Dr Peter Atkins (BA, MA, PhD)

Postdoctoral Fellow in Old Testament and Hebrew Bible

  • School of Divinity

Contact details

Address

Street

Andrew F. Walls Room
School of Divinity
New College
Mound Place

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH1 2LX

Availability

  • I am happy to meet with any student at a mutually convenient time. Please get in touch by email to arrange an in-person or online meeting.

Biography

Background

Peter Joshua Atkins is Postdoctoral Fellow in Old Testament and Hebrew Bible at the University of Edinburgh. He is also co-founder and co-chair of the 'Animals and the Bible' research group for the European Association of Biblical Studies.

Prior to his current position, Peter completed his doctoral studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Chester where he was also a Visiting Lecturer and worked as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant on the AHRC-funded project "Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare." In 2022, he moved to the University of Edinburgh's School of Divinity on a one-year teaching fellowship in Old Testament and Hebrew Bible, and is currently working on a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship as part of the Edinburgh Career Development Scheme.

Qualifications

BA (University of Sheffield), MA (University of Sheffield), PhD (University of Chester)

Responsibilities & affiliations

  • Affiliate: The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities
  • Convenor: Biblical Studies Research Seminar
  • Academic Cohort Lead: Theology, and Divinity & Classics

Undergraduate teaching

Introducing Biblical Hebrew

Intermediate Biblical Hebrew

The Dark Lord: God and Violence in the Hebrew Bible

Postgraduate teaching

Hebrew Bible in Historical-Critical Perspective

Intermediate Biblical Hebrew (PG)

The Dark Lord: God and Violence in the Hebrew Bible (PG)

Approaches to Research in Divinity and Religious Studies (Biblical Studies)

Research summary

Animals and Animality in the Bible

The Book of Daniel

Ecological Approaches to the Hebrew Bible

History of Interpretation of the Bible

The History and Reception of Second Temple Literature

Current research interests

Peter's current research project is tentatively titled "Rewilding the Hebrew Bible: Perspectives on Biodiversity and Wild Animals in the Book of Isaiah". This work seeks to address the Hebrew Bible’s complex relationship with ecological issues by reading it in light of contemporary rewilding theory. By focussing on passages within the book of Isaiah, this project will demonstrate a stream of biblical tradition which is aware of the ecological effect gained by practices that might now be classified in the contemporary world as rewilding efforts. Such ecological practices and subsequent effects are attributed to divine intervention. The book will aim to demonstrate a theological understanding of the natural/non-human world within these texts that focuses not on how humans should manage it, but rather acknowledges the role of God in ensuring its flourishing. This effectively echoes contemporary rewilding theorists focus on managing the natural world by reactivating natural processes within an ecosystem rather than through human management. The project will therefore present a tradition within Isaiah that reflects an understanding of how the land and its nonhuman inhabitants most benefit when the land is left without direct human management.

Past research interests

Peter's first major research project examined the affliction of Nebuchadnezzar as portrayed within the texts of Daniel 4 and was entitled: The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4: Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary. This engaged with the reception of the Danielic text in interpretative and commentary literature, and investigated the narrative using both a textual and contextual analysis. The goal of the project was to identify the exact nature of the king's affliction and how the human-animal boundary was constructed in the narrative. This also resulted in the identification of a construction of the human-animal boundary within the ancient Near East more generally. As well as a number of journal articles, the primary results were published as a monograph by Bloomsbury T&T Clark in 2023.

Knowledge exchange

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