HÉCTOR
IGNACIO AVALOS (b. México, 1958) was a member of a Pentecostal church.
Now he is a secular humanist author, Professor of Religious Studies in
Iowa State University, editor of the
Journal for the Critical Study of Religion, and a member of the
editorial board of both Razonamientos
(Reasonings, Mexican Review of Humanist Thinking) and Revista
Peruana de Filosofía Aplicada (Peruvian
Journal of Applied Philosophy).
E-mail: HectorAvalos@aol.com
STUDIES:
B.A., Anthropology and classical languages, University of Arizona (1982)
Master in Theological Studies, Harvard University (1985)
Ph.D., Biblical History and Semitic Philology, Harvard University (1991)
PUBLICATIONS:
BOOKS:
¿Se puede saber si Dios existe? (Can they know if God exists?, Lima: AERPFA, 1999)
Health Care and the Rise of Christianity (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Press, 1999)
Illness and Heatlh Care in the Ancient Near East: The Role of the Temple in Greece, Israel and Mesopotamia (Harvard Semitic Museum Monographs 54; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995)
PAPERS AND OTHER WRITINGS:
"Daniel 9:24-25 and Mesopotamian Temple Rededications," Journal of Biblical Literature 117 (3, 1998) 507-11.
"The Gospel of Lucas Gavilán as Postcolonial Biblical Exegesis,"Semeia 75 (1996) 87-105. Actually appeared in 1998.
"A Ladino Version of the Targum of Ruth," Estudios Bíblicos 54 (2, 1996) 165-182.
"Ancient Medicine: In Case of Emergency, Contact Your Local Prophet," Bible Review 11 (June, 1995) 26-35, 48. *Semi-popular journal with review by an editorial board.
"The Biblical Sources of Columbus's Libro de las profecías,"Traditio 49 (1994) 331-335.
"The Comedic Function of the Enumerations of Officials and Instruments in Daniel 3," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 53 (4, 1991) 580-88.
"Exodus 22:9 and Akkadian Legal Formulae," Journal of Biblical Literature 109 (1, 1990) 116-17.
CHAPTERS/ARTICLES IN EDITED BOOKS AND REFERENCE WORKS:
"Disability and Liturgy in Ancient and Modern Religious Traditions," in Nancy Eiesland and Don Saliers, eds., Human Disability and the Service of God: Reassessing Religious Practice (Nashville: Abingdon, 1998) 35-54.
"Medicine," The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, E. Meyers, ed., (5 volumes; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) 3:450-459.
"Columbus as Biblical Exegete: A Study of the Libro de las profecías," in Religion in the Age of Exploration: The Case of Spain and New Spain, B. Le Beau and M. Mor, eds., (Omaha: Creighton University Press, 1996) 59-80.
"Evangelicalism," and "Protestantism," in The Latino Encyclopedia, Richard Chabrán and Rafael Chabrán, eds., (6 volumes; New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1996) 560-563; 1307-1310 respectively.
"Legal and Social Institutions of Canaan and Ancient Israel," Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, J. Sasson, ed. (4 volumes; New York: Scribner's, 1995) Vol 1: 615-631.
"Animals," "Esau," "Goliath," "Medicine," and "Satan," for The Oxford Companion to the Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).
"Arpad, " "Berothah," "Berothai," "Cun," "Ivvah," "Kadesh-on-the-Orontes," "Kue," "Sepharvaim," "Sibraim," and "Mt. Zaphon," in The Anchor Bible Dictionary (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1992).
BOOK REVIEWS:
Joe Ator, The Return to Credibility: Scientific Discoveries Support Belief in Bible's Creation Account (Vantage Press, 1997)The Journal for the Critical Study of Religion. 3 (1, 1998) 71-73.
Michael Drosnin, The Bible Code (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), in The Journal for the Critical Study of Religion. 3 (1, 1998). 67-70.
P. W. L. Walker, Jesus and the Holy City: New Testament Perspectives on Jerusalem (Grand Rapids: Eerdman's, 1996) in Near Eastern Archaeology 61 (1, March, 1998) 68-69.
Marten Stol, Epilepsy in Babylonia (Cuneiform Monographs 2. Groningen: Styx Publications, 1993) in Journal of Cuneiform Studies 47 (1995; actually published in 1997) 119-121.
Bernard M.Levinson, ed. Theory and Method in Biblical and Cuneiform Law: Revision, Interpolation, and Development. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994) in Hebrew Studies 37 (1996) 153-156.
Eldin Villafañe,The Liberating Spirit: Toward an Hispanic Pentecostal Social Ethic (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993) in Journal of the American Academy of Religion 63 (4, 1995) 870-72.
Joaquín González Echegaray, El Creciente Fértil y la Biblia (Estella, 1991) in Old Testament Abstracts 15 (2, 1992) 275-6.
Cyrus Gordon et al., Eblaitica I (Eisenbrauns, 1987) in Old Testament Abstracts 10 (3, 1987) 302-303.
Thomas Curry, The First Freedoms: Church and State in America to the Passage of the First Amendment (Oxford, 1986) in Harvard Review 1 (Fall, 1986)168-71/ Premier Issue.
OTHER/INVITED PUBLICATIONS:
"Heavenly Conflicts: The Bible and Astronomy," Mercury 27 (2, March/April, 1998) 20-24. The Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
"¿Se necesita de un dios para ser moral? El mito de la moralidad absoluta," Revista Peruana de Filosofía Aplicada 3 (8, 1997) 15-26.
"The Study of the Afroasiatic Languages in the Third Millennium--Results of a Conversation," Anduraru: Bulletin of the Institute for Ancient Near Eastern and Afroasiatic Cultural Research (September, 1997) 8-10.
"Can Science Prove that Prayer Works?" Free Inquiry (Summer, 1997) 27-31.
"Los Testigos de Jehová," Razonamientos 3 (1995) 21-26. Translation of "The Jehovah's Witnesses..." see below.
"The Diversity of Diversity," Proceedings of the Second Annual Faculty Conference (Ames: Iowa State University, 1994) 17-20.
"Mary at Medjugorje: A Critical Inquiry," Free Inquiry 14:2 (Spring, 1994) 48-54.
"The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Society," Free Inquiry 12 (2, 1992) 28-31.
"Kolumbuksen uskunnolliset vaikutimet," Vartija (3, 1993) 100-107 ("Columbus' Religious Motives," translated into Finnish by Heikki Räisänen).