Holger Gzella (born 21 June 1974 in Dortmund) is a Germany Catholic Church Theology and Semitic studies.
Life
Gzella studied Classics,
Philosophy, and
Ancient history at the University of Oxford from 1993 to 1997, where he became an
Ireland and Craven Scholar in Classics (BA in Literae Humaniores, 1997). He won, among other awards, the Chancellor’s Prize for Latin Verse Composition, the Gaisford Prize for Greek Prose Composition, and the Chancellor’s Prize for Latin Prose Composition. From 1997 to 1999, he studied Catholic theology and Ancient Near Eastern studies at the University of Münster, followed by biblical and oriental languages at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 1999 to 2002 (
Licentiate in
Biblical studies, 2002). He was a scholarship holder of the episcopal study foundation
Cusanuswerk. From 2003 to 2004, he held the chair of Oriental Philology (C4 professor) at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg. He received his
Doctorate (
Dr. theol.) in
Old Testament studies in 2001 from the University of Münster, and completed his
Habilitation in
Semitic studies in 2004 at the University of Heidelberg. Subsequently, he was Professor of
Hebrew language and
Aramaic language at the Dutch Leiden University from 2005 to 2019. Since 2019, he has been Professor of
Old Testament Theology at the LMU Munich.
Gzella's research focuses on the historical grammar (especially verbal syntax) and lexicography of Hebrew and Aramaic language, Semitic philology and epigraphy, with an emphasis on the languages of Syria-Palestine (Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, etc.), the history of Hebrew and Aramaic from their beginnings to the early Islamic period, international traditions of knowledge in the writings of the Old Testament, the history and culture of the Achaemenid period, Septuagint studies, Qumran studies (primarily philology and textual editing), multilingualism in antiquity, especially language and cultural contact in the Hellenistic and Roman Near East, and the history of scholarship. For his research on the historical grammar of Hebrew, he was supported from 2022–2024 by the Opus Magnum programme of the Volkswagen Foundation.
Memberships
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2010–2015: De Jonge Akademie (The Young Academy)
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Since 2015: Full Member of the Academia Europaea
[ Entry on the website of the Academia Europaea]
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Since 2016: Full Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
[ Entry on the website of the KNAW]
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Since 2024: Full Member, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
[ Press release of the BAdW]
Publications (selection)
Monographs
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Lebenszeit und Ewigkeit. Studien zur Eschatologie und Anthropologie des Septuaginta-Psalters. Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-8257-0286-3. (Lifespan and Eternity. Studies on the Eschatology and Anthropology of the Septuagint Psalter)
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Cosmic Battle and Political Conflict. Studies in Verbal Syntax and Contextual Interpretation of Daniel 8. (= Biblica et Orientalia, Vol. 47). Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, Rome 2003, ISBN 978-88-7653-350-1.
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Tempus, Aspekt und Modalität im Reichsaramäischen. (= Veröffentlichung der Orientalischen Kommission, Vol. 48). Harrasowitz, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-447-05094-2. (Tense, Aspect and Modality in Imperial Aramaic) Google Books preview.
[[4] Google Books preview. Retrieved 23 May 2023.]
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A Cultural History of Aramaic. From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam. Leiden 2015, ISBN 978-90-04-28509-5.
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(The First World Language. The History of Aramaic)
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Aramäisch. Weltsprache des Altertums. Eine Kulturgeschichte von den neuassyrischen Königen bis zur Entstehung des Islams. C.H. Beck, Munich 2023, 2nd revised edition 2025, ISBN 978-3-406-79348-6, review.
[Michael P. Streck: Zweiundzwanzig Buchstaben als Wettbewerbsvorteil. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung No. 104, 5 May 2023, p. 12.] (Aramaic. World Language of Antiquity. A Cultural History from the Neo-Assyrian Kings to the Rise of Islam)
Edited volumes
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Sprachen aus der Welt des Alten Testaments. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-534-21621-5. (Languages from the World of the Old Testament)
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Revised English edition: Languages from the World of the Bible. De Gruyter, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-1-934078-61-7.
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Aramäisches Wörterbuch. (= Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Alten Testament (ThWAT), Vol. IX). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-3-17-013514-7. (Aramaic Dictionary)
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English edition: Aramaic Dictionary. William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 2018, ISBN 978-0-8028-7281-4.
External links
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(Global Language Aramaic: What Jesus Really Said to God on the Cross)
