Nicolae Roddy, MA, PhD

Professor

Theology

N Roddy

Contact

nroddy@creighton.edu
College of Arts and Sciences
Graduate School
Ministry (Master of Arts)
Theology
Dowling Hall/Humanities Center 133

Nicolae Roddy, MA, PhD

Professor

Theology

Dr. Nicolae Roddy teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Hebrew Bible / Older Testament at Creighton University. For twenty years (1996-2016), he served as co-director and area supervisor for the Bethsaida Archaeology Project, an archaeological site located at the foot of the Golan Heights near the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. He also co-directs the Virtual World Project, a web-based virtual reality resource dedicated to Syro-Palestinian archaeology, available at www.virtualworldproject.org.

From 2003 until 2024, Dr. Roddy served as Faculty Associate and Visiting Professor of Biblical Archaeology and Ancient Jewish History for the Jewish Studies Center at the Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, Romania. He is a member of the Board of the Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies and formerly served as Senior Editor for its acadmic journal. He is past President of the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains Region of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR). Roddy has also served on the steering committee of the Biblical Studies in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Traditions sections of SBL and the Biblical Studies component of the International Orthodox Theological Association.

Dr. Roddy has presented academic papers informed talks throughout Romania and Israel, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Amsterdam, and Bologna. He is the author of The Romanian Version of the Testament of Abraham: Text, Translation, and Cultural Context (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001), an edited work titled Words of a Shepherd: The Life and Writings of Protostavrophor Vojislav Dosenovich (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Monastery, 2006), an edited volume titled Biblical Wisdom Then and Now, a monograph titled the Roots of Scripture (OCABS Press, 2024) and a co-edited volume dealing with the subject of suicide, Alternative Attitudes Toward Suicide and Its Survivors: Contesting the Darkness of Conventional Stigmas. Dr. Roddy earned the Master of Arts in Theology from St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (1989) and his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa (1999), having completed his dissertation research as a Fulbright Scholar to Romania during the 1994-1995 academic year.

Of Romanian and Orthodox heritage, Dr. Roddy is an active member of St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Omaha. He is married to Alexandra Roddy, formerly of Bucharest, Romania, and has five children.

Teaching Interests

  • Hebrew Bible / Older Testament

Research Focus

Hebrew Bible / Older Testament; Society and Literature of Early Judaism and Early Christianity (Pseudepigrapha and apocryphal literature); Syro-Palestinian Archaeology; Eastern Orthodox Theology and Culture; Romanian Apocryphal Texts and Traditions, Balkan Studies, Romanian Rroma History and Culture.

Department

Theology

Position

Professor

Articles

  • Peter Lang

    “The Niche of Skulls in the Cave of Letters.” Pp. 185-207, in Dead Sea: New Discoveries in the Cave of Letters. C. Savage, P. Reeder, R. Freund, and H. M. Jol, eds, p. 185-207 2018
  • University of Notre Dame Press
    “Chariots of Fire, Unassailable Cities, and the One True King: The Prophetically Influenced Scribal Perspective on War.” 
    Perry T. Hamalis and Valerie A. Karras, eds.; Orthodox Christian Perspectives on War. , p. 61-84 2018
  • Journal of Religion & Society Supplement Series
    "Orthodox Perspectives on Augustine of Hippo," in Augustine in Christian Life, Thought, and Practice, R. A. Simkins and J. O'Keefe, eds., Journal of Religion and Society Supplement 14
    Supplement series 14 2017
  • Holy Cross Orthodox Press
    “Biblical Anthropology: Why the Patristic Distinction between Image and Likeness Matters.” 
    Studies in Orthodox Hermeneutics: A Festschrift in Honor of Theodore G. Stylianopoulos, p. 251-273 2017
  • Purdue University Press
    Warriors, Wives, and Wisdom, in Papers of the 28th Annual Klutznick-Harris-Schwalb Symposium: The World to Come. Studies in Jewish Civilization, West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press (forthcoming, expected 2017) 2016
  • Danubius
    Săpăturile arheologice de la et-Tell / Betsaida” (The Archaeological Excavations at et-Tell / Bethsaida).
    33, p. 233-240 2015
  • Journal of Religion & Society Supplement Series
    You Didn’t Build That: A Prophetic View of the Political Economy from the Exile,” in The Bible, The Economy, and the Poor, Journal of Religion and Society, R. A. Simkins, ed.
    10 2014
  • Cambridge Scholars Publishing
    Righteous in His Own Eyes: Prophetical Scribal Influence on Biblical Characters, in Bethsaida in Archaeology, History and Ancient Culture, J. Ellens, ed., p. 256-66 2014
  • Popular Archaeology
    “The Political and Cultural Horizons of Persian Period Bethsaida”.
    11 2013
  • Popular Archaeology
    “A Zoomorphic Pouring Vessel from Bethsaida.”
    7 2012
  • Peter Lang
    “I’m Not There: Self-Negation as Authentication in the Prophetic Tradition,” Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi Festschrift: Studies in the Old Testament (N. Roddy, ed.), p. 91-100 2012
  • Studia Hebraica
    “’What do These Stones Mean?’: The Hebrew Bible as Nexus of Event and Ultimacy.”
    12 2012
  • Peter Lang
    “Visul Maicii Domnului: A New Testament Romanian Amulet Text.” The Canon of the Bible and the Apocrypha in the Churches of the East. Vahan S. Hovhanessian, ed., p. 43-49 2012
  • Journal of Religion & Society Supplement Series
    “And the Blue Became Red and Dwelt Among Us: Mapping Boundaries of Meaning in Eastern Orthodox Iconography.” Religion and the Visual, R. A. Simkins and W. M. Wright, eds.,
    8, p. 134-44 2012
  • Popular Archaeology
    “What Happens on an Archaeological Dig.”
    2 2011
  • Edwin Mellen Press
    Forward, in How Jonah is Interpreted in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Mishael M. Caspi and John T. Greene, eds., p. i-v 2011
  • Mohr Siebeck
    Slavonic Apocryphal Traditions in the Romanian Lands: Diffusion and Diffraction, in Old Testament Apocrypha in the Slavonic Tradition: Continuity and Diversity; L. DiTommaso and C. Böttrich, eds., p. 375-388 2011
  • S.C. Universul Juridic, S.R.L., Bucharest, Romania
    “In Search of a Genuine Biblical Anthropology: Two Case Studies,” (“În căutarea unei antropologii scripturistice autentice: două studii de caz.”). Pp. 180-192 in Biserica Ortodoxă şi Drepturile Omului: Paradigme, fundamente, implicaţii (The Orthodox Church and the Rights of Man: Paradigms, Foundations, and Implications); Nicolae Răzvan Stan, trans., ed.; Bucharest, Romania: S.C. Universul Juridic S.R.L., 2010., p. 180-192 2010
  • Peter Lang
    Does the Orthodox Lectionary Subvert the Gospel?: The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen in Light of the Prophetical Priestly Perspective of the Exile, in The Old Testament As Authoritative Scripture in the Early Churches of the East, V. Hovanhessian, ed., p. 65-71 2010
  • Peter Lang
    Introduction, in The Old Testament As Authoritative Scripture in the Early Churches of the East, V. Hovanhessian, ed., p. 1-7 2010
  • Biblische Notizen
    Roddy, N. Perforated Tripodal Vessels at Iron II Bethsaida-Tzar
    141, p. 91-100 2009
  • Studia Hebraica
    The Way It Wasn't: The Book of Judith as Anti-Hasmonean Propaganda
    8, p. 269-277 2009
  • Eisenbrauns
    Landscape of Shadows: The Image of City in the Hebrew Bible, in Cities Through the Looking Glass, R. Arav, ed., p. 11-21 2008
  • Society of Biblical Literature Press
    with F. Flannery, C. Shantz. and R. Werline, in Experientia, Volume 1: Inquiry into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Christianity. Symposium 40. F. Flannery, C. Shantz, and R. Werline, eds.; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2008, 1–10., p. 1-10 2008
  • Peter Lang
    Visul Maicii Domnului: A New Testament Romanian Amulet Text, i The Canon of the Bible and the Apocrypha in the Churches of the East, V. Hovanhessian, ed., p. 43-49 2008
  • Journal of Religion & Society Supplement Series
    “Exile as Identity in Persian Yehud,” in Religion and Identity, in R. A. Simkins and T. Kelley, eds.
    13, p. 35-47

Publications

  • Omaha World-Herald
    Interviewed by journalist for “Exodus: Gods and Kings,”
    Dec 2014 2014
  • ASOR Blog
    With R. A. Simkins, The Virtual World Project: Touring the Ancient World. 2013

Editing and Reviews

  • Theological Studies
    Review of E. Pentiuc, The Old Testament in Eastern Orthodox Tradition.
    75, no. 4, p. 940 2014
  • Horizons
    Review of M. Boys, Redeeming our Sacred Story: The Death of Jesus and Relations between Jews and Christians.
    41 no. 1., p. 194-96. 2014
  • Journal of Religion
    Review of C. Constantineanu, The Social Significance of Reconciliation in Paul’s Theology: Narrative Readings in Romans.
    93 no. 4. , p. 532-34. 2013
  • Peter Lang
    Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi: Studies in the Old Testament. 2012
  • Catholic Biblical Quarterly
    A. Kulik, Retroverting slavonic pseudepigrapha: toward the original of the Apocalypse of Abraham
    68, p. 335-337 2006
  • Bible Review
    A. Segal, Life after death: A history of the afterlife in Western religion
    21, p. 42-46 2005

Presentations

  • "The Archaeology of Herod," Goren-Goldstein Center for Hebraic Studies, Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, Romania. 2016
  • "Archaeology of the Levant," Goren-Goldstein Center for Hebraic Studies, Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, Romania, Oct. 18, 2016. 2016
  • "Orthodox Perspectives on the Bishop of Hippo," Augustine in Christian Life, Thought, and Practice: A Symposium in Memory of William Harmless, S.J., Creighton University, Omaha, NE. 2016
  • "The Art of Deception and the Deception of Art: The Rape of Tamar (2 Samuel 13)," AAR/SBL/ Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting; Denver, CO. 2016
  • "Methodological Issues in the Identification of Biblical Sites: The Case of Geshur," AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. 2014
  • "Introduction to the Orthodox Church," Lecture series for the Christian wing of the Omaha Tri-Faith Initiative, Rejoice Lutheran Church, Nov. 2, 9, and 16, 2014. 2014
  • Response to Father Witherup's paper for the Vatican II Commemoration of Dei Verbum. 2014
  • "The Older Testament in Three Dimensions," Antiochian Biblical Institute Symposium, St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral, Coral Gables, FL. 2014
  • "Religion and World War II," Values and Visions Symposium, Bellevue University, Bellevue, NE. 2013
  • "By the Waters of Babylon: Toward a Genuine Biblical Anthropology," College Theology Society Annual Convention, Creighton University, Omaha, NE. 2013
  • "Can Anything be Said about Persian Bethsaida Besides There Aint Much There?"AAR/SBL/ASOR Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting; Denver, CO. 2013
  • "You Didnt Build That: A Prophetic View of the Political Economy from the Exile,"The Bible, The Economy, and the Poor, Kripke Center Symposium, Creighton University, Omaha, NE. 2013
  • "Bethsaida and Jerusalem During the Persian Period: A Geopolitical Comparison," Fourteenth Annual Batchelder Conference for Archaeology, University of Nebraska at Omaha. 2012
  • "Parable of the Sower," Homily, St. Marys Antiochian Orthodox Church, Wichita, KS. 2012
  • "When the Bible became Bible" and "What do these Stones Mean: What Archaeology can and cannot tell us about the Bible," Second Annual Bible Lecture series, St. Marys Antiochian Orthodox Church, Wichita, KS. 2012
  • "Discovering the Present through Uncovering the Past," Northfield School for the Liberal Arts," Wichita, KS. 2012
  • "St. Andrew the First-Called: The Road from his Home," Eight Day Interdenominational Mens Group, Wichita, KS. 2012
  • "The Prophetic Critique of Wisdom: The Elihu Discourses in the Book of Job," Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) International Meeting, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 2012
  • Invited participant in the Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church Holy Saturday Service 2012
  • "What do These Stones Mean?: The Hebrew Bible as Nexus of Event and Ultimacy," AAR/SBL/ASOR Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting; Provo, UT. 2012
  • "Ego as Exile: An Older Testament Perspective on Human Suffering," in An Interdisciplinary Series Regarding Explanations for Human Misery in Todays World, cosponsored by the Theology Department and the Kenefick Chair in the Humanities, Creighton University, Omaha, NE. 2012
  • "The Old Testament Revealed," 2011 Orthodox Institute, Antiochian Village, Ligonier, PA. 2011
  • Invited to Grace University to teach a class on Eastern Orthodox Liturgical services 2011
  • Invited to address Central High School World Religions class on the Eastern Orthodox Church 2011
  • "And the Blue Became Red and Dwelt Among Us: Mapping Boundaries of Meaning in Eastern Orthodox Iconography," Religion and the Visual Symposium, Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society, Creighton University, Omaha, NE. 2011
  • "Portals to Paradise: Decoding Iconography of the Christian East," Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE. 2011
  • "A Zoomorphic Pouring Vessel from Bethsaida: Questions of Form and Function," AAR/SBL/ASOR Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting; Omaha, NE. 2011
  • Invited by Univ. NE/Omaha Dept of Philosophy and Religion to address faculty on how to present Eastern Orthodoxy in their World Religions classes 2011
  • "Behind the Veil: The Eastern Orthodox Church," University of Nebraska at Omaha. 2011
  • "Chariots of Fire, Unassailable Cities, and the One True King: The Prophetical Priestly Perspective from the Exile on War and Peace," LOGOS Meeting, Boston, MA. 2011