Gary N. Knoppers


Gerald "Gary" Neil Knoppers was a professor in the Department of Theology at University of Notre Dame. He wrote books and articles regarding a range of Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern topics. He is particularly renowned for his work on 1 Chronicles, writing I Chronicles 1 – 9 and I Chronicles 10 – 29, which together comprise a significant treatment of the work of the Chronicler. In May 2005 the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies granted the R. B. Y. Scott Award to Knoppers for his two-volume Anchor Bible commentary on I Chronicles.

Early life and education

Knoppers was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His parents were Barthie Maria Boon Knoppers and Nicolaas Bastiaan Knoppers. Knoppers' upbringing was in the Dutch Reformed tradition.
Knoppers studied at Calvin College from 1975 to 1979, where he majored in philosophy, obtaining a B.A. cum laude. He then moved on to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary where he studied Old Testament from 1979 to 1982, graduating M.Div. Harvard University was next, and there Knoppers obtained an M.A. with distinction in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. His Harvard studies were from 1982 to 1986. Knoppers obtained his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1988. His doctoral dissertation at Harvard was entitled "What Share Have We in David?": The Division of the Kingdom in Kings and Chronicles. Frank Moore Cross, Jr. directed his Ph.D.

Career

Knoppers first taught at Andover Newton Theological School for a term in spring 1986.
In the fall of 1987 he began his career at Pennsylvania State University as an instructor in Religious Studies, and then was Assistant Professor in Religious Studies from 1988 to 1994. In 1994 he became Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Religious Studies and Jewish Studies. From 2002 to 2014 he was Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, where was the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Religious Studies, and Jewish Studies. Knoppers also served as the head of that department from 1996 to 2006.
His scholarly concentrations are: Ancient Israelite and Near Eastern History; Ancient Historiography; Biblical Theology; The Books of Kings and Chronicles; Comparative Ancient Near Eastern Religions; Inner Biblical Exegesis; and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy.
In the fall of 2014 he left Penn State to take up an endowed professorship in Biblical Studies in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
As of 2007, Knoppers had served on the following theological boards and committees:
Knoppers died of pancreatic cancer, and was survived by his wife Laura Knoppers, the George N. Shuster Professor of English Literature in Notre Dame’s Department of English, and their two children, Theresa and David.

Books

  • The Reign of Solomon and the Rise of Jeroboam which is Vol. 1 of Two Nations under God: The Deuteronomistic History of Solomon and the History of ancient [Israel and Judah|Dual Monarchies] , 302 pages.
  • The Reign of Jeroboam, the Fall of Israel, and the Reign of Josiah which is Vol. 2 of Two Nations under God: The Deuteronomistic History of Solomon and the Dual Monarchies , 349 pages.
  • Reconsidering Israel and Judah: The Deuteronomistic History in Recent Thought written by the team of Gary N. Knoppers and J. Gordon McConville Sources for Biblical and Theological Study, vol. 8, 650 pages.
  • The Chronicler as Theologian: Festschrift, Ralph W. Klein Edited by M. Patrick Graham, Gary N. Knoppers and S. L. McKenzie, JSOT Supplement No. 371, 288 pages.
  • I Chronicles 1 – 9 , 514 pages.
  • I Chronicles 10 – 29 , 531 pages .
  • Jews and Samaritans: The Origins and History of Their Early Relations, 326 pages.

    Articles and shorter pieces

  • "'What Share Have We in David?': The Division of the Kingdom in Kings and Chronicles", Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University.
  • "A Reunited Kingdom in Chronicles?" Proceedings, Eastern Great Lakes and Midwest Biblical Societies 9 : pp. 74–88.
  • "Rehoboam in Chronicles: Villain or Victim?" Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 109, pages 423–440.
  • "Unfinished Business" The Reformed Journal 40, pages 500–524.
  • "'The God in His Temple': The Phoenician Text from Pyrgi as a Funerary Inscription" Journal of Near Eastern Studies Vol. 51, pages 105–120.
  • "'There Was None Like Him': Incomparability in the Books of Kings" Catholic Biblical Quarterly Vol. 54, pages 411–431.
  • "'Battling against Yahweh': Israel's War against Judah in 2 Chr 13:2–20" Revue biblique Vol. 100, pages 511–532.
  • Articles on Asher, the Deuteronomist, Dan, Gad, Israel, Issachar, Jehoshaphat, Levi, Naphtali, Reuben, Showbread, and Zebulun compiled for the Oxford Companion to the Bible, Edited by Bruce Metzger and M. Coogan.
  • "Treaty, Tribute List, or Diplomatic Letter?: KTU 3.1 Re-examined" Bulletin of the [American Schools of Oriental Research] 289, pages 81–94.
  • "Dissonance and Disaster in the Legend of Kirta" Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. 114, pages 572–582.
  • "Jehoshaphat's Judiciary and the Scroll of YHWH's Torah" Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 113, pages 59–80.
  • Review of Kim Strubind's Tradition als Interpretation in der Chronik: Konig Josaphat als Paradigma chronistischer Hermeneutik und theologie; the review appeared in Catholic Biblical Quarterly Vol. 55, pages 780–782.
  • "Sex, Religion, and Politics: The Deuteronomist on Intermarriage" Hebrew Annual Review 14, pages 121–141.
  • "Aaron's Calf and Jeroboam's Calves" in Fortunate the Eyes That See: Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His Seventieth Birthday Edited by Astrid B. Beck, et al., pages 92–104.
  • "Images of David in Early Judaism: David as Repentant Sinner in Chronicles" Biblica Vol. 76, pages 449–470.
  • "Prayer and Propaganda: The Dedication of Solomon's Temple and the Deuteronomist's Program" Catholic Biblical Quarterly Vol. 57, pages 229–254; this was later reprinted in the volume Reconsidering Israel and Judah: Recent Studies on the Deuteronomistic History Sources for Biblical and Theology Study No. 8 pages 370–396.
  • Review of A. Graeme Auld's book Kings without Privilege; the review appeared in Ashland Theological Journal 27, pages 118–121.
  • "Ancient Near Eastern Royal Grants and the Davidic Covenant: A Parallel?" Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. 116, pp. 670–697.
  • "The Deuteronomist and the Deuteronomic Law of the King: A Re-examination of a Relationship" Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Band 108, pages 329–346.
  • "'Yhwh Is Not with Israel': Alliances as a Topos in Chronicles" Catholic Biblical Quarterly Vol. 58, pages 601–626.
  • "History and Historiography: The Royal Reforms" appeared in the book The Chronicler as Historian, Edited M. Patrick Graham, Gary N. Knoppers and S. L. McKenzie , pages 178–203; this was reprinted in the volume Israel's Past in Recent Research Edited by V. Philips Long , pages 557–578.
  • "The Vanishing Solomon: The Disappearance of the United Monarchy from Recent Histories of Ancient Israel" Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 116, pages 19–44.
  • "Solomon's Fall and Deuteronomy" which appeared in the volume The Age of Solomon: Scholarship at the Turn of the Millennium , Edited by Lowell K. Handy, pages 392–410.
  • David's Relation to Moses: The Context, Content, and Conditions of the Davidic Promises" which appeared in the book King and Messiah in Israel and the Ancient Near East: Papers from the Oxford Old Testament Seminar, Editor J. Day, JSOT Supplement No. 270, pages 49–72.
  • "The History of the Monarchy: Developments and Detours" which appeared in the volume The Face of Old Testament Studies, Edited by D. W. Baker and B. T. Arnold, pages 207–235.
  • "Jerusalem at War in Chronicles" which was published in the larger volume Zion, City of Our God, Edited by R. S. Hess and G. J. Wenham, pages 57–76.
  • Book Review of Josette Elayi and Jean Sapin's volume Beyond the River: New Perspectives on Transeuphratene; the review appeared in Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 118, pages 712–714.
  • "Treasures Won and Lost: Royal appropriations in Kings and Chronicles" in the volume The Chronicler as Author: Studies in Text and Texture Edited by M. Patrick Graham and S. L. McKenzie, JSOTSupplement No. 263, pages 181–208.
  • "'Great among His Brothers,' But Who Is He? Heterogeneity in the Composition of Judah" Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 3, 4.
  • "The Preferential Status of the Eldest Son Revoked?" appeared in the book Rethinking the Foundations: Historiography in the Ancient World and in the Bible, Essays in Honour of John Van Seters, Editor/writers Steven Linn McKenzie and Thomas Romer, Behiefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Supplement 294, pages 141–168.
  • "An Achaemenid Imperial Authorization of Torah in Yehud?" which appeared in Persia and Torah: The Theory of Imperial Authorization of the Pentateuch, Edited by J. W. Watts, Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series, pages 115–134.
  • "The Davidic Genealogy: Some Contextual Considerations from the Ancient Mediterranean World", Transeuphratene No. 22, pages 35–50.
  • "Intermarriage, Social Complexity, and Ethnic Diversity in the Genealogy of Judah", Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 120, pages 15–30.
  • "Rethinking the Relationship between Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History: The Case of Kings", Catholic Biblical Quarterly Vol. 63, pages 393–415.
  • "The Relationship of the Priestly Genealogies to the History of the High Priesthood in Jerusalem" which appeared in the book Judah and the Judeans in the Neo-Babylonian Period Edited by Oded Lipschits and Joseph Blenkinsopp.