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November 2009
Marking the
Retirement of Paul Hanson
Contact:
Jonathan
Beasley, 617.496.6004
HDS Photograph
An afternoon program, "Visionaries and
Pragmatists Ancient and Contemporary," took place in Andover Hall on
November 2 to celebrate the retirement of Paul Hanson, Florence Corliss
Lamont Research Professor of Divinity. The first seminar on apocalyptic
literature was led by
Adela Yarbro Collins, Buckingham Professor of New Testament
Criticism and Interpretation at Yale University Divinity School.
A second seminar on religion and public life was led by
Ronald
Thiemann, Bussey Professor of Theology at HDS. Each seminar
included a brief presentation on the state of the research in that area
of scholarship and what is currently happening in the field.
At 4:30 pm, the keynote
address, "Theocracy and Its Discontents: Biblical Perspectives on the
Mediated Rule of God," was given by S. Dean McBride, Professor
Emeritus of Hebrew and Old Testament Interpretation at Union Theological
Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. A reception in Hanson's honor concluded
the afternoon's events.
Paul D. Hanson has taught at Harvard since 1971 and was the Florence
Corliss Lamont Professor of Divinity since 1988. He was the Bussey
Professor of Divinity from 1981 to 1988, and Professor of Old Testament
before that. He has published multiple books and mentored countless
students in his areas of expertise, which include Hebrew prophecy,
Jewish literature of the Second Temple Period, the religion of the
ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and biblical theology.
Among his many publications are The Dawn of Apocalyptic: The
Historical and Sociological Roots of Jewish Apocalyptic Eschatology;
Visionaries and Their Apocalypses; Old Testament Apocalyptic;
and The People Called: The Growth of Community in the Bible. His
new book, Political Engagement as Biblical Mandate (Cascade
Books, 2009), examines the interplay between religion
and politics, with emphasis on American faith communities rooted in
biblical tradition. Hanson will remain at HDS as the Florence Corliss
Lamont Research Professor of Divinity.
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