The Deed and the Doer in the Bible – David Daube’s Gifford Lectures By David Daube, edited and compiled by Calum Carmichael. West Conshohocken, Pa.: Templeton Foundation Press, 2008, xii + 300 pgs.

Catherine Hezser is a Professor of Jewish Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Professor Hezser has distinguished herself as a major expert in the social history of Jews in Roman Palestine in late antiquity, and employs the methods and results of the social sciences and of (post-modern) literary criticism to better understand Jewish life and culture in Hellenistic and Roman times. In her many publications she examines ancient Judaism within the context of Graeco-Roman and early Christian society. Prof. Hezser is also interested in issues of modern Jewish identity and its literary expressions in Europe, America and Israel. She has written numerous book reviews, articles, and book chapters, has authored five books, most recently Jewish Slavery in Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2005), and is currently writing a book on Mobility and Communication in Ancient Judaism, based on research carried out at Tel Aviv University. In addition, she is the editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine, an interdisciplinary endeavour with contributions from approximately thirty scholars from Europe. Israel, and the United States.