Bible Department
Bar Ilan University
52900 Ramat Gan, Israel
telephone: +9722 672-2197
website: www.jameskugel.com
email: jlk@jameskugel.com
1. Born: August 22, 1945, New York, N.Y. I am married and have four children.
2. Education: Yale University, B.A. (1968)
Harvard University, Junior Fellow (1972-76)
City University of New York, Ph. D. (1978)
3. Areas of interest: Hebrew Bible; history of biblical exegesis; Judaism.
4. Positions held: Andrew Mellon Faculty Fellow, City University (1978-79)
Lecturer, Harvard University (1979-80)
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies and Comparative Literature, Yale University (1980-82); Associate Professor (1982)
Starr Professor of Hebrew Literature, Harvard University (1982-2003)
Professor of Bible, Bar Ilan University (1992-2013)
Professor Emeritus, Bar Ilan University, 2014—
5. Memberships and Offices:
Poetry Editor, Harper’s Magazine (1972-4)
Co-founder and associate editor, Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History (1981-2000)
Executive Board, Association for Jewish Studies (1983-84)
Chairman, Department of Near Eastern Languages, Harvard University (1987-91)
Director, Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University (1996-2001)
Editorial Board, Jewish Studies Quarterly (1993-2003)
Member, American Academy for Jewish Research (1999-2003)
Founder and editor-in-chief, Jewish Studies: an Internet Journal (2002- present)
Director, Institute for the History of the Jewish Bible, Bar Ilan University (2003-10)
Chairman, Department of Bible, Bar-Ilan University (2006-09)
Editorial Board, Themes in Biblical Narrative – Jewish and Christian Traditions (series, Brill Publications, Leiden)
Editorial Board, פרשנות ובקורת (Bar Ilan)
Editorial Board, שנתון המקרא (Jerusalem)
Editorial Board, Biblische Notizen—Neue Folge (Vienna) (2010-present)
Editorial Directorate, מוסד ביאליק מו”ל
Editorial Board, Journal of Ancient Judaism (2011-present)
6. Awards and Prizes: Phi Beta Kappa (1968), Wrexham Prize (1968), Fulbright Graduate Fellowship (1968), Danforth Graduate Fellowship (1968), Woodrow Wilson Fellow (1968), Bryant Dissertation Prize (1977), A. Mellon Fellow (1977), Ingram Merrill Fellow (1978), S. F. Morse Faculty Fellow (1981-82). The Idea of Biblical Poetry was supported by awards from the F. Hilles and A. W. Griswold Funds, and received the book prize of the American Jewish Committee (1982). Research for In Potiphar’s House was sponsored by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (1988-89). The Bible As It Was was supported by awards from the Alan M. Stroock Publication Fund for Jewish Studies and a grant from the Littauer Foundation. It was among five finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award in the category of General Nonfiction. Traditions of the Bible was honored with a special session at the 1999 Society of Biblical Literature convention. The Bible As It Was and Traditions of the Bible were jointly awarded the $200,000 Grawemeyer Award for the best book in Religion, 2001. How to Read the Bible was awarded the prize for the best book in any category by the National Jewish Book Awards, 2007. It was chosen as one of the New York Times “Best Books of 2007, All Categories.” Outside the Bible, coedited with Louis Feldman and Lawrence Schiffman, was just awarded the National Jewish Book Award for Scholarship, 2014.
