David Pearson Wright (born 1953) is an American theologian and the professor of Bible and the Ancient Near East at

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

. He is a scholar in the field of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

and inner-biblical exegesis, as well as Near Eastern and biblical ritual and law in comparative perspective. Wright earned his doctorate from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and is well known for his work ''Inventing God's Law: How the Covenant Code of the Bible Used and Revised the Laws of Hammurabi'' (Oxford University Press, 2009). He is also the author of ''The Disposal of Impurity: Elimination Rites in the Bible and in Hittite and Mesopotamian Literature'' (Scholars Press, 1987) and ''Ritual in Narrative: The Dynamics of Feasting, Mourning, and Retaliation Rites in the Ugaritic Tale of Aqhat'' (Eisenbrauns, 2001). He is currently working on a commentary on Leviticus in the Hermeneia series (Fortress Press, forthcoming). Wright was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

and was raised as a member of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded durin ...

. He served a two-year mission for the church in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, graduated from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

magna cum laude in Middle East Studies. After graduate school, Wright became an assistant professor of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and Near Eastern Languages in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

(BYU) in September 1984. After the publication of '' New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology'' in 1994 Wright was fired from BYU and ultimately

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

by the church.

References

Faculty page at Brandeis University
1953 births 20th-century American theologians 21st-century American theologians Brandeis University faculty Living people Mormon studies scholars People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Utah alumni Brigham Young University faculty {{US-theologian-stub