Bible scholar Jacob Wright uncovers the roots of the Bible—not the who, but the why.

Dr. Jacob L. Wright serves as associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Candler and as an associate faculty member at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory. Prior to coming to Candler in 2007, Wright taught for several years at the University of Heidelberg, one of Europe’s oldest universities, renowned for biblical scholarship.

He is the author of many essays, articles, and books. His first book, Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and Its Earliest Readers (de Gruyter, 2004), won a 2008 Templeton prize, the largest prize for first books in religion. Wright published his enhanced e-book, King David and His Reign Revisited with Apple iTunes (2013), billed as the first publication of its kind in the humanities. His book, David, King of Israel, and Caleb in Biblical Memory (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014), received an honorable mention at the 2015 PROSE Awards, administered by the Association of American Publishers, as well as the coveted The Nancy Lapp Popular Book Award from American Schools of Oriental Research.

Selected as one of the best five books on religion in 2023 by Publishers Weekly, his latest book, Why the Bible Began is also featured on The New Yorker’s list of “The Best Books We’ve Read in 2023.”