Seth Sanders

Seth L. Sanders is a professor of Religious Studies. He focuses on the role of writing and language in the creation of politics and religion. His first book, The Invention of Hebrew, used epigraphic evidence to understand the role biblical texts played in creating the people of Israel as a public, long before modern media and contemporary nationalism. His second book, From Adapa to Enoch: Scribal Culture and Religious Vision in Judea and Babylonia, is the first major comparative study of ancient Babylonian, Aramaic and Hebrew scholarship designed to explain how early Jewish literature diverged from its Israelite legacy. His current project, supported by Guggenheim and NEH grants, is Why We Can't Read the Torah: The Form of the Pentateuch and the History of Ancient Hebrew Literature.