Cecilia Wassen

Kort presentation

Professor i Nya testamentets exegetik. Forskning: Dödahavsrullarna, apokalyptik, måltider, genus, renhetslagar, änglar, demoner. Senaste bok, med Tobias Hägerland, Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet ( T &T Clark, 2021) (Den okände Jesus, 2016). Redaktör för The Dead Sea Scrolls, i serien Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies (Zondervan Academic) och general editor. Medlem i RJ-finansierat 6-årigt forskningsprogram At the End of the World. https://www.endoftheworld.lu.se/about-the-program/

Biografi

Publications

Books Authored

Cecilia Wassén and Tobias Hägerland. Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet. Trans. Cian Power. London/Oxford: Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2021.

Cecilia Wassén och Tobias Hägerland. Den okände Jesus: Berättelsen om en profet som misslyckades (The Unknown Jesus: The Story about a Prophet who Failed) Stockholm: Bokförlaget Langenskiöld, 2016.

Women in the Damascus Document. Society of Biblical Literature Academia

Biblica Series 21. Atlanta: SBL/ Leiden: Brill, 2005.

Books Edited

Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–600 CE). Edited by Karin Hedner Zetterholm, Anders Runesson, Cecilia Wassén, and Magnus Zetterholm. Coniectanea Biblica. Lexington Books/ Fortress, 2022

J. Christopher Edwards, Craig A. Evans, and Cecilia Wassén ed. Early New Testament Apocrypha. Vol 9 of Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies. Zondervan Academic 2022

Sidnie White Crawford and Cecilia Wassen ed. Apocalyptic Thinking in Early Judaism: Engaging with John Collins’ The Apocalyptic Imagination.

Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 182. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

Dödahavsrullarna Svensk översättning (The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Swedish Translation). Edited by Mikael Winninge, Stig Norin, Cecilia Wassén et al. Uppsala: Bibelakademiförlaget, 2017.

The Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and the Concept of a Library. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 116. Edited by Sidnie White Crawford and Cecilia Wassen. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

Prayer and Poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature: Essays in Honor of Eileen Schuller on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 98. Edited by Jeremy Penner, Ken M. Penner, and Cecilia Wassen. Leiden: Brill, 2011.

Dödahavsrullarna: innehåll, bakgrund och betydelse (The Dead Sea Scrolls: Content, Background, and Mening). Edited by Cecilia Wassén. Stockholm: Atlantis, 2011.

Northern Lights on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Proceedings of the Nordic Qumran Network 2003-2006. Edited by Anders Klostergaard Petersen, Torleif Elgvin, Cecilia Wassen et.al. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 80. Leiden: Brill, 2009.

Articles

“Purity, Impurity, and In-Between.” Pages 221-237 in Purity in Ancient Judaism: Text, Contexts, and Concepts. Edited by Lutz Doering, Jörg Frey, and Laura von Bartenwerffer. WUNT 528. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2025.

“Halakhah at the End of Days: A Comparison between Jesus’s Teaching and the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Pages 101-128 in Qumran and the New Testament. Edited by Jörg Frey. Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 340. Leuven/ Paris/ Bristol: Peeters, 2024.

“Amos 5:26–27 and 9:11–12 in the Amos-Numbers Midrash in the Damascus Document.” Pages 49–65 in Metaphors in the Prophetic Literature of the Hebrew Bible and Beyond. Edited by Davie Davage, Mikael Larsson and Lena-Sofia Tiemyer. Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements 36. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh, 2023.

“Socializing with the Impure (or Not): Interactions and Impurity in Late Second

Temple Judaism.” Pages 130-139 in The Ties that Bind: Negotiating Relationships in Early Jewish and Christian Texts, Contexts, and Reception History. Edited by Esther Kobel, Meredith Warren, and Jo-Ann A. Brant. The Library of New Testament Studies 660. London/Oxford: Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2023.

“Rations, Refreshments, Reading, and Revelation: The Multifunction of the Common Meal in the Qumran Movement.” in The Dead Sea Scrolls in Ancient Media Culture. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 144. Leiden: Brill. 2023

“Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls” in T&T Clark Jesus Library, https://www.theologyandreligiononline.com/tt-clark-jesus-library

2023

“Meals, Identity, and Purity in the Qumran Movement.” Pages 51-71 in Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–400 CE). Edited by Karin Hedner Zetterholm, Anders Runesson, Magnus Zetterholm, and Cecilia Wassén. Coniectanea Biblica. Lanham: Lexington Books/ Fortress Press, 2022

“The Uniqueness (or Not) of Jesus’s Work as an Exorcist.” Pages 29-48 in Common Ground and Diversity in Early Christian Thought and Study: Essays in Memory of Heikki Räisänen Edited by Raimo Hakola, Outi Lehtipuu, and Nina Nikki. WUNT 495. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022.

“The Connection Between Purity Practices and the Jerusalem Temple (the House of God) Around the Turn of the Area.” Pages 167-190 in La Maison de Dieu / Das Haus Gottes. 7. Symposium Strasbourg, Tübingen, Uppsala Edited by Christian Grappe. WUNT 471. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021.

“Reflections on John the Baptist in History and Theology by Joel Marcus,” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 19 (2021): 15-26.

“Moral Impurity in the Gospel of Matthew.” Pages 285-308 in Matthew within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel. Edited by Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner. Early Christianity and Its Literature 27. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2020.

“The Impurity of the Impure Spirits in the Gospels.” Pages 33-52 in Healing and Exorcism in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity. Edited by Edited by Tommy Wasserman, Mikael Tellbe and Ludvig Svensson. WUNT/II 511 Mohr Siebeck, 2019.

Eileen Schuller and C. Wassén, “Response: Past and Present Trends—Future Trajectories.” Dead Sea Discoveries 26/3 (A thematic issue on Gender Studies and the Dead Sea Scrolls) (2019): 397–412.

“Purity Laws for Men and Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Comparison of Ideals and Praxis.” Pages 57-86 in Frauen im antiken Judentum

und frühen Christentum. Edited by Jörg Frey and Nicole Rupschus. WUNT/II 489. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019.

“Stepped Pools and Stone Vessels: Rethinking Jewish Purity Practices in Palestine.” Biblical Archaeological Review, July/August/September/October, (2019): 53-58.

“End Time Temples in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Expectations and Conflict.” Pages 55-87 in Apocalyptic Thinking in Early Judaism: Engaging with John Collins' The Apocalyptic Imagination. Edited by Sidnie White Crawford and Cecilia Wassén.

Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 182. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

“Good and Bad Angels in the Construction of Identity in the Qumran Movement.” Pages 71-97 in Gottesdienst und Engel Im Antiken Judentum Und Fruhen Christentum. Edited by Jörg Frey and Michael Jost. WUNT/II 446. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017.

“Common Meals in the Qumran Movement with Special Attention to Purity Regulations.” Pages 77-100 in vol. 1 of The Eucharist – Its Origins and Contexts. Sacred Meal, Communal Meal, Table Fellowship in Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity. Volume I-III Ed. by David Hellholm and Dieter Sänger. WUNT 376. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017.

“Matregler bland judar och kristustroende kring vår tideräknings början” (“Food Laws among Jews and Christ-believers around the Turn of the Common Era”), Religion och Bibel. Religion och Bibel Årsbok 2012-2013: Gudomligt gott, om religion och mat (2017): 49-72.

“Women, Worship, Wilderness, and War: Celibacy and the Constructions of Identity in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Pages 1361-1385 in vol 2 of Sibyls, Scriptures, and Scrolls: John Collins at 70. Edited by Joel Baden, Hindy Najman, and Eibert Tigchelaar. JSJSup 175. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

“Jesus’ Table Fellowship with ‘Toll Collectors and Sinners’: Questioning the Alleged Purity Implications.” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 14/2 (2016): 137-157.

“The Use of the Dead Sea Scrolls for Interpreting Jesus’s Action in the Temple.” Dead Sea Discoveries 23 (2016): 280-303.

“The (Im)purity Levels of Communal Meals within the Qumran Movement”. Journal of Ancient Judaism 7/1 (2016): 102-122.

“The Jewishness of Jesus and Ritual Purity,” Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis 27 (2016), 11-36.

“Jesus’ Work as a Healer in Light of Jewish Purity Laws.” Pages 87-104 in Bridging between Sister Religions: Studies of Jewish and Christian Scriptures in Honor of John Townsend. Edited by Isaac Kalimi. Brill Reference Library of Judaism; Leiden: Brill, 2016.

“The Importance of Marriage in the Construction of Sectarian Identity in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Pages 127-50 in Social Memory and Social Identity in the Study of Early Judaism and Early Christianity. Edited by Samuel Byrskog, Raimo Hakola and Jutta Jokiranta. Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus/Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments (NTOA/StUNT) 116. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: 2016.

“Do You Have to Be Pure in a Metaphorical Temple? Sanctuary Metaphors and Construction of Sacred Space in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Paul’s Letters.” Pages 55-86 in Holiness, and Identity in Judaism:Essays in Memory of Susan Haber. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. Edited by Carl S. Ehrlich, Anders Runesson, and Eileen Schuller. WUNT 305. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013.

”Församlingen som helgedom i Dödahavsrullarna och i Paulus brev” (The Community as a Sanctuary in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Pauline Letters) i 2000 år med Paulus (2000 Years with Paul), ed. Anders Ekenberg, Jonas Holmstrand och Mikael Winninge. Uppsala: Bibelakademiförlaget, 2013.

“On the Education of Children in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 41/3 (2012): 350-363.

“Angels and Humans: Boundaries and Synergies” Pages 523-39 in Celebrating the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Canadian Collection, ed. Jean Duhaime, Peter Flint and Kyung Baek. Early Judaism and Its Literature 30. Atlanta: SBL, 2011.

“Marriage Laws in the Dead Sea Scrolls in Relation to the Broader Jewish Society.” Pages 427-48 in The Hebrew Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Edited by Armin Lange. Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments (FRLANT) 239. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012.

“‘Because of the Angels:’ Reading 1 Cor 11:2-16 in Light of Angelology in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Pages 735-54 in vol. 2 of The Dead Sea Scrolls in Context: Integrating the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Study of Ancient Texts, Languages, and Cultures. Edited by Armin Lange, Emanuel Tov and Matthias Weigold. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum, 140/II. Leiden: Brill, 2011.

“Visions of the Temple: Conflicting Images of the Eschaton.” Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok 76 (2011): 41-59.

Jutta Jokiranta and C. Wassen. “A Brotherhood at Qumran? Metaphorical Familial Language in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Pages 173-204 in Northern Lights on the Judean Desert: Proceedings of the Nordic Qumran Network 2003-2006. Edited by Anders Klostergaard Petersen, Torleif Elgvin, Cecilia Wassen et.al. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 80. Ed. Florentino García Martínez. Leiden: Brill, 2009. Jokiranta and Wassen have written 50% each of the article.

“What do Angels Have against the Blind and the Deaf? Rules of Exclusion in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Pages 115-29 in Common Judaism: Explorations in Second-Temple Judaism. Edited by Wayne O. McCready and Adele Reinhartz. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2008.

“Jesus and the Hemorrhaging Woman in Mark 5:24-34: Insights from Purity Laws from Qumran.” Pages 641-60 in Scripture in Transition: Essays on Septuagint, Hebrew Bible, and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honour of Raija Sollamo. Edited by Anssi Voitila and Jutta Jokiranta. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 126. Leiden: Brill, 2008.

“Angels in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Pages 499-523 in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook 2007. Angels: The Concept of Celelstial Beings-Origins, Development and Reception. Edited by Friedrich Reiterer, Tobias Nicklas, and Karin Schöpflin. International Society for the Study of Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature/ISDCL. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2007.

Jutta Jokiranta and C. Wassen. “Groups in Tension: Sectarianism in the Rule of the Community and the Damascus Document.” Pages 206-45 in Sectarianism in Early Judaism: Sociological Advances. Edited by David Chalcraft. London: Equinox, 2007. Jokiranta and Wassen has written 50% each of the article.

“The Story of Judah and Tamar in the Eyes of the Earliest Interpreters.” Literature and Theology Vol.8, No. 4 (1994): 354-66.

“The Sadducees and Their Halakah.” Pages 127-46 in Law in Religious Communities in the Roman Period: The Debate over Torah and Nomos in Post-Biblical Judaism and Early Christianity. Edited by Peter Richardson and Stephen Westerholm. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1991.

Textbook, Dictionary and Encyclopedia contributions

“Pool” | Judaism | Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism (3000 characters) Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR). Berlin: de Gruyter, 2025.

“Purity and Holiness.” Pages 513-523 in T & T Clark Companion to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Edited by George J. Brooke and Charlotte Hempel. London: Bloomsbury, 2018.

“Daily Life.” Pages 547-558 in T & T Clark Companion to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Edited by George J. Brooke and Charlotte Hempel. London: Bloomsbury, 2018.

“The Damascus Document.” Pages 128-134 in vol. 2 of Early Jewish Literature: An Anthology Edited by Brad Embry, Ronald Herms and Archie T. Wright. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018.

“Holiness and Purity” (500 words) Society of Biblical Literature: Bible Odyssey Website (2014) http://www.bibleodyssey.com/places/related-articles/purity-and-holiness

Family. IV. Judaism. Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism (6000 characters) Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR). Berlin: de Gruyter, 2013.

Divorce . IV. Judaism A. Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism (6000 characters) Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR). Berlin: de Gruyter, 2013: 995-998.

מלאך mal’āk Theologisches Wörterbuch zu den Qumrantexten II (ThWQ), ed. H.-J. Fabry / U. Dahmen; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2013, col. 676-681, approx. 13.500 characters incl. blanks. (German translation from English provided by publisher)

זקןzāqen in Theologisches Wörterbuch zu den Qumrantexten I (ThWQ), ed. H.-J. Fabry / U. Dahmen,Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2011, col. 865-869, approx. 13.500 characters incl. blanks. (German translation from English provided by publisher)

Five chapters ranging from 6 to 8 pages: “Religion,” “Family,” “Different Theories about the Qumran Community,” “Angels, Demons (Belial),” and “Apocalypticism” in Dödahavsrullarna: innehåll, bakgrund och betydelse (The Dead Sea Scrolls: Content, Background, and Mening). Edited by Cecilia Wassén. Stockholm: Atlantis, 2011.

“Från Perser till Romare” (From the Persians to the Romans). Pages 59-83 in Jesus och de första kristna: inledning till Nya Testamentet (Jesus and the First Christians: Introduction to the New Testament), a Swedish university textbook in New Testament studies. Edited by Dieter Mitternacht and Anders Runesson. Stockholm: Verbum Förlag, 2006.

Eight articles ranging from 100 to 350 words (“Hands, Laying on,” “Hide, to,” “Interpreter,” “Jeremiah, Additions to,” “Mark, Goal, Sign,” Meraioth,” “Testimonia Text,” “Testament”) for the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Abingdon Press, 2007.

“From Canaan to Israel” (1500 words); “Palestine Invaded” (1000 words); “Roman and Byzantine Palestine” (1500 words). Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. Vol.7 of The World and its Peoples Encyclopedia. London: The Brown Reference Group, 2005.

Eileen Schuller and C. Wassen. “Women” (4000 words). Pages 981-84 in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls, vol. 2. Edited by Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam,. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Book Reviews

Jennifer Nyström. Reading Romans, Constructing Paul(s): A Conversation

between Messianic Jews in Jerusalem and Paul within Judaism Scholars. Lund: Lund University: 2021. Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift 2 (2022): 173-175.

Thomas Kazen, Smuts, skam, status: Perspektiv på samkönad sexualitet i Bibeln och antiken. Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift 95/3 (2019)

Gary N. Knoppers, Jews and Samaritans: The Origins and History of Their Early Relations. SEÅ 82 (2017): 278-81.

Mats G. Larsson, Paulus, Förvanskaren. Stockholm: Fri tanke, 2016. Respons 2016/5: 48-50.

Thomas Kazen, Scripture, Interpretation, or Authority? WUNT 320. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013. SEÅ 81 (2016): 247-50.

Raimo Hakola, Nina Nikki, and Ulla Tervahauta, ed. Others and the Construction of Early Christian Identities. SEÅ 80 (2015): 241-43.

Reza Aslan, Upprorsmakaren: Berättelsen om hur Jesus från Nasaret blev Jesus Kristus, trans. from The Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. Respons (2014).

Svante Lundgren, Jesus med judiska ögon (Jesus with Jewish Eyes). Skellefteå: Artos & Norma Bokförlag, 2014. Respons (2014).

John J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow, ed., The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2010. SEÅ 79 (2014),

Weston W. Fields, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Full History. Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill,

2009. SEÅ 78 (2013), 218-220.

Thomas Kazen, Issues of Impurity in Early Judaism. CBNTS, 45. Winona

Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2010. SEÅ (2013), 230-233.

Lynn H. Cohick, Women in the World of the Earliest Christians: Illuminating Ancient Ways of Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. Journal of the American Oriental Society 132/4 (2012): 727-728.

Karen J. Wenell, Jesus and Land: Sacred and Social Space in Second Temple Judaism. Library of New Testament Studies 334; London: T & T Clark, 2007. The Review of Biblical Literature, a publication of the Society of Biblical Literature (http://www.sbl-site.org), 2009.

Damascus Document II, Some Works of Torah, and Related Documents, edited by James H. Charlesworth and Henry W.M. Rietz (The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations 3), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck / Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006. Dead Sea Discoveries 16/2 (2009), 275-295.

Jassen, Alex P. Mediating the Divine: Prophecy and Revelation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple Judaism. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, 68; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2007. Journal of Hebrew Scriptures Volume 9 (2009).

Julie A. Hughes, Scriptural Allusions and Exegesis in the Hodayot. STDJ 59. Leiden: Brill, 2006. In Dead Sea Discoveries 16/1 (2009): 176-78.

(With William Klassen) Carol A. Newsom The Self as Symbolic Space. Constructing Identity and Community at Qumran. Leiden: Brill, 2004. Revue Biblique. April 2007, 281-84.

Yizhar Hirschfeld, Qumran in Context: Reassessing the Archaeological Context. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2004. Toronto Journal of Theology. 21/2 (2005): 242-43.

Jodi Magness, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002. Toronto Journal of Theology. 19/2 (2003): 230-31.

James C. VanderKam, An Introduction to Early Judaism. Grand Rapids, MI: William B.Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001. In Hebrew Studies 43 (2002), 298-300.

Publications for the General Public (in Swedish)

C. Wassén och Tobias Hägerland, “Mirakler och historievetenskaplig metod: En Replik till Mats Wahlberg” Svenska Teologisk Kvartalskrift 93/ 3-4, 2017.

“Var Jesus feminist?” Liberal Debatt 6 (2017). http://www.liberaldebatt.se/2017/12/var-jesus-feminist/

C. Wassén och Tobias Hägerland, två debattartiklar i Dagen 18 och 31 januari 2017 om C. Wasséns och Tobias Hägerlands bok Den okände Jesus.

C. Wassén och Tobias Hägerland, “Julevangeliet och den historiske Jesus” (The Christmas Story and the Historical Jesus) under strecket i Svenska Dagbladet 24 december, 2016.

”Jesus och de judiska lagarna” (Jesus and the Jewish Laws) Dialog (Våren 2015): 10-12

“Judiska renhetsregler under Jesu tid” (Jewish Purity Laws in the Time of Jesus) SKT (Svensk kyrkotidning/ Journal of the Swedish Church) 23 (2013): 468-470.

“Johannes Döparen” (”John the Baptist”). Pages 78-80 in Dagboken med kyrkoalmanacka 2011-2012/ Calendar for the Swedish Church 2011-2012.

Media

2024 ”Jesus-en obekväm apokalyptisk profet”/ ”Jesus, An Inconvenient Apocalyptic Prophet” Historia Nu/ History Now Podcast by . Interview of Cecilia Wassén by Urban Lindstedt. https://historia.nu/historia-nu/jesus-en-obekvam-apokalyptisk-profet/ March 27.

En debatt om den historiske Jesus på kulturhuset i Stockholm, 19 dec 2017. Medverkande Tobias Hägerland (Göteborgs universitet) James Starr (Johannelund), Stefan Gustavsson (Apologia) och Eskil Franck som moderator:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZGwtoEG9tI&list=PLDFcoxPqjPXlHpoCshuOxf-zIfhqCSuOD