Randall D. Chesnutt

Professor Emeritus of Religion

Religion and Philosophy Division, Seaver College

randall.chesnutt@pepperdine.edu

Education

PhD, New Testament and Christian Origins, Duke University, 1986
ThM, Duke University, 1980
MA, Harding University Graduate School of Religion, 1980
MTh, Harding University Graduate School of Religion, 1976
BA, Alabama Christian College, School of Religion, 1973

Research
Awards

Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 2069 and the Compositional History of 1 Enoch, Journal of Biblical Literature 129 (2010) 485-505. pdf
The Wisdom of Solomon, Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature, (Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, in progress).
Perceptions of Oil in Early Judaism and the Meal Formula in Joseph and Aseneth, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, 14 (2005) 113-32. pdf
George Nickelsburg's Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah: Retrospect and Prospect, in G. W. E. Nickelsburg in Perspective: An Ongoing Dialogue of Learning, Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery-Peck, eds., 2 vols., Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 80. Leiden: Brill, 2003. Vol. 2, pp. 343-56. pdf
Covenant and Cosmos in Wisdom of Solomon 10-19, in The Concept of the Covenant in the Second Temple Period, eds. Stanley E. Porter and Jacqueline C. R. de Roo. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 71. Leiden: Brill, 2003. Pp. 223-49. pdf
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Meal Formula in Joseph and Aseneth: From Qumran Fever to Qumran Light, in The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. J. H. Charlesworth. 3 vols., (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006). Vol. 2, pp. 397-425.
Prayers in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, in Prayer from Alexander to Constantine: A Critical Anthology, ed. Mark Kiley et al. London/New York: Routledge, 1997. Pp. 38-42. (Co-authored with Judith H. Newman).
Prayer of a Convert to Judaism: Joseph and Aseneth 12-13, in Prayer from Alexander to Constantine: A Critical Anthology, ed. Mark Kiley et al. London/New York: Routledge, 1997. Pp. 65-72.
From Text to Context: The Social Matrix of Joseph and Aseneth, in Society of Biblical Literature 1996 Seminar Papers, ed. K. H. Richards. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996. Pp. 285-302. pdf
From Death to Life: Conversion in Joseph and Aseneth, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series 16. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995.
Jewish Women in the Greco-Roman Era, in Essays on Women in Earliest Christianity, vol. 1, ed. Carroll Osburn. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1993. Pp. 93-130. pdf
Revelatory Experiences Attributed to Biblical Women in Early Jewish Literature, in 'Women Like This': New Perspectives on Jewish Women in the Greco-Roman World, ed. A.-J. Levine, Early Judaism and Its Literature 1. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991. Pp. 107-25. pdf
Bread of Life in Joseph and Aseneth and in John 6, in Johannine Studies in Honor of Frank Pack, ed. J. E. Priest. Malibu, CA: Pepperdine University Press, 1989. Pp. 1-16.
The Social Setting and Purpose of Joseph and Aseneth, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2 (1988) 21-48. pdf

William S. Banowsky Chair in Religion, 2000-present
Member, Catholic Biblical Association, 1996-present
Member, Society of Biblical Literature
Co-chair, Pseudepigrapha Section (national) 1997-2003
Chair, Judaism in the Greco-Roman Era Section (Pacific Coast Regional) 1986-90; 1992-present
Member, Enoch Seminar, 2011-present
Editorial Board, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series, 1996-2004
Editorial Board, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, 1989-present
Editorial Board, Library of Second Temple Studies, 2004-present

Topics

Hellenistic Greek Language and Literature
Judaism 200 B.C. to A.D. 200
New Testament and Christian Origins

Courses

History and Religion of Early Christianity
Elementary New Testament Greek
Intermediate Greek
The World of the New Testament
The Synoptic Gospels