Philip Yoo is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies. A native of Mississauga, Ontario, he is a graduate of the University of Toronto (B.Comm. in Commerce and Finance; M.Div. from Knox College), Yale University (S.T.M.), and the University of Oxford (D.Phil.). Before his arrival at UBC in 2021, he was first Postdoctoral Fellow and then Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on Pentateuchal theory, Ezra-Nehemiah, Second Temple Judaism, and biblical interpretation. He is the author of Ezra and the Second Wilderness (Oxford, 2017), co-editor of To Gaul, to Greece and into Noah’s Ark: Essays in Honour of Kevin J. Cathcart on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday (with Laura Quick, Ekaterina K. Kozlova, and Sonja Noll; Oxford, 2019), and several articles. His current book project, From Egypt into Canaan examines the different representations of the exodus and wilderness accounts as preserved in the Torah/Pentateuch and book of Joshua.

Research Interests:

• Torah/Pentateuch
• Ezra-Nehemiah
• Second Temple Judaism
• Source Criticism
• Biblical Interpretation

Research Areas:

• Hebrew (Language)
• Judaism
• Hebrew Bible Studies
• Reception
• Religions

Book
– Ezra and the Second Wilderness. Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

Edited Book
– To Gaul, to Greece and into Noah’s Ark: Essays in Honour of Kevin J. Cathcart on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday. Co-edited with Laura Quick, Ekaterina E. Kozlova, and Sonja Noll. Journal of Semitic Studies Supplements 44. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Articles and Contributions
– “Job’s Clean Hands: A Proposal for Job 22:30”. Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 135,4 (2023): 622–628.

– “Before and After the Death of Moses: The Literary Transition Between Deuteronomy and Joshua.” Pages 167–185 in Book-Seams in the Hexateuch II: The Book of Deuteronomy and its Literary Transitions. Edited by Christoph Berner, Harald Samuel, and Stephen Germany. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 168. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023.

– “Torah Yet to Come: Divine Activity in Isaiah 56–66.” Pages 341–362 in The History of Isaiah: The Making of the Book and its Presentation of the Past. Edited by Todd Hibbard and Jacob Stromberg. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 150. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021.

– “Dinah among Jacob’s Seventy: On Genesis 46,8-27.” Biblica 101,4 (2020): 481–497.

– “For He Married a Cushite Woman! On the Text of Numbers 12:1.” Pages 37–48 in To Gaul, to Greece and into Noah’s Ark: Essays in Honour of Kevin J. Cathcart on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday. Edited by Laura Quick, Ekaterina E. Kozlova, Sonja Noll, and Philip Y. Yoo. Journal of Semitic Studies Supplements 44. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.

– “Delegitimizing a Witness: Composition and Redaction in Joshua 22.” Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 18, art. 8 (2018): 1–21.

– “Once Again: The Yam Sûp of the Exodus.” Journal of Biblical Literature 137,3 (2018): 581–597.

– “‘After These Things’ and its Composition in Genesis.” Vetus Testamentum 68,4 (2018): 660–672.

– “Hagar the Egyptian: Wife, Handmaid, and Concubine.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 78,2 (2016): 215–235.

– “‘Armed for Battle?’ On the Meaning of חמשים in Exodus 13,18.” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 128,1 (2016): 42–48.

– “The Absence of Wisdom in the Wilderness.” Pages 352–374 in Perspectives on Israelite Wisdom: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar. Edited by John Jarick. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 618. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015.

– “On Nehemiah 8,8a.” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 127,3 (2015): 502–507.

– “The Place of Deuteronomy 34 and Source Criticism: A Response to Serge Frolov.” Journal of Biblical Literature 133,3 (2014): 661–668.

– “Why Does Joseph Wash His Face?” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 38,1 (2013): 3–14.

– “The Four Moses Death Accounts.” Journal of Biblical Literature 131,3 (2012): 423–441.

Conferences

Recent Presentations

– “Specters of Deuteronomy in Genesis–Numbers” for the Philology in Hebrew Studies section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Antonio. 19 November 2023.

– “Joshua’s Last Words in the So-Called Hexateuch” for the Pentateuch/Hexateuch section of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies Annual Meeting, Toronto. 28 May 2023.

– “On the Cleanness of Job’s Hands: A Proposal for Job 22:30” for the Wisdom in Israelite and Cognate Traditions section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Denver. 20 November 2022.

– “Revisiting Chronistic Influences in Ezra-Nehemiah” for the Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles section of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, Zürich. 11 August 2022.

– “Rethinking ‘Pentateuch’ and ‘Hexateuch’: A Modest Proposal” for the Society for Old Testament Studies Summer Meeting, Nottingham, UK. 27 July 2022.

– “Traditions, Transposition, and Supplementation in the Visits of Moses’s In-Laws” for the Pentateuch section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (virtual due to COVID-19). 23 November 2021.

– “The Location of Kadesh and the Geography of the Pentateuch” for the Historical Geography of the Biblical World section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (virtual due to COVID-19). 10 December 2020.

– “Mind the Gap: From Torah to Torah in Ezra–Nehemiah” for the Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Diego. 23 November 2019.