About

Me
I am Christian Brady, associate professor of ancient Hebrew and Jewish literature and dean of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State.

The Blog
This is a personal blog for my comments on areas that are of interest to me. I hope they will be of interest to some of you as well. I tend to concentrate my posts on biblical and rabbinic literature (my professional field), Christian theology, gadgetry (a personal interest, some say obsession), and the odd comic. (Often in the reverse order in terms of frequency.)

Academic Research
I have written extensively on Targum Lamentations, including my doctoral thesis, “Targum Lamentations’ Reading of the Book of Lamentations” and my book. There is more information on this site, see the TgLam tab above. I am currently working on a book on Targum Ruth. Both of these works are part of a larger interest in the targumim of the Megillot.

The basis of rabbinic exegesis, such as the targumim and midrashim, is of course the biblical text itself. I continue work and research in biblical studies while most of my publications are in the area of rabbinic literature. Additional areas of research include the Dead Sea Scrolls and the so-called “historical Jesus.”

Honors Education
My academic career began not only with teaching but administrative duties as well. I was the director of Jewish Studies for 6 years at Tulane University prior to becoming the director of the Tulane Honors Program. In 2006 I became the Dean of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State. My Penn State blog is http://engage.shc.psu.edu/. I feel very blessed (and more than a little bit spoiled) in this job. The students are incredible and are engaged in research across the university allowing this dilettante to live vicariously through their work and enthusiasm.

Family
My wife is a writer and teacher of communications at Penn State and has written a novel, The Unlikely Missionary.
We have two beautiful and well above-average children.