Faculty
Paul D. Hanson
Florence Corliss Lamont Professor of Divinity
- BA, Gustavus Adolphus College
- BD, Yale University
- PhD, Harvard University
- telephone: (617) 495-5765
- faculty assistant: Carol Edwards
- faculty assistant telephone: (617) 495-4519
- assistant’s office: Andover 306
On leave during fall term 2007–2008.
Paul Hanson, Lamont Professor of Divinity, has taught at Harvard since 1971. After completing his PhD in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in 1970, he spent a year doing archaeological research in Israel, and he has spent sabbatical years in Israel and Germany and most recently at Princeton. In his courses he focuses on Hebrew prophecy, Jewish literature of the Second Temple Period, the religion of the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and biblical theology. He is currently working to complete a book examining the interplay between religion and politics, with emphasis on American faith communities rooted in biblical tradition. The titles of his books give an indication of his range of scholarly interests: The Dawn of Apocalyptic: The Historical and Sociological Roots of Jewish Apocalyptic Eschatology; Dynamic Transcendence: The Correlation of Confessional Heritage and Contemporary Experience in a Biblical Model of Divine Activity; The Diversity of Scripture: A Theological Interpretation; Visionaries and Their Apocalypses; Old Testament Apocalyptic; The People Called: The Growth of Community in the Bible; and Isaiah 40-66.