Il giorno 8 aprile si è spento all’età di 86 anni l’eminente biblista David Noel Freedman.

David Noel Freedman  (1922-2008) was a biblical scholar, “bookmaker” (author and editor), archeologist, advocate, and initiator of inter-faith cooperation. The son of Romanian and Russian immigrants, he made numerous contributions to illuminate and preserve the Hebrew Bible.

Long-time occupant of the Endowed Chair in Hebrew Biblical Studies at the University of California San Diego, he was ordained a Presbyterian minister since 1944 (M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary). As the general editor of several distinguished series, including the Anchor Bible Series (1956-2008), Eerdmans Critical Commentaries (2000-2008), and The Bible in Its World (2000-2008), and as the editor and author of numerous other award-winning volumes, including the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000), Freedman has produced over three hundred and thirty scholarly books. Recent seminal works as an author include The Nine Commandments (2000); Psalm 119: The Exaltation of Torah (1999); and The Unity of the Hebrew Bible (1991).

As editor of the Leningrad Codex: A Facsimile Edition (1998), Freedman orchestrated the process by which this codex—which is the oldest complete and most important extant manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in the world—became available to countless synagogues, churches, libraries and individuals for the first time in history.

Dr. Freedman held an Endowed Chair in Hebrew and Biblical Studies at the University of California, San Diego, from 1986 until 2008. He served as Program Director for the Study of Religion from 1989-97. Prior to teaching at UCSD, Dr. Freedman taught at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor as a Professor of Biblical Studies from 1971-92, with the distinction of serving as the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Biblical Studies from 1984-92. Prior to that, Dr. Freedman served as a Professor of Old Testament at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California from 1964-71. He served as the Gray Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California from 1970-71, and served as acting Dean of Seminary that same year. Dr. Freedman also served as Dean of Faculty from 1966-70. Prior to that, Dr. Freedman was the James A. Kelso Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary from 1961-64. He taught at Pittsburgh Theological from 1948-64. Dr. Freedman also served as an Assistant Instructor at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1947-48, and as a Teaching Fellow from 1946-47.

Excavations: Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (American Schools of Oriental Research), Jerusalem – Annual Director, 1969-70, 1976-77 . Ashdod Excavation Project  Director, 1962-64

Education

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY Baltimore, MD 1945-1948 Ph.D. Semitic Languages and Literature

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Princeton, NJ 1941-1944 Th.B. Hebrew Bible

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES Los Angeles, CA 1938-1939 B.A. Modern European History

CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK New York, NY 1935-1938

(fonte:  Dr Jim West and wikipedia )