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I work with philological material from the Ancient Near East, including texts in Hebrew, Ugaritic, Akkadian, Hittite, and Luwian. I have written articles on the Hebrew tense system, Northwest Semitic historical phonology and ancient Gnostic and Gnosticizing literature in its relation to motifs from the OT world. Recently, I have been working on early Indo-European (especially Anatolian) motifs in the world of the OT, which has led to the publication of my monograph "Unburning Fame: Horses, Dragons, Beings of Smoke, and Other Indo-European Motifs in Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible" (2017), as well as on a project on what philology and exegetics can teach us about communcating into the future about nuclear waste management.
In 2017, I was selected to be Pro Futura Scientia Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, Uppsala, a multi-year position including research stays at SCAS and abroad.
Research
Completed projects
About the research
My dissertation ("Drought, Death and the Sun in Ugarit and Ancient Israel") concentrated on the link between ancient Ugaritic religion and language and the Hebrew linguistic and religious culture expressed in the Old Testament. I primarily work with philological material from the Ancient Near East, including texts in Hebrew, Ugaritic, Akkadian, Hittite and Luwian. I have also written about subjects as the classical Hebrew tense system in the light of comparative language typology. Other research interests include ancient Gnostic and Gnosticizing literature, especially its relation to historical motifs from the OT world. I have published annotated translations from Ugaritic and Akkadian, and also popular works on comparative linguistics. I have done work on early Indo-European motifs in the world of the OT, Northwest Semitic histocial phonology, as well as on a project on what philology and exegetics can teach us about communcating into the future about nuclear waste management.
Publications
Books (10)
- Wikander, O. (2017). Unburning Fame : Horses, Dragons, Beings of Smoke, and Other Indo-European Motifs in Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible. Coniectanea Biblica Old Testament Series - CBOTS, 62. Eisenbrauns.
- Wikander, O. (2014). Drought, death and the sun in Ugarit and ancient Israel : a philological and comparative study. Coniectanea Biblica, Old Testament Series, 61. Eisenbrauns.
- Wikander, O. (2014). Gud är ett verb: tankar om Gamla testamentet och dess idéhistoria. Norstedts.
- Wikander, O. (2012). Drought, Death and the Sun in Ugarit and Ancient Israel : A Philological and Comparative Study. Lunds universitet. Dissertation.
- Wikander, O. (2008). De kaldeiska oraklen. Sitra Ahra förlag.
- Wikander, O. (2008). Ett träd med vida grenar - de indoeuropeiska språkens historia. Prisma.
- Wikander, O. (2006). I döda språks sällskap : en bok om väldigt gamla språk. Wahlström & Widstrand.
- Wikander, O. (2005). Enuma elish - det babyloniska skapelseeposet: översättning från akkadiskan, med inledning och kommentarer av Ola Wikander. Wahlström & Widstrands klassikerserie. Wahlström & Widstrand.
- Wikander, Ö. & Wikander, O. (2004). Att läsa etruskiska inskrifter.
- Wikander, O. (2003). Kanaaneiska myter och legender: översättning från ugaritiska med inledning och kommentarer av Ola Wikander. Wahlström & Widstrands klassikerserie. Wahlström & Widstrand.
Articles (14)
- Wikander, O. (2017). The Pseudo-Matthean Doxology from the Lord's Prayer, Sephiroth, and Classical Hebrew in the "Qabalistic Cross" and Other Golden Dawn Rituals. Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift, 2016/92, 148-158. Gleerups Utbildning AB.
- Wikander, O. (2016). Indoeuropeiska motiv i Gamla testamentet. Riss, 2016, 110-113. NTNU, Trondheim.
- Wikander, O. (2015). Emphatics, Sibilants and Interdentals in Hebrew and Ugaritic : An Interlocking Model. Ugarit-Forschungen, 46, 373-397.
- Wikander, O. (2015). Finding Indra, Finding Torah : The Story of Shibamata Taishakuten and Josiah's Renovation. Svensk exegetisk årsbok, 80, 69-77. Svenska exegetiska sällskapet.
- Wikander, O. (2015). Language, Nuclear Waste and Society : The Preservation of Knowledge over Vast Periods of Time and its Relevance for Linguistics. Lychnos, 2015, 7-25. Lärdomshistoriska samfundet, Uppsala universitet.
- Wikander, O. (2014). Perfect or Imperfect Learning : Teaching the "Tenses" of Biblical Hebrew. Hebrew Higher Education, 16, 119-129. National Association of Professors of Hebrew.
- Wikander, O. (2013). Classical Hebrew in the Golden Dawn Tradition. Preprint without journal information. Manne Siegbahn Institute.
- Wikander, O. (2013). Old Testament Prototypes for the Hermetic Trishagion in Poimandres 31 – and Support for an Old Conjecture. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 53, 579-590. Duke University.
- Wikander, O. (2013). Perfect or Imperfect Learning - Teaching the Hebrew "Tenses". Preprint without journal information. Manne Siegbahn Institute.
- Wikander, O. (2013). Ungrateful Grazers: A Parallel to Deut 32:15 from the Hurrian/Hittite Epic of Liberation. Svensk exegetisk årsbok, 78, 137-146. Svenska exegetiska sällskapet.
- Gansten, M. & Wikander, O. (2011). Sahl and the Tājika Yogas: Indian transformations of Arabic astrology. Annals of Science, 68, 531-546. Taylor & Francis.
- Wikander, O. (2010). Job 3:8-Cosmological Snake-Charming and Leviathanic Panic in a Near Eastern Setting. Zeitschrift für Die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 122, 265-271. De Gruyter.
- Wikander, O. (2010). The Hebrew Waw-Consecutive as a North-West Semitic Augment. Vetus Testamentum, 60.
- Wikander, O. (2008). The Religio-Social Message of the Gold Tablets from Pyrgi. Opuscula, 79-84. Editorial Committee of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome.
Book chapters (7)
- Wikander, O. (accepted/in press). Ormen och byggmästaren - hebraismer och gnosis hos Carl William Hansen. Sitra Ahra förlag.
- Wikander, O. (2017). From Indo-European Dragon Slaying to Isa 27.1 : A Study in the Longue Durée. In Wasserman, T., Andersson, G. & Willgren, D. (Eds.) Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies, 654 (pp. 116-135), 654. Bloomsbury publishing.
- Wikander, O. (2015). Don't Push This Button : Phoenician Sarcophagi, Atomic Priesthoods and Nuclear Waste. In Rahm, H. (Ed.) Årsbok (pp. 109-124). Vetenskapssocieteten i Lund.
- Wikander, O. (2015). The God in the Machine : Occultism, Demiurgic Theology and “Gnostic” Self-Knowledge in Japanese Video Games. In Larsson, L. & Goldberg, D. (Eds.) (pp. 235-256). Seven Stories Press.
- Wikander, O. (2013). The Burning Sun and the Killing Resheph: Proto-Astrological Symbolism and Ugaritic Epic. In Greene, L. & Campion, N. (Eds.) (pp. 73-83).
- Wikander, O. (2011). God’s Plan in Job and the “Wise Things” of Marduk. In Eidevall, G. & Scheuer, B. (Eds.) (pp. 227-236). Eisenbrauns.
- Wikander, O. (2010). Själens uttåg ur Egypten.
Conference contributions (5)
- Wikander, O. (2014). Emphatics, Sibilants and Interdentals in Hebrew and Ugaritic : an Interlocking Model.
- Wikander, O. (2013). Biblical Chaos Dragons – and Indo-European Ones.
- Wikander, O. (2012). "Horse" and "to Plough" in Hebrew and Indo-European.
- Wikander, O. (2011). Nothing new under the burning sun? Climate and verbs in North-West Semitic.
- Wikander, O. (2011). The Burning Sun and the Killing Resheph: Proto-Astrological Symbolism and Ugaritic Epic.
Reviews (5)
- Wikander, O. (2014). Brun skugga. Expressen, 6-6. AB Kvällstidningen Expressen.
- Wikander, O. (2014). Reading Ugaritic. Marginalia Review of Books. Los Angeles Review of Books.
- Wikander, O. (2014). Sexuella undertexter av Guds nåde. Svenska Dagbladet, 33-33. Svenska Dagbladet.
- Wikander, O. (2010). Rec. av Nissinen & Uro (ed.), Sacred Marriages: The Divine-Human Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity. Patristica Nordica Annuaria, 25, 98-100. Avdelningen för kristendomens historia, Teologiska institutionen, Lunds universitet.
- Wikander, O. (2010). Recension av Mark S. Smith, "God in Translation: Deities in Cross- Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World". Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift, 86, 193-194. Gleerups Utbildning AB.
Articles in specialist publications and popular press (3)
- Wikander, O. (2017). Ormen och Stormguden. Karavan, 2017, 84-91. Föreningen Karavan.
- Wikander, O. (2011). Solen och pestguden i Ugarit. Aorta, 27, 17-21.
- Wikander, O. (2009). Ur Mishne Tora - Shofetim: Melakhim u-milchamoth [kap. 11-12]. Subaltern, 1/2009, 45-49. h:ström - Text & Kultur.
