About the Author
Dr. L. Michael White (PhD Yale) holds the Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Religious Studies and Classics at The University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as Director of the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins (ISAC), which he founded in 2001.
Dr. White’s specialty is the Religions of the Roman Empire, focusing on the social context of early Jews and Christians culture by blending historical, literary, and sociological research, with traditional biblical studies and archeological field work. He is Director of the UT excavations of the ancient Synagogue at Ostia (Italy), port city for classical Rome; it is the oldest known Jewish Synagogue on the European continent.
Professor White is a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas. He earned his PhD in Religious Studies at Yale, and taught at Oberlin College, where he was Chair of the Department. He came to UT Austin in 1996-97 to found the Religious Studies Program (now Department). He now serves as Director of Graduate Studies and Graduate Adviser in Religious Studies. He has served as an executive officer of the Council (Board of Directors) and Head of the Finance Committee of the Society of Biblical Literature (the international professional and learned society of the biblical studies field).
Dr. White’s specialty is the Religions of the Roman Empire, focusing on the social context of early Jews and Christians culture by blending historical, literary, and sociological research, with traditional biblical studies and archeological field work. He is Director of the UT excavations of the ancient Synagogue at Ostia (Italy), port city for classical Rome; it is the oldest known Jewish Synagogue on the European continent.
Professor White is a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas. He earned his PhD in Religious Studies at Yale, and taught at Oberlin College, where he was Chair of the Department. He came to UT Austin in 1996-97 to found the Religious Studies Program (now Department). He now serves as Director of Graduate Studies and Graduate Adviser in Religious Studies. He has served as an executive officer of the Council (Board of Directors) and Head of the Finance Committee of the Society of Biblical Literature (the international professional and learned society of the biblical studies field).
Interviews
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PBS HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARIES
Dr. White served as co-writer and principal historical adviser to PBS for two historical documentaries produced by Frontline and WGBH Boston. The first, From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians (4 hours) aired in 1998, and the second, Apocalypse (2 hours) in 2000. From Jesus to Christ has now become the most watched Frontline program of all time on PBS. |
KING DAVID AND JONATHAN
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TWO-PART INTERVIEW: HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT
Click on the AuthorTalk logo to the left to hear In this two-part interview with Dr. Michael White as he explores references to homosexuality in the Old and New Testament. A great deal of pain has been caused by ignorance of the original Greek writing and meaning in the Jewish Septuagint (Old Testament), and the New Testament writings, especially from the Apostle Paul. "The category 'homosexuality' is absent from the Bible and, generally, unknown in antiquity [read about king David and Jonathan, and Ruth and Naomi] for enlightenment. It is a modern construction, and depends upon an understanding of gender that arises only in modern times. Ancient understanding of sex and well as of gender are quite varied, and all different in some fundamental ways from our own. Therefore, to simply pick out those (rather rare) places where the Bible mentions or alludes to sexual acts and to assume that they 'mean' the same things that they would mean in our culture will inevitably lead to confusion." |
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LECTURE: WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE "H" WORD
A Lecture by Dr. White gave at Palmer Episcopalian Church in Houston, TX in 2005. In this lecture, Dr. White looks at the contexts and language of the Bible with regard to homosexuality. "There is no word for homosexuality in the Bible," so what do the terms in the Bible mean? The word first appears in the English translation of the Bible in 1892. |
The Work of Dr. White
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