James Murphy
Associate Director and Associate Professor of Religion
Biography
Dr. Murphy is associate director of the School of American and Global Studies, faculty of religious studies and resident biblical scholar. He is one of less than 20 scholars in the world currently researching and writing about children in the biblical world of antiquity, a sub field of inquiry that emerged in the late 2000s. He has published on children in Deuteronomy and 1 Samuel, but primarily writes on children in relation to the Jesus movement, the Gospels and the hypothetical sayings gospel Q. He is currently exploring Jewish sectarian documents from the Second-Temple period in relation to children.
Specialties also include kinship, sexuality and asceticism, literary criticism, deconstruction, Greco-Roman religions and Second Temple Judaism. He has co-led study abroads to Greece and participated in excavations at Banias, Israel. He has been with South Dakota State University since 2011, taught history at Evangel University from 2002-2006 and taught Old Testament as a grad student as Missouri State 1999-2001.
Specialties also include kinship, sexuality and asceticism, literary criticism, deconstruction, Greco-Roman religions and Second Temple Judaism. He has co-led study abroads to Greece and participated in excavations at Banias, Israel. He has been with South Dakota State University since 2011, taught history at Evangel University from 2002-2006 and taught Old Testament as a grad student as Missouri State 1999-2001.
Education
Academic and Professional Experience
Academic Interests
Academic Interests
- Torah
- Gospels
- Historical Jesus
- Jewish Sectarian Second-Temple history and literature
- Literary and deconstructive analysis
- Children in the Bible
- Women in the Bible
- Kinship, sexuality and asceticism
- Greco-Roman religions
- Hebrew Bible and Christian origins
Academic Responsibilities
- Intro to Religion
- World Religions
- Old Testament
- New Testament
- The Gospels/Historical Jesus
- Apocalyptic Texts and Sects
- Women and Religion
- Early Christian Era
- The Reformation and Counter Reformation
- Religion in American Culture
Committees and Professional Memberships
- Society of Biblical Literature
Work Experience
- 2019-present, associate director of American and Global Studies, South Dakota State University.
- 2017-present, associate professor of Religion, South Dakota State University.
- 2011-2017, assistant professor of Religion, South Dakota State University.
- 2006-2011, affiliate faculty, Colorado Christian University.
- 2002-2006, assistant professor of History, Evangel University.
- 1999-2001, graduate teaching assistant, Missouri State University
Research and Scholar Work
Areas of Research
- Children in relation 1 Enoch, Jubilees and other Jewish sectarian Second-Temple texts.
- Jesus movement of the first century.
- The hypothetical source behind Mathew and Luke known as "Q."
Awards and Honors
- 2017, Hendrickson Scholar/Cheever Lecture Award
Publications
Books:
- 2013. Kids and Kingdom: the Precarious Presence of Children in the Synoptic Gospels. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.
Articles:
- 2019. "Children and the Sayings Source Q - What the Double Tradition Reveals about Q's Attitude toward Children, Part B: Q 11:19-20; 12:53; 14:26; and 17:1-2," Biblical Interpretation 27, no. 1 (in press).
- 2018. "Contrasting Portrayals of Children in 1 Samuel." Point of View Publishing.
- 2018. "Focusing on the Child Next to Jesus in Mark 9:33-37." Point of View Publishing.
- 2014. "Undesired Offspring and Child Endangerment in Jewish Antiquity," Journal of Childhood and Religion 5.
- 2012. "Children in Deuteronomy: the Partisan Nature of Divine Justice," Biblical Interpretation 20, no. 1: 1-15.
Book Chapters:
- 2020. "Children in Mark: A Deconstructive Approach." Pages 196-216 in Listening to and Learning from Children in the Biblical World, eds. Kristine Henriksen Garroway and John W. Martens. Leiden: Brill.
- 2019. "The 'Lost Boys' (and Girls) of Q's 'Neverland.'" Pages 291-310 in T&T Clark Handbook to Children and Childhood in the Biblical World, eds. Sharon Betsworth and Julie Faith Parker. London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney: Bloomsbury/T&T Clark.
Book Reviews:
- 2019. . Lexington/Fortress Press, 2019, in Review of Biblical Literature.
- 2016. , 2013, in Review of Biblical Literature.
- 2016. . London/New York: T&T Clark, 2010, in the Journal of Childhood and Religion.
- 2010. , eds. Marcia J. Bunge, et al. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008, in the Journal of Childhood and Religion.
In Review:
- "Children and the Sayings Source Q - What the Double Tradition Reveals about Q's Attitude toward Children, Part A: Q 7:31-32; 9:59-62; and 11:11-13," (in review).
Associated Areas
