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Laura S. Lieber, Visiting Professor

Laura S. Lieber
Contact Info:
Office Location:  118B Gray Bldg, Durham, NC 27708
Office Phone:  (919) 660-3504
Email Address:   send me a message
Web Page:  

Teaching (Spring 2024):

  • Religion 810.01, Ecclesiastes and esther Synopsis
    Westbrook 0013, W 03:00 PM-05:30 PM
    (also cross-listed as JEWISHST 810.01)
  • Oldtest 990.01, Topics in the old testament Synopsis
    Westbrook 0013, W 03:05 PM-05:35 PM
Education:

Ph.D.The University of Chicago2003
M.A.Hebrew Union College1998
B.A.University of Arkansas, Fayetteville1994
Specialties:

Judaism
Hebrew Bible
Research Interests: History of Biblical Interpretation; Rabbinics; Early and Medieval Synagogue

Current projects: Songs from the Western Shore (volume on Aramaic poetry), The Liturgical Stage (ancient hymnography through lens of theater)

My primary area of research is in the area of synagogue poetry ("piyyut") from Late Antiquity and the Byzantine period. I examine these works from a variety of perspectives, including literary, performative, and comparative (particularly with early Christian hymnography in Syriac and Greek), and also as a genre of early Jewish biblical interpretation. In recent years, I have begun to integrate the study of material culture into my analysis of these literary works, as part of taking a more fully "contextual" approach to literary analysis. My most recent work approaches late ancient hymnography through the lens of theater studies and performance.

Curriculum Vitae
Recent Publications   (More Publications)

  1. Lieber, LS. "Aesthetic Convention and Ritual Creativity in Late Antique Piyyut." Prooftexts 40:1 (January, 2023): 12-58. [doi]  [abs]
  2. Lieber, LS. "Power and Praxis: Writing and Performance in Megillat Ahimaatz." Hebrew Studies 64 (January, 2023): 111-131. [doi]  [abs]
  3. Lieber, LS. "SYMPOSIUM READING, WRITING, AND RITUAL: JEWISH BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS IN LATE ANTIQUITY INTRODUCTION." . January, 2023, 5-9. [doi]  [abs]
  4. Lieber, LS. ""On This Day, We Are Perfect": Embodiment in Yannai's Yom Kippur Qerova." Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 30:1 (January, 2022): 37-69. [doi]  [abs]
  5. Lieber, LS. "Sukkot in the Garden of Eden: Liturgy, Christianity, and the Bronze Bird on Mount Gerizim." The Samaritans: A Biblical People. January, 2022, 94-101. [doi]

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