Joseph Lam, ‘When Sacrifice Began: Sacrifice and Narrative in Biblical and Mesopotamian Literature’

Joseph Lam is a scholar of the languages, texts and literatures of the ancient Near East, focusing on the diverse written traditions of the Levant (Syria-Palestine) in the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE, including the Hebrew Bible and the texts from ancient Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra). He studies the elucidation of ancient religious thought and practice through the analysis of (sometimes difficult-to-decipher) written sources. Lam maintains an active engagement with general questions in the linguistic study of Hebrew and in comparative Semitic linguistics. His current book project reconsiders the relationship between the notions of sin and sacrifice in ancient Israel in light of other sacrificial traditions from ancient Syria-Palestine and Anatolia. For more information, visit the Department of Religious Studies website.