Maxwell Benster (UK/USA)

I am a second-year MPhil student in Theology, studying the Hebrew Bible and Judaism in antiquity. I was born in New York but have lived in the UK since the age of two. Before beginning my MPhil, I completed a BA in Theology at Oxford where I was awarded prizes for the best overall performance and the best performance in biblical Hebrew, in both my Preliminary and Final Honours School examinations. In my undergraduate degree, I focused primarily on the Hebrew Bible, and my undergraduate thesis looked at celestial writing in ancient Judaism, looking at moments – attested across a range of texts from different periods – where names and sins are said to be erased from heavenly books. I remain very interested in the symbolic significance of writing in ancient Judaism.

My MPhil dissertation looks at the human in relation to the divine in ancient Jewish texts from the Hellenistic period with a particular focus on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher who lived in Egypt in the first century CE. I am very interested in thinking about how we can read Jewish-Greek texts from Alexandria alongside Hebrew and Aramaic texts found at Qumran. My dissertation focuses on how these writers bridge the ontological chasm separating humanity and deity. I am looking at how these texts envision the possibilities for humankind to participate in deity, to ascend the earthly realm and ascend to heavenly knowledge. I am interested in the extent to which humans can become divine in the minds of these authors. I am also interested in archaeology, Rabbinic Judaism, and the history and theology of the Early Church. Outside of my studies, I enjoy reading novels and books about geopolitics, as well as playing tennis.

In my work, I aim to put the study of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism in conversation with other disciplines and methodologies. This is one of the many reasons I feel so lucky to be a part of such a diverse and interdisciplinary community. I am profoundly grateful to the Ertegun Graduate Scholarship Programme for giving me the opportunity to continue studying what I love and to become a part of such a community.