Biblical and Theological Studies Department
Education
Ph.D. Hebrew Union College
M.Phil. Hebrew Union College
M.A. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
B.A. Wheaton College
About Michael Graves
My reason for teaching at Wheaton College is simple: I believe in the immeasurable value of higher education that is both distinctively Christian and universal in scope. Since God is the Maker of all that is good and well ordered in the world, there is no avenue of human inquiry that does not properly belong in the domain of Christian learning. Because the world is in need of redemption, the way in which we approach our research must be shaped by our commitment to Christ.
Courses Taught
- HEBR 301: Elementary Hebrew
- HEBR 302: Elementary Hebrew II
- HEBR 401x: Intermediate Hebrew
- BITH 635: Hebrew Exegesis
- BITH 558: Biblical and Targumic Aramaic
- BITH 695: Introduction to Syriac
- BITH 211: OT Literature and Interpretation
- BITH 349: Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers
- BITH 341: Exodus
- BITH 349: Judges
- BITH 349: Daniel
- BITH 433: Jeremiah
- BITH 449/536: Minor Prophets
- RELI 362: Judaism (team-taught)
Membership in Professional Societies
- Society of Biblical Literature
- National Association of Professors of Hebrew
- North American Patristics Society
Research
- Jerome, the ancient versions, and Old Testament interpretation
- Patristic Biblical interpretation
- Rabbinic Biblical interpretation
- Ancient Christian exegesis and the classical tradition
- Old Testament Textual Criticism
Publications
Books
Jerome: Commentary on Jeremiah, translated with an introduction and notes by Michael Graves. Ancient Christian Texts; ed., Christopher A. Hall. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2012.
Jerome’s Hebrew Philology. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
Articles
“Midrash-Like Word Plays in Aquila’s Translation of Genesis,” in Greek Scripture and the Rabbis: Studies from the European Association of Jewish Studies Seminar, 2010, ed. T. M. Law and A. G. Salvesen. Leuven: Peeters, 2012, 65-86.
“‘Apocryphal’ Elements in the New Testament and Qur’an,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 47 (2012), 152-166.
“The Languages of Palestine,” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 2nd ed. Joel B. Green, Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin, eds. Downers Grove: IVP, forthcoming.
“The Biblical Scholarship of a Fourth-Century Woman: Marcella of Rome,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 87 (2011): 375-91.
“Scholar and Advocate: The Stories of Moses in Midrash Exodus Rabbah,” Bulletin of Biblical Research 21 (2011), 1-22.
“Evangelicals, the Bible, and the Early Church,” in Evangelicals and the Early Church, ed. G. Kalantzis and A. Tooley (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2011), 191-209.
“The Literary Quality of Scripture as Seen by the Early Church,” Tyndale Bulletin 61 (2010): 161-82.
"The 'Pagan' Background of Patristic Exegetical Methods," in Ancient Faith for the Church's Future , ed. Jeffrey P. Greenman and Mark Husbands (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2008), 93-109.
"The Public Reading of Scripture in Early Judaism," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50 (2007): 467-87.
"'Judaizing' Christian Interpretations of the Prophets as Seen by Saint Jerome," Vigiliae Christianae 61 (2007): 142-56.
"The Origins of Ketiv-Qere Readings," Textual Criticism 8 (2003) (http://purl.org/TC)
Reviews
Review of A Liturgy of Grief: A Pastoral Commentary on Lamentations by Leslie C. Allen (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2011), in Expository Times 124 (2012), 153.
Review of Jerome of Stridon, ed. A. Cain and J. Lössl (Farnham and Burlington: Ashgate, 2009), in Journal of Late Antiquity 3 (2010), 386-89.
Papers Presented
"The Early Church Fathers of North Africa," Visiting Scholar Lecture, Africa International University, Nairobi, Kenya, March 7, 2012.
“The Prophet Jeremiah in Qur’anic Exegesis,” Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, 2011.
“Jewish Traditions in the Commentaries of Jerome,” Seminar on Jewish History and Literature in the Graeco-Roman Period, Oriental Institute, Oxford, March 8, 2011.
“‘Apocryphal’ Elements in the Qur’an and the New Testament as Portrayed in Muslim and Christian Scholarship,” Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, 2010.
“Midrash-Like Word Plays in Aquila’s Translation of Genesis,” European Seminar on Advanced Jewish Studies, Greek Scripture and the Rabbis Conference, June 2010.
“The Role of the Greek Revisers in the Latin Fathers,” Trinity Term ESAJS Workshop, Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, 2010.
“The Bible, Evangelicals, and the Early Church,” Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies, Spring Gathering, 2010.
"The Biblical Interpretation of Marcella of Rome As an Expression of her Rigorous Piety," Annual Meeting of the North American Patristics Society, 2009.
"A Roman in Greek Palestine: Jerome and the Development of Near Eastern Studies," Wheaton College 51st Annual Archaelogy Lecture Series, 2006.
"Literary Appreciation in Jerome's Reading of the Old Testament," Annual Meeting of the North American Patristics Society, 2006.
"Judaizing Christian Interpretations of the Prophets as Seen by St. Jerome," Annual Meeting of the SBL, 2004.
"St. Jerome's Knowledge of Hebrew," Annual Meeting of the North American Patristics Society, 2004.
"Digression and Redaction in the Homiletical Midrashim: Pesikta deRav Kahana Chapter Five," Conference of the Cincinnati Consortium of Ancient Studies, 2003.
"The Origins of Ketiv-Qere Readings: Evaluating the Evidence," Southeast Regional SBL, 2003.
Honors and Grants
Fellow of the European Seminar on Advanced Jewish Studies at the Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and member of the sub-faculty of the Oriental Institute of Oxford University, Trinity term, 2010.
Junior Faculty Achievement Award, Wheaton College, 2008.