Paul Overland

A teacher of Biblical Hebrew since 1999, Paul Overland was raised in a bilingual environment (Japan). This childhood experience of “language for communication” may explain why, later on, the Grammar Translation Method seemed an inadequate way to teach Hebrew. Through a project grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, he and several other Hebrew instructors received training to adapt Second Language Acquisition (SLA) methods for classical languages. A Biblical Hebrew textbook grounded in SLA methods grew out of that project. Overland holds a PhD in Hebrew Bible from Brandeis University with a specialization in wisdom literature. He serves as Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ohio.