Welcome to Princeton Seminary’s Bible Department web site! We hope that you will find an occasion to visit us either to consider enrolling in our programs or as a student. Until that time, here is where you can find out a little bit about us and get a sense of what we are like as individuals and as a department. In my years of teaching at Princeton, two features of our program have given me the most delight and sense of fulfillment. One is the breadth of the program. That is reflected first of all in the varying degrees offered and the participation of all the faculty in all degree programs and thus in all levels of the curriculum. The same person may teach an introductory first semester course in the M.Div. program and also offer a doctoral seminar in Israelite history or teach a course in Ugaritic. Relative to our doctoral program specifically, however, the breadth is found in the wide range of offerings. That includes solid grounding in the languages, starting with Hebrew and Greek, but including also Aramaic, Akkadian, Ugaritic, and Egyptian. Students are not required to take all these languages, but they have access to them, and most of our students recognize the importance of acquiring the ability to read and interpret a broad range of texts to understand and interpret the Scriptures in a rich way. The languages, however, are only the starting point. Seminars in biblical theology, literary interpretation of texts, ancient Near Eastern backgrounds to the Old Testament, Greco-Roman and Hellenistic Jewish backgrounds to the New Testament, individual books of the Old and New Testaments, Northwest Semitic inscriptions, history of interpretation, Hermeneutics and the like fill out a rich doctoral curriculum, one that is completely distinct from the M.Div. program. The availability of Princeton University’s curriculum to our students further extends the possibilities for various kinds of learning and concentration.

The other aspect of our program that makes this a good place to work and study, to teach and do research, is the collegial and friendly atmosphere that is present among both teachers and students in the department. We enjoy working together, and we do so in a spirit that recognizes our various strengths and different competencies but also reflects a shared commitment to the best graduate teaching we know how and to theology and the church as the context in which we do all that we do. While I know this to be the case for the faculty, my strong impression is that it is also true for our students.

This is a great place to learn and to teach. Come see for yourself!