I was born and raised in Suffolk, England. After taking a bachelor’s degree in Jewish History and Hebrew from University College, London, I pursued a Master of Studies in Syriac studies at Oxford University, and then took a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Birmingham. My research focuses on the early literature of Syriac speaking Christians in the Middle East. I have published books and articles on the afterlife of Genesis in the Syriac tradition, on Syriac poetry, on Syriac manuscripts, and on the history of modern Syriac studies in the UK.
I am currently a Research Fellow at BYU’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. I served as the Director of BYU’s Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts from 2004 until 2016. During that time I directed the Dead Sea Scrolls database project, oversaw digitizing projects in Lebanon, led the Syriac manuscript project with the Vatican Library, and coordinated a project with an international team of scholars to create an electronic corpus of Syriac texts. In 2017, I served as the Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute, with particular responsibility for academic programs. I am a member of the North American Patristic Society, and the Society of Biblical Literature.
My wife, Vicki-Bronwen, and I are the parents of five children. Our home is nestled between the campus and the mountains in beautiful Utah county.
Studia Syriaca 