Research
Gordon’s early research and writing focussed on the ancient translations of the Old Testament into Aramaic, Syriac and Greek. His doctoral dissertation (1974) on Targum Jonathan to the Minor Prophets is represented in two published volumes, one joint-authored in 1989 and consisting mainly of commentary and the other appearing as a monograph under the title The Targum to the Twelve Prophets (1994). In the meantime there had been other substantial distractions in the form of an introduction and then a commentary to the books of Samuel (1984, 1986 respectively), and the time-absorbing preparation of the edition of the Syriac Peshitta version of 1-2 Chronicles for the Leiden Peshitta Project (published 1998). His interest in the ancient versions is represented in a range of articles published in this period and subsequently. Other monographs include a commentary on the New Testament book ofHebrews (2000) – Hebrews, of course, makes extensive use of the Old Testament – and a study of ‘sacred geography’ in both Testaments and in postbiblical Jewish and Christian tradition (The Didsbury Lectures for 2001 [2004]). He has also edited/co-edited several volumes and has published a selection of his articles in 2006 under the title Hebrew Bible and Ancient Versions. This volume gives a fair conspectus of his main areas of interest, viz. the ancient versions, Old Testament literature and theology, the Old Testament in its near eastern setting, and Old Testament tradition as reflected in the New Testament.
Gordon’s major focus at present is the book of Amos, since he is writing a commentary on Amos for the International Critical Commentary series. Other projects in progress include work on Genesis 1-11 and on the Divine Council in the Bible and the Near East. He edits ‘Hebrew Bible and its Versions’, a subseries of ‘Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies’, as a means of promoting versional study especially. Gordon is a member of the editorial board of Vetus Testamentum, the journal of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, and was its Book List editor from 1997 to 2010. He is also on several other editorial boards, and has served in connection with three modern translations of the Bible into English.
