Bill T. Arnold

Bill T. Arnold (Ph.D., Hebrew Union College) is the Paul S. Amos Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary. While at Asbury, he has held administrative positions, first as Director of Postgraduate Studies and then as Vice President of Academic Affairs/Provost.

His research encompasses Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern studies, both separately and in combination. He specializes in Pentateuchal interpretation and is currently writing a two-volume commentary on Deuteronomy, the first installment of which appeared in 2022 (NICOT; Eerdmans). He has written on many aspects of Old Testament interpretation, including Hebrew language and the history of Israelite religion. Past publications have taken up specific portions of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis and 1-2 Samuel), as well as a grammar (“A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax,” with John H. Choi), and introductory materials (“Who Were the Babylonians?” and “Encountering the Old Testament,” with Bryan E. Beyer).

Arnold served as co-chair of the Genesis Program Unit for the Society of Biblical Literature 2017-2021 (with Professor Naomi Steinberg, DePaul University), and since 2019 serves as co-chair of the SBL Deuteronomy Program Unit (with Dr. Harald Samuel, University of Oxford). Previously, he served on the Board of Trustees of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 2007-2011, and ASOR’s Committee on Publications, 2008-2014.

Arnold is General Editor (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament) for the New Cambridge Bible Commentary series (NCBC), Editor of the Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Pentateuch (BCOTP), and Associate Editor of the New International Commentary on the Old Testament (NICOT). He served as an editor for the Old Testament notes in “The Wesley Study Bible” (Abingdon, 2009) and co-translator of Genesis for the Common English Bible (Abingdon, 2011).