Areas of specialization: ancient Judaism and Christianity; early interpretations of the Bible in Jewish and Christian writings
Prof. Lanfer's work examines the cultural role of sacred literature in the dynamic expressions of Jewish and Christian communities in the Greek and Roman empires. He is currently exploring the theological challenges presented by morally suspicious texts in the Hebrew Bible in his forthcoming manuscript Reading Sacredness in the Badly Behaving Bible. Prof. Lanfer teaches courses on Jewish and Christian histories and literatures (including the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish and Christian Pseudepigrapha, Rabbinic writings), apocalyptic and messianic movements in antiquity, as well as the archaeology and history of Jerusalem and Israel.
