Robert Gordon - Biography#

Gordon studied Hebrew and Aramaic at Cambridge (Prizes: [College] Jarrett Exhibition in Classics/Scholarship in Oriental Studies; Senior Scholarship; [University] Stewart of Rannoch Hebrew Prize; Bender Hebrew Prize; First Tyrwhitt Hebrew Scholarship; Mason Hebrew Prize), and was appointed Assistant Lecturer at Glasgow University in 1969. One of his main foci has been the ancient translations of the Hebrew Bible and many of his PhD students have researched this field. This interest has extended to modern Bible translations and he has served on panels for the New English Bible, New International Version and English Standard Version. Many of these translational interests have been plaited together in the fairly recent publication (2021), ‘Uneasy Lies the Head: The Enthronement of the King James Version and the Right of Succession', pp. 7-37 in S. T. Rochester and J. H. S. Lee (eds), Scriptures, Scholarship and the People of God. Teaching extensive courses in the history and culture of the ancient near east at Glasgow has greatly informed his approach to Biblical studies and is reflected in many of his publications, including his presidential paper read to the Society for Old Testament Study and the published papers of the related British-Dutch meeting co-edited by Gordon with Professor J.C. de Moor (The Old Testament in its World, 2005).