Chris Burrows, MTS candidate

Chris Burrows, MTS ’26, is focusing his studies on the Hebrew Bible. Prior to coming to HDS, Burrows graduated from Northwestern University in 2017 with a degree in European history and then taught English in Japan for two years. He returned home and earned his JD at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, Tennessee, after which he briefly worked as an attorney in Oregon, specializing in construction litigation. His interest in the history of law and its intersections with religion, philosophy, and language led him to Harvard Divinity School. Chris shares his thoughts on some of his most meaningful classes at HDS, his professional aspirations, and more.

What was your upbringing like? How did religion factor into your life?

I grew up in Salem, Oregon, and I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From the time I was a kid, up until I left for college, I was very involved in the Mormon church.

For undergrad, I went to Northwestern in Evanston, north of Chicago. I considered going to Brigham Young University, where a lot of my extended family had gone, but I chose not to. During college, being away from home and being exposed to other ideas really challenged me, and I became a little disillusioned with Mormonism. Ultimately, college ended up being a transition period in which I left behind an old, very important part of my life.

After earning your undergraduate degree, you taught English in Japan for two years, earned a law degree, and worked as an attorney. Why did you choose to go back to school, and why HDS specifically?

It was in Japan that I developed my love for languages, and part of what drew me to HDS was the ability to fulfill a longstanding dream of studying ancient and classical languages. During my time in Japan, I also read the Bible all the way through for the first time, and I started to see the ways in which it could serve as a foundational way of looking at the world, at history, and at language and meaning.  

At HDS, I am interested in exploring the connections between law, cult, language, and thought in the ancient world, with a specific focus on the Hebrew Bible. I want to investigate ways in which pre-Hellenic Near Eastern and also Far Eastern modes of legal, literary, and philosophic discourse can both illuminate the development of our modern concepts as well as open heretofore unseen paths for thinking about the relationship between the divine, the human, truth, and social order.  

I was also drawn to HDS because I felt I would be able to explore an eclectic range of interests, and I was intrigued by the possibility of taking classes at HDS but also in other departments, like the Classics Department, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations.

Can you tell me about some classes at HDS that you have especially enjoyed?

I have really enjoyed Professor Andrew Teeter’s classes and seminars on the Hebrew Bible and the way in which he helps students to better “hear the music” of the text in its unique and sometimes difficult modes of expression. To put it another way, he shows us how the text of the bible works very much like leitmotifs in Wagner. It has themes that are stated and then reused again and again throughout the narrative, but they're varied or flipped or altered in strategic ways. The whole thing is this sort of Russian nesting doll of recursive references that aren't just there for the sake of it, but because they convey theological meaning.

I have also been enjoying language instruction in Hebrew and Greek, as well as the ability to take interesting classes in other departments outside the Divinity School that often intersect and interact with my main course of study in interesting ways. Last semester, for example, I was able to take a seminar on Sumerian mythology, and I am planning to take introduction to Literary Sinitic next fall.

What has financial aid meant to you?

I wouldn't be at HDS if it weren’t for financial aid. I don't think I could be doing the class load that I'm doing now if I had to worry about finances and finding work. So, I'm immensely thankful for financial aid.

What are your professional aspirations?

I hope to use the language skills and experience I will gain at HDS to pursue doctoral work focused on the Hebrew Bible in dialogue with Ancient Near Eastern and East Asian thought and literature. I'd like to ultimately teach, focusing on subject matter related to the Hebrew Bible. I want to introduce more people to what I believe is the most fascinating book ever written. I am also interested in the history and development of law and administration as well as ancient concepts of justice and pre-Hellenic and other non-Western modes of philosophical investigation and literary expression and how these both illuminated the fundamental nature of reality for ancient peoples as well as impinged on day-to-day matters both in the social and religious spheres.  

I think there are a lot of interesting ways that one could do comparative work between non-western modes of literary expression and the Hebrew Bible. If you look at the Bible through these different lenses, it can reveal things that you wouldn't have seen otherwise. I think that's a fruitful area of inquiry.

—by Sarah Rubin