83. The Biblical Canon(s) | Dr. Hindy Najman

Jan 9, 2026

Dr. Hindy Najman, Oxford professor and director of the Centre for the Study of the Bible, explores how biblical texts formed through lively debate and cultural exchange. She discusses pluriform scripture, Second Temple creativity, contested authorship practices, and how reading practices and translations shaped authority. Short, provocative takes on tradition as dynamic rather than fixed.

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INSIGHT

Against The Originary Text Myth

Hindy Najman argues that seeking an original, fixed 'originary' text misunderstands Judaism's nature as continuously changing.
She says textual plurality and later interpretations are central to Jewish vitality, not defects.

INSIGHT

Embrace Cultural Entanglement

Najman urges recognizing cultural entanglement: Jewish texts and practices routinely interact with other traditions.
She treats Hellenism and other contacts as generative, not contaminating, forces.

INSIGHT

Late Periods Show Renewal, Not Collapse

She rejects the narrative of 'late Judaism' as decline and highlights ongoing innovation after destructions.
Najman reads post-destruction periods as creative renewal rather than terminal decay.

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J.J. and Dr. Hindy Najman on authorship, authority, and the creation of the Jewish canon.

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Hindy Najman (MA and PhD Harvard, NELC) is the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture and a fellow at Oriel College. She is the director and founder of the Centre for the Study of the Bible in Oriel College. In the University of Oxford, she is a member of the faculty of Theology and Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and member of the Sub-faculty Classics, and a member of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. Prior to her joining the faculty in Oxford, she has held posts at the University of Notre Dame, University of Toronto, and Yale University. Her areas of research are entanglement of Ancient Culture; Reading Practices in Jewish Antiquity; Comparative Philology; Performance; Formation of the Self and the Subject; Collection and Canon; Authority and Author Function; Biblical Figures and Exemplarity; Practices of Pseudepigraphy and Pseudonymous Attribution; Revelation; Diaspora and Exile; Trauma Studies; and Nature and Law. Her major publications include Losing the Temple and Recovering the Future: An Analysis of 4 Ezra. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014; Past Renewals: Interpretive Authority, Renewed Revelation, and the Quest for Perfection. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 53. Leiden: Brill, 2010.; Seconding Sinai: The Development of Mosaic Discourse in Second Temple Judaism. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 77. Leiden: Brill, 2003. Reissued in paperback by the Society of Biblical Literature in April 2009. She has published over 50 articles and has edited 20 volumes. She has contributed as editor and associate editor to a variety of journals and book series, among them are Journal of Biblical Literature from; Dead Sea Discoveries and the Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplement Series. Her most recent monograph has appeared in December 2024 with Oxford University Press, Scriptural Vitality: Rethinking Hermeneutics and Philology. In current projects are on Pluriformity and hermeneutics, Metathinking in Ancient Judaism, and Aesthetics and Poetics in ancient Jewish Song.