Life after graduate school for Andrew Teeter (Ph.D. Theology 2008) is a life deeply rooted in the subjects that were his passion as a graduate student at Notre Dame: the Hebrew Bible, the Second Temple period, and early Jewish biblical interpretation.
The day after Teeter defended his dissertation this past June, he departed for Cambridge, Massachusetts, to begin his tenure-track position at the Harvard Divinity School as an assistant professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. During the fall term, Teeter taught The Greek Bible in History and Theology, a seminar. In the spring term, he will teach two courses: Introduction to the Pentateuch and Rewriting Scripture in Jewish Antiquity. Beyond Harvard itself, students in Teeter’s classes are also drawn from the nine member institutions of the Boston Theological Institute, of which the Harvard Divinity School is a member.
Teeter chose Notre Dame for his graduate studies so that he could study with some of the University’s most renowned faculty members, among them Professors Gary Anderson, Eugene Ulrich, and James Vanderkam of the Department of Theology. Teeter notes: “For me, Notre Dame was an extraordinary place to study Hebrew Bible in the context of early Judaism for three primary reasons: first, the faculty, in whom I found model mentors — both world-class scholars and generous human beings. Moreover, the constellation of faculty expertise in this specific area is unmatched elsewhere in the world. A second factor was the unique structure of the Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity program in the Department of Theology, which provided rich opportunities to gain breadth and depth in a variety of related disciplines. A final and important factor was the generous support afforded graduate students by the University. These factors combined to make Notre Dame an ideal setting for my doctoral work.”
In addition to his teaching duties at the Harvard Divinity School, Teeter is currently working on several projects relating to scribal hermeneutics, forms of interpretation, and models for transmission and translation of scripture in Jewish antiquity. Among these projects is a book on exegesis in the scribal transmission of biblical law in the Second Temple period, examining the degree to which early Jewish scribes deliberately altered scriptural texts for legal-exegetical purposes.