Prestigious German Research Prize for St Andrews' AcademicShould you wish to interview Dr. MacDonald, there's more information at the link.
Thursday 11 December 2008
A St Andrews' academic has been awarded a prestigious research prize by the German Federal Minister of Education and Research.
Dr Nathan MacDonald, a lecturer in Old Testament at the School of Divinity at the University of St Andrews, is the only recipient of the award from the United Kingdom.
The Sofja-Kovalevskaja prize is worth £1.3 million over five years and will fund a small research team led by Dr MacDonald based at the University of Göttingen.
He is one of eight scholars from around the world to win the Sofja-Kovalevskaja Award and the only non-scientist from among the eight awardees.
Dr MacDonald and his research team will examine the different forms that monotheism (belief in a single God) took within early Judaism during the period 586-333 BC.
He explained, "Previous scholarship has primarily been interested in the development of monotheism within ancient Israel up to 586 BC and has not examined the mature expressions of monotheistic belief and practice.
"I hope this research will show what unified these religious expressions, whilst also examining the extent of their diversity."
The author of three books, Dr Macdonald's academic work has already been recognized in the award of an Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship and the John Templeton Award for Theological Promise.
The award ceremony took place in the Deutsche Parlamentarische Gesellschaft in Berlin.
Second, let me congratulate Dr. Bruce Longenecker on his appointment to the W. W. Melton Chair in the Department of Religion at Baylor University as of the Fall of 2009. Mark Goodacre has a long post here on Bruce and the appointment.
Although we are very sorry to see Nathan and Bruce leave (Nathan temporarily), we are happy that these opportunities have come to them and we wish them all the best.