Dr Andrew Mein

I arrived at Queen’s in August 2023 to take up the role of Director of Research. After studies in Oxford, Edinburgh, and Oxford again, I have worked in different areas of theology and theological education for my whole career. I was Old Testament Tutor at Westcott House in Cambridge for more than 15 years, and have also worked at Durham University and most recently the University of St Andrews, where I was involved in setting up the free and online St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology. I have also held visiting roles at Vidyajyoti College of Theology, New Delhi, the Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, and Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth.

My main research interests move between the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in its ancient contexts and the later reception and interpretation of biblical texts. Particular areas of interest include the books of Ezekiel and Psalms, the Bible and warfare, vision and the visionary, and the Christian use of the Bible in liturgy, ethics and politics.

Qualifications

DPhil Theology	1997	Oxford University
MTh Hebrew and Old Testament Studies	1992	Oxford University
BA Theology	1990	Oxford University

Roles at Queen's

I am the Director of the Centre for Research and Global Partnerships, where my main responsibility is to encourage and develop the research life of the Foundation in collaboration with a range of partners around the world. The biggest part of this work is to oversee run the PhD programme we offer in partnership with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, which involves regular contact with colleagues there. I also supervise research students, organise our regular research seminars, and do some teaching in biblical studies.

External roles and responsibilities

Academic Roles:

I was editor of the T&T Clark’s “Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies” from 2004 to 2021, and am a founding editor of their reception-historical monograph series ‘Scriptural Traces’.

I am a Senior Editor of the St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology.

I am a member of the Society for Old Testament Study and the Society of Biblical Literature, and am currently co-chair of the SBL section for “The Use, Influence and Impact of the Bible.”

Church Roles:

I am a lay Anglican, brought up as a Scottish Episcopalian but long in exile in the Church of England. I have worked on various Church of England committees with an interest in ministerial education and have been a diocesan vocations adviser. I am currently External Quality Adviser for the Scottish Episcopal Institute.

Research interests and supervision

In my research I have always wanted to explore to discover how biblical texts and theologies interact with particular social and political contexts. In my doctoral work (published as Ezekiel and the Ethics of Exile (OUP, 2001) I argued that the prophet’s ethical priorities responded to his community’s experience of forced migration as exiles to Babylonia. Since then, however, I have increasingly moved beyond the confines of ancient Israel to explore the Bible’s later use and influence, where I have examined biblical texts in relation to liturgy and ethics, negative theology, eschatology, empire and colonialism, and especially the practice of politics. Particular areas of focus in recent years have included:

• The use of the Bible in contexts of war and conflict
• Vision and the visionary in the history of biblical interpretation
• The afterlives of Gog and Magog The reception history of Ezekiel and of Psalms

I welcome inquiries from students who would like to pursue PhD research in the areas mentioned above, and in the following broad areas:

• The use and influence of the Bible
• Contextual biblical interpretation
• Hebrew Bible/Old Testament ethics Biblical prophecy, especially the book of Ezekiel

Key publications

Books

Ezekiel and the Ethics of Exile. Oxford Theological Monographs. Oxford: OUP, 2001. Paperback edition 2006.

Edited Collections

with Georges Tamer and Lutz Greisiger, eds., Gog and Magog: Contributions towards a World History of an Apocalyptic Motif. Judaism, Christianity and Islam – Tension Transmission, Transformation, 17. Berlin: de Gruyter, forthcoming 2023.

with Nathan MacDonald and Matthew A. Collins, eds. The First World War and the Mobilization of Biblical Scholarship. STr 15. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019.

with Else K. Holt and Hyun Chul Paul Kim, eds. Concerning the Nations: Essays on the Oracles against the Nations in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. LHBOTS 612. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015.

with P. M. Joyce, eds. After Ezekiel: Essays on the Reception of a Difficult Prophet. LHBOTS 535. New York: T&T Clark, 2011.

with A. C. Hagedorn, eds. Aspects of Amos: Exegesis and Interpretation. LHBOTS 536. New York:T&T Clark, 2011.

Articles and Book Chapters

“Biblical Consolation and the Avoidance of Lament: Voices from the First World War.” In Reading and Trauma. Edited by M. Schult and A. Grund-Wittenberg. Paderborn: Brill | Schöningh, forthcoming 2023.

“From Turk to Tyrant: Gog in Seventeenth-Century English Ezekiel Commentary.” In Gog and Magog: Towards the World History of an Apocalyptic Motif. Edited by G. Tamer, L. Greisiger and A. Mein. Berlin: de Gruyter, forthcoming 2023.

“Biblical Warfare, ‘Lederhosen Hermeneutics’ and Gendered Heroism in First World War Germany.” In Doing Biblical Masculinity Studies as Feminist Biblical Studies? Critical Interrogations. Edited by S. Scholz. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, forthcoming 2023.

“Biblical Scholarship and Political Propaganda in First World War Britain.” Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok 87 (2022): 52–72.

“Ezekiel in Christian Interpretation: Gog, Magog and Apocalyptic Politics.” In The Oxford Handbook of Ezekiel. Edited by C. Carvalho. New York: OUP, 2022.

“Psalms, Patriotism and Propaganda: A Favourite Book in Wartime Biblical Scholarship.” Pages 163–85 in The First World War and the Mobilization of Biblical Scholarship. Edited by A. Mein, N. Macdonald, and M. A. Collins. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019.

“Bishops, Baby-killers and Broken Teeth: Psalm 58 and the Air War.” Journal of the Bible and its Reception 4.2 (2017): 202–223.

“Ezekiel: Structure, Themes, and Contested Issues.” Pages 190–206 in C. J. Sharp (ed.), The Oxford Handbook to the Prophets. New York: OUP, 2016.

“The Wrong Kind of Island? Notes from a ‘Scept’red Isle.’” Pages 185–97 in Islands, Islanders, and the Bible: RumiNations. Edited by J. Havea, M. Aymer, and S. V. Davidson. Semeia Studies. Atlanta: SBL, 2015.

“The Armies of Gog, the Merchants of Tarshish, and the British Empire.” Pages 133–149 in In the Name of God: The Bible in the Colonial Discourse of Empire. Edited by C. L. Crouch and J. Stökl Biblical Interpretation Series 126, Leiden: Brill, 2014.

“Ezekiel’s Awkward God: Idolatry, Atheism, and the Via Negativa.” Scottish Journal of Theology 66.3 (2013), 261–277.

“The Case of the Confiscated Cloak: Approaching Ancient Judahite Ethics.” Pages 297–310 in Biblical Interpretation and Method: Essays in Honour of John Barton. Edited by K. J. Dell and P. M. Joyce. Oxford: OUP, 2013.

“The King’s Justice? Early Modern Perspectives on the Ethics of Psalm 72.” Pages 93–111 in Psalmody and Poetry in Old Testament Ethics. Edited by D. J. Human. LHBOTS 572. London: T&T Clark, 2012.

“The Radical Amos in Savonarola’s Florence.” Pages 117–140 in Aspects of Amos. Edited by A. C. Hagedorn and A. Mein. LHBOTS 536. New York: T&T Clark, 2011.

“Ezekiel’s Women in Christian Interpretation: The Case of Ezekiel 16.” Pages 159–84 in After Ezekiel. Edited by P. M. Joyce and A. Mein. LHBOTS 535; New York: T&T Clark, 2011.

“Psalm 101 and the Ethics of Kingship” Pages 56–70 in Ethical and Unethical Behaviour in the Old Testament: God and Humans in Dialogue. Edited by K. J. Dell. LHBOTS 528. New York: T&T Clark, 2010.

“Justice and Dominion: The Imperial Legacy of Psalm 72.” Bangalore Theological Forum 46.2 (December 2009): 143–66.

“Profitable and Unprofitable Shepherds: Economic and Theological Perspectives on Ezekiel 34.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 31 (2007): 493–504.

“The Daily Office and the Shape of the Psalter.” Studia Liturgica 33 (2003): 240–50.