Associate Professor of Biblical Studies
On faculty since 2005

706.419.1630
Scott.Jones@covenant.edu

Education

Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary, 2007

M.Div., Reformed Theological Seminary, 2001

B.A., University of Mississippi, 1999

Professional Interests

My research in the last several years has focused on the poetry of the Book of Job. I am particularly interested in the role of metaphor in biblical poetry and in engaging the metaphors of ancient Near Eastern literature to build up fresh ways of seeing biblical texts. I have just recently completed a book entitled Rumors of Wisdom: Job 28 as Poetry and will shortly begin a commentary on the Book of Psalms.

I am also keenly interested in early biblical interpretation and how it impacts modern interpretation of the Bible. I am currently researching the reception of the Elihu speeches (Job 32-37) in early Jewish and Christian antiquity, as well as the connection between the story of Job’s family in Job 1-2, 42 and the metaphors for Israel’s exile and return in Isaiah and Jeremiah. I am also interested in Jewish and Christian uses of the Psalms through the centuries.

Personal Interests

I enjoy family vacations, disc golf, hiking, bike riding, watching British mysteries, and football (American).

Professional Membership

• Society of Biblical Literature
• Catholic Biblical Association
• National Association of Professors of Hebrew

Covenant Activities

I regularly teach the following courses at Covenant College:

• BIB 111: Old Testament Introduction
• BIB 201: Current Issues in Biblical Studies
• BIB 327: Psalms
• BIB 397: The Old Testament World
• HEB 191-192: Biblical Hebrew I-II

Selected Publications and Presentations

• "Philology, Taxonomy, and Myth: שׁחל and other Biblical Dragons Reconsidered," Journal of Biblical Literature, forthcoming.
• Rumors of Wisdom: Job 28 as Poetry. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 398. Edited by John Barton et al. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2009.
• "Moabite Stone," in The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Volume 4:126-128. Ed. Katharine Doob Sakenfeld. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 2009.
• "Qohelet's Courtly Wisdom: Ecclesiastes 8:1-9," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 68 (2006): 211-28.
• "Wisdom's Pedagogy: A Comparison of Proverbs vii and 4Q184," Vetus Testamentum 53 (2003): 65-80.