About

Carol Bakhos is a Professor of Late Antique Judaism and Jewish Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. She teaches for the Study of Religion IDP and has served as Chair of the Study of Religion program since 2012, as well as the Director of the Center for the Study of Religion at UCLA. Her scholarly work includes the publication of a monograph titled The Family of Abraham: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Interpretations, which was published by Harvard University Press in 2014 and translated into Turkish in 2015. Her research interests encompass Jewish history and thought, with a focus on interpretations across religious traditions, as evidenced by her other works such as Ishmael on the Border, Judaism in its Hellenistic Context, and contributions to edited volumes on Midrash, the Talmud, and Islam. Bakhos is engaged in editing the second volume of the Posen Jewish Anthology of Culture and Civilization and has served on the Board of the Association for Jewish Studies, including a term as Vice President for Outreach. She is also involved in editorial roles for academic journals and series, and has participated in university committees related to planning, budget, and Jewish studies. In 2018, she received an NEH Summer-Institute grant to direct a program on religious landscapes and civic engagement for K-12 educators.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Sociology
• History
• Political Science
• Art history
• Ancient history
• Philosophy
• Classics
• World Wide Web
• Religious studies
• Media studies

Selected publications

• King David: A Teacher of Humility

  2025-03-19

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  The figure of David looms large in Israel’s collective memory, and religious and national narratives, but this image is far more uniform and positive than that found in the Bible, and in rabbinic sources. The intent of this examination is not to be exhaustive but rather to draw attention to the importance of recognizing the role cultural factors play in how the rabbis depicted biblical figures. It also underscores the need to consider not just the cultural factors at play, but also literary contexts and source criticism when reading rabbinic narratives. We will engage scholarship on rabbinic portrayals of David and highlight how a consideration of literary and cultural contexts offers an alternative reading of bPes 119b.

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• David’s Bravado in Light of Sasanian Cultural Practices

  SBL Press eBooks · 2024

  1st authorCorresponding
  • History
  • Ancient history
  PublisherDOI

• Sarah and Hagar in Medieval Jewish Commentaries

  SBL Press eBooks · 2023-03-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
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• Introduction

  SBL Press eBooks · 2023-03-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
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• Acknowledgments

  SBL Press eBooks · 2023

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
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• Was verbirgt sich hinter einem Namen? Die Bedeutung von „abrahamitisch“ für die Beziehungen zwischen Juden, Christen und Muslimen

  2023-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
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• Questioning Scriptural Heritage: Interpreting Abraham

  2023-01-01

  other1st authorCorresponding
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• Nimrod

  Encyclopedia of the Bible Online · 2023-04-13

  dataset1st authorCorresponding
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• Rabbinic and Patristic Interpretations of the Bible

  2023-12-19

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  For Jews and Christians of late antiquity, scriptural interpretation served to offer moral lessons, anchor theological convictions, bolster beliefs, and respond to competing intramural as well as interreligious claims. Making sense of biblical stories and figures from Adam to Ezra, Eve to Esther, was also a means by which rabbis and church writers responded to wider cultural currents and sociopolitical exigencies. This chapter introduces readers to rabbinic and early Christian exegetical texts and methods, separately and comparatively. It also addresses current scholarly trends in the study of late antique Christian and Jewish interpretation.

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• Midrash

  Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature · 2020-12-16

  reference-entry1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract In modern parlance, midrash (Hebrew root drš, “to investigate, seek, search out, examine”) refers to any act of interpretation, but in its strictest and most precise sense it refers to ancient rabbinic biblical interpretation. Midrash is both the process and product of interpretation contained in vast compilations of midrashim (plural) as well as in other rabbinic works such as the Talmud. Compendia of midrashim not only preserve interpretations and teachings but also reveal a curiously postmodern, polysemic approach to scriptural exegesis. These compilations are often categorized according to three (problematic) descriptive binaries: halakhic or aggadic; tannaitic (70–200 ce) or amoraic (200–500 ce); and exegetical or homiletical. Through the midrashic process, the Jewish sages of antiquity made the Bible relevant to their contemporaries, taught moral lessons, told fanciful stories, and developed as well as maintained theological beliefs and ethical codes of behavior. The study of midrash provides a portal into the cultural world of the rabbis of late antiquity; it also serves to highlight their approach to and assumptions about scripture, and their guiding hermeneutical practices and principles. Midrashic interpretation employs a variety of exegetical techniques that are often tightly connected to the language of scripture. In addition to wordplay, the rabbis occasionally use gematria, whereby the arithmetical value of Hebrew letters is used to interpret a word or verse. Intertextuality and the atomicization of scriptural words, phrases, and verses are fundamental characteristics of the midrashic method. Although the term midrash applies specifically to rabbinic biblical interpretation, it is sometimes used more broadly as a synonym for aggadah, which includes rabbinic stories, maxims, and parables. Critical editions of midrashic compilations as well as digital advancements and translations give scholars in cognate fields the necessary tools to understand rabbinic literature and undertake comparative studies.

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Frequent coauthors

• Adam Shear

  University of Pittsburgh

  2 shared

• Rahim Shayegan

  1 shared

• Shaye J. D. Cohen

  1 shared

• Tilman Nagel

  1 shared

• George F. Warner

  Institute of Ismaili Studies

  1 shared

• Guy G. Stroumsa

  1 shared

• Marianna Klar

  1 shared

• Helen Blatherwick

  1 shared

Awards & honors

• Koret Foundation Award