’: On being a Judean woman in Hellenistic Egypt,” presented in the Hellenistic Judaism Section of the Society of Biblical Literature, Baltimore, MD, November 2013.
• “Judean legal reasoning in P. Polit. Iud. 3-5: A research report,” presented at the 27^th International Congress of Papyrology, Warsaw, Poland, July 2013.
• “Invoking the Septuagint to Interpret Ptolemaic Law: Cataloguing More Instances of Ptolemaic Law Interpreted by its Own Rhetoric,” presented in the Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds Group of the Society of Biblical Literature, Chicago, November 2012. “Rethinking the People of the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Case of Ethnic Conflict?” presented in the Qumran Section of the Society of Biblical Literature, San Francisco, CA, November 20, 2011.
• “Judean Marriage Custom and Law in Second-Century BCE Egypt: A Case of Migrating Ideas and a Fixed Ethnic Minority,” invited paper presented at the Henstberger Symposium, “Minderheiten und Migrationsphänome,” Heidelberg, German, July 6-9, 2011.
• “Uncovering Echoes of LXX Legal Norms in Hellenistic Egyptian Documentary Papyri,” presented at the triennial meeting of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Helsinki, Finland, July 2010.
• “Peton Contests Paying Double Rent on Farmland (P.Heid.Inv. G 5100): A Slice of Judean Experience in the Second Century BCE Herakleopolite Nome,” presented in the Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds Group of the Society of biblical Literature, November 2009.
• “Hearing the Story of Moses in Ptolemaic Egypt: Artapanus Accommodates the Tradition, Revisited,” presented in the Hellenistic Judaism section of the Society of Biblical Literature, Boston, November 2008.
• “Philotas Contests the Loss of His Fiancée (P.Polit.Jud. 4): A Case of Juridical Hybridity in Ptolemaic Egypt,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association, Fordham University, New York, NY, August 2008.
• “Negotiating the Hegemony of Pluralism, Then and Now: Taking Lessons from the Jews of Ptolemaic Egypt,” presented as a “Major Paper” at the Annual Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association, August 4-7, 2007, Santa Clara University.
• “A Loan for ‘Dorotheos the Jew’ (P.Polit.Jud. 8): Rethinking Law and the Jews in Light of the Herakleopolis Papyri,” presented at the XXV International Congress of Papyrology, July 29-August 4, 2007, University of Michigan.
• “Revisiting the Shechem Incident (Genesis 34) in Aramaic Levi,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association, Loyola University, Chicago, IL, August 2006.
• “History, Theory, Text and Society: ‘Clarking’ the Social-Scientific Approach to Biblical Studies and Ancient History,” presented at the Annual Context Group Meeting, Menucha Retreat Center, OR, March 2006.
• “Whose Scripture? Whose Community? Reflections on the Dead Sea Scrolls Then and Now,” presented at the “Reading Between the Lines: Community and Scripture at Qumran” Symposium in Honor of the 6oth Birthday of James C. VanderKam, Notre Dame, IN, March 2006.
• “The Herakleopolis Papyri: Signposts Toward a Fresh Appreciation of the Jews in Egypt,” presented at the Annual Catholic Biblical Association Meeting, Collegeville, MN, August 2005.
• “4Q225 2 i 1-2: A Possible Reconstruction and Explanation,” presented in the Qumran Section of the Annual Society of Biblical Literature Meeting, San Antonio, TX, November 2004.
• “Hearing the Story of Moses in Ptolemaic Egypt: Accommodating the Tradition,” presented in the Hebrew Scriptures Section of the Annual Pacific Northwest Regional AAR/SBL Meeting, Vancouver, BC, May 2004.
• “Aramaic Levi Among the Qumran Covenanters,” presented in the Aramaic Studies Section of the Annual Society of Biblical Literature Meeting, Atlanta, GA, November 2003.
• “Identifying a New Category of ‘Sectarian’ Scrolls,” presented with the West Coast Scrolls Scholars Meeting, Eugene and Newport, OR, October 2003
• “Studying Jews, Christians, and Scripture in Alexandria: A Project Proposal,” presented as a research report at the Annual Catholic Biblical Association Meeting, San Francisco, CA, August 2003.
• “The Women of the Testament of Job,” presented with Richard Rohrbaugh at the Context Group Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, March 2003.
• “The Testing of Jesus in the Wilderness (Mark 1:12-13): Hearing the Account With Mark’s Ancient Audience,” presented in the Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity Section of the Annual Society of Biblical Literature Meeting, Toronto, ON, November 2002.
• “Monotheism and Polytheism: The View from Qumran,” (invited) presentation and discussion leader for the Divinity in Ancient Israel Continuing Seminar, the Annual Catholic Biblical Association Meeting, Cleveland, OH, August 2002.

Fields of study and language competencies
Hebrew Bible, Pseudepigrapha/Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Judaism, New Testament, Jewish Literature and History in Greco-Roman Egypt
Ancient Languages: Aramaic, Greek, Hebrew
Modern Languages: French, German (lesser competency in Modern Hebrew)

Professional experience

• Director of Strategic Initiatives, Lewis & Clark College, July 2011 to June 2016.
• Chair, Religious Studies Department, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, September 2002 to June 2008, January 2010 to May 2011, July 2012 to the June 2014.
• Program Leader (with Mitzi Kugler), Greece Overseas Program, Lewis & Clark College, fall 2007 and 2015.
• Interim Chair, Art Department, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, June 2006 to May 2007.
• Interim Dean of Arts & Humanities, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, July 2005 to June 2006.
• Director, Classical Studies Minor, June 2004-May 2005, May 2006 to May 2007, September 2009 to the present.
• Paul S. Wright Professor of Christian Studies, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, September 2002 to the present.

 Honors and Awards

• ACLS Fellow, 2016.
• Selected as Teacher of the Year, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, Spring 2007.
• Selected to give a “Major Paper” at the Annual Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, August 2007.
• Appointed to the Board of Consultors for the Catholic Biblical Association, August 2007.
• Nominated for Teacher of the Year, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, Spring 2006.
• Elected as Alumnus Member of the Lewis & Clark College Phi Beta Kappa Chapter, Spring 2001.
• Scholar of the Year, Gonzaga Unversity, April 1999.

Editorial positions, service to the wider academic community

• Chair of the Editorial Board, Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series, January 2014 to December 2017.
• Reviewer, Linfield College, Religious Studies Department, April 2010.
• Reviewer, Concordia University Division of Theology and the Humanities, October 2009-January 2010.
• Panelist, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2006 Challenge Grants, February 2006.
• Special Issue co-editor (with Esther Chazon) of Dead Sea Discoveries, “Women and Children at Qumran,” forthcoming in 2004.
• Associate Editor, Currents and Trends in Missions, December 2009 to the present.
• Associate Series Editor, Themes in Biblical Narrative Series (with Brill Publishers), January 2003 to the present.
• Associate Editor, Journal of Hebrew Studies (Online), January 2007 to the present.
• Associate Editor, Journal of Biblical Literature, January 2001 to the December 2007.
• Associate editor, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, August 1999 to the December 2007.