Michael O. Wise

Department Chair

Scholar-in-Residence

Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Languages

Dr. Michael Wise is both Scholar-in-Residence and chair of the Biblical & Theological Studies department. His area of focus is ancient Judaism, as a background to the rise of Christianity. He has studied the Semitic languages in order to immerse himself in rabbinic texts and in the Dead Sea Scrolls; he uses over twenty languages in his research.

Today Dr. Wise is an internationally recognized expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He frequently lectures on the Dead Sea Scrolls from coast to coast. Dr. Wise and his work have been profiled in Time magazine, Vanity Fair, National Geographic, the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and the Times of London, and on the old MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, the BBC, A&E’s “Mysteries of the Bible,” and in many other media in the United States and abroad. His The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered (1992) was an international bestseller, translated into seven foreign languages (German, Italian, Danish, French, Portuguese, Swedish and Dutch). Another work intended for general audiences, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation, appeared in 1996 and has likewise been translated into numerous foreign languages.

Dr. Wise is ordained as a minister in the Evangelical Free Church and regularly teaches adult Sunday School classes. He is completing work on a second Ph.D., in the field of Classics (ancient Greek and Latin literature), at the University of Minnesota. 

Specialty Areas

• The Dead Sea Scrolls
• Hebrew & Aramaic
• New Testament Greek
• Latin
• Archaeology
• Church history
• Old Testament books: Chronicles, Ecclesiastes, Ezra-Nehemiah

Academic Credentials

Ph.D., University of Minnesota 
Ph.D., University of Chicago
M.Div., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
B.A., University of Minnesota
additional graduate study, University of Minnesota

Professional Accomplishments

PUBLICATIONS:

The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation. With Martin Abegg and Edward Cook. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996. Pp. xii + 513.

Most recent publications and works in process:

The Treasure of the Caves. Downers Grove, IL: IVP (in preparation).

Shimon bar Kosiba Kathveh: A Study of Language and Literacy in Roman Judaea. Ph.D. dissertation, Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota (in preparation).

Murabbacat and the First Revolt. In Joel L. Kraemer, et al., editors, Pesher Nahum: Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature from Antiquity Through the Middle Ages, Presented to Norman Golb, pp. 293-315. SAOC 66. Chicago: Oriental Institute, 2011.

“Archives and Libraries.” Pages 371-5 in Dictionary of Early Judaism. Edited by J.J. Collins and D. Harlow. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.

“Bar Kokhba Letters.” Pages 418-21 in Dictionary of Early Judaism. Edited by J.J. Collins and D. Harlow. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.

“Crucifixion.” Pages 500-1 in Dictionary of Early Judaism. Edited by J.J. Collins and D. Harlow. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.

“The Origins and History of the Teacher’s Movement.” Pages 92-122 in The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Edited by T.H. Lim and J.J. Collins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

“Murabbacat and the First Revolt.” In Pesher Nahum: Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature from Antiquity Through the Middle Ages, Presented to Norman Golb. Edited by Joel L. Kraemer, et al. Chicago: Oriental Institute, forthcoming.

Review of J.J. Collins. Beyond the Qumran Community. Catholic Biblical Quarterly: forthcoming.

PRESENTATIONS:

"Is God Ever Silent?" a 3-part series in chapel, Northwestern College, Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 2011

"The Dead Sea Scrolls" presentation to faculty and students at the University of Wisconsin--River Falls, Sept. 28, 2011

 A complete list of publications and presentations by Dr. Wise is available upon request.

Service

Appointed to the Board of Advisors for the MacLaurin Institute, September 2011

Appointed to the Board of Truefaced, November 2011