Mariano Gómez Aranda

Mariano Gómez Aranda / April 2016

Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterraneo y del Oriente Próximo, CSIC. Madrid

Present position: Tenured Researcher at the Spanish High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) since 1997.

Training and Professional experience: Graduate in Semitic Philology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) in 1988. Graduate in English Philology at the UCM in 1989. Doctorate in Semitic Philology at the UCM in 1992. Fulbright visiting scholar at the Hebrew Union College in New York in 1993-94. Lecturer at Syracuse University in Madrid in 1995-2002. Lecturer at New York University in Madrid from 2001 to present. Lecturer at Middlebury College in Vermont (USA) in summer 2009-present. Head of the Department of Biblical Philology and Ancient Eastern Studies at the Institute of Philology of the CSIC from 2002 to 2007. Head of the Research Group “Medieval Jewish Culture” from 2005 to 2009.

Research experience: From 1989 to present he has participated in eight research projects financed by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. He has supervised five research projects from 1998 to present. He is the Director of the Series Estudios Bíblicos, Hebraicos y Sefardíes of the CSIC. He is member of the Editorial Board of Sefarad and of Miscelánea de Estudios Árabes y Hebreos. He is member of the Advisor Editorial Board of Henoch. He was the Secretary of Sefarad from 1997 to 2002. At present, he is the President of the Spanish Association of Hebrew and Jewish Studies (AEEHJ). He has participated in evaluation comitees in universities and centers of research in Spain and the USA. He has supervised one Ph.D. dissertation and eight M.A. thesis.

Areas of Expertise: Critical editions of medieval Hebrew texts (applying the modern methods of textual criticism to the edition of medieval Hebrew manuscripts). Medieval Jewish exegesis (studying the contribution of the Biblical commentaries of medieval authors—like Abraham ibn Ezra, Rashi, Rashbam, Abravanel, among others—to the history of the Jewish exegesis in the Middle Ages). Medieval Jewish science (focusing on the role of Spanish Jews in the history of medieval science and philosophy, and analysing the connections between Jews and Arabs in the context of cultural crossing and interchange).

Publications: author of four scientific books, nineteen research articles in Spanish and international journals, twenty-three chapters of books, thirty-five papers presented at national and international congresses, more than fifty conferences in national and international universities, and several promotional and educational articles.

Selected contributions in the last 5 years include:

·    “Medieval Jewish Exegesis of Psalm 2”, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 18,3 (2018) 1-21.

·    “Aristotelian Theories in Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Commentaries to the Bible”, Mediterranea: International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge 3 (2018) 35-54.

·    “The Conflict between Jacob and Esau in Medieval Jewish Exegesis”, Lukas Bormann (ed.), Abraham’s Family. A Network of Meaning in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2018, págs. 421-446.

·    “Controversies on the Creation of Man in Abraham ibn Ezra’s Exegesis”, Adam and Eve Story in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Perspectives. Edited by Antti Laato and Lotta Valve, Turku, Finland-Indiana, USA: Åbo Akademi University-Einsebrauns 2017, págs. 287-312

·    “Abraham ibn Ezra and the Spanish Humanists on the Ten Commandments”, Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 47 (2016) 333-348.

·     “Hezekiah in Question: Medieval Jewish Controversies on Isaiah 11”, “Take Another Scroll and Write”. Studies in the Interpretive Afterlife of Prophets and Prophecy in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Edited by Pekka Lindqvist and Sven Grebenstein, Turku, Finland-Indiana, USA: Åbo Akademi University-Einsebrauns 2016, págs. 361-385.

·     “The Influence of Isaac Ibn Ghayyat on Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Commentary on Ecclesiastes”, Journal of Jewish Studies 63 (2012) 84-104.

·     “The Jew as Scientist and Philosopher in Medieval Iberia”, The Jew in Medieval Iberia 1100-1500. Edited by J. Ray, Boston: Academic Studies Press 2012, págs. 60-101.