Skip to main content
Intellect

Denver Seminary professor to give pair of lectures at BYU Oct. 27-28

Richard Hess, scholar of Old Testament and Semitic language

Richard Hess, a professor of Old Testament and Semitic language at Denver Seminary, will present two lectures during a visit to Brigham Young University.

Hess will address “What Did the Israelites Really Believe?” for an Ancient Near Eastern Studies Lecture Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 4 p.m. He will also present a Kennedy Center Lecture, “Between the Desert and the Sea: Israel’s Wilderness Journey,” Wednesday, Oct. 28, at noon. Both addresses will take place in 238 Herald R. Clark Building.

Admission to both lectures is free, and the public is welcome to attend.

In addition to teaching, Hess is the director of the Denver Journal, an online theological review, and the Bulletin for Biblical Research. He is also the founder and editor of the Bulletin’s Supplemental Series and is a member of a dozen scholarly societies.

His current research projects include commentaries on the books of Genesis and Kings, an introduction to the Old Testament, Hebrew grammar and the study of ancient Near Eastern texts related to the Old Testament. Hess has authored eight books, including “Israelite Religions: A Biblical and Archaeological Survey,” and published more than 100 scholarly articles and collected essays in journals such as “Biblica” and “Biblical Archaeologist.”

Hess holds a doctoral degree from Hebrew Union College, master’s degrees in divinity and theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College. He has also conducted postdoctoral research at universities in Chicago, Jerusalem, Cambridge, Sheffield and Munster and has held grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright organization and Tyndale House, Cambridge.

These lectures will be archived online. For more information on events sponsored by the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, see the calendar online at kennedy.byu.edu.

For more information, contact Lee Simons at (801) 422-2652.

Writer: Ricardo Castro

hessrs.jpg
Photo by BYU Museum of Art

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Forum: BYU 150 president's panel

November 18, 2025
Today’s special forum featured a panel discussion with current BYU President C. Shane Reese and previous Presidents Kevin J Worthen, Cecil O. Samuelson and Merrill J. Bateman.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Duo of BYU professors named to list of world's most influential researchers

November 13, 2025
Two Brigham Young University professors have been named as two of the most influential researchers in the world, with one earning the distinction for the first time and another extending a years-long streak on the list.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

BYU research: Mega wildfires can actually be a good thing

November 04, 2025
BYU professor Sam St. Clair is the principal investigator on the first study to show positive impacts of megafires (fires greater than 100,000 acres) across different forest types. Megafires can help some forest communities thrive — especially in areas where chronic browsing by elk, deer, and livestock has hindered tree regeneration, a widespread issue that often leads to forest regeneration failure.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=