Biblical and ancient near eastern studies in honor of P. Kyle Mccarter jr.

Abstract

The breadth of P. Kyle McCarter Jr.’s teaching is particularly impressive. For example, as part of the three-year history cycle (a year of Mesopotamian history, a year of Egyptian history, and a year of Syro-Palestinian history) at Johns Hopkins University, Kyle consistently taught the Syro-Palestinian history course. This course was a foundational course for all graduate students in the program. Kyle would cover not only the history of the Levant, but he would also integrate much of Mesopotamian and Egyptian history because of the many ways in which the history of the entire region intersected at so many levels. He also often taught the Dead Sea Scrolls, historical Hebrew grammar, Ugaritic, textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible (with emphasis not just on variant readings in the Masoretic Text, but also the textual evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls, LXX, and the Vulgate), Northwest Semitic Epigraphy (with a full repertoire, for example, of Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, Moabite, Ammonite texts), the Canaanite of the Amarna Letters, and, of course, various biblical text courses in the original languages. On occasion, upon first arriving at Hopkins from the University of Virginia, he even taught Akkadian. This was not all, of course—he also taught a course in the history of medicine, a course which was especially in demand among pre-meds. For many years, he even taught a master’s course in the Arthurian legends. Although he never taught a course in the writings of Mark Twain, he certainly could have, since he would often regale us with apt quotes from Twain. Indeed, the breadth of Kyle’s knowledge knows no bounds...