She received her undergraduate education at the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien in Heidelberg. After graduating with an M.A. from the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she continued her graduate studies at the Johns Hopkins University where she received her Ph.D in 2012. Dr. Cranz specializes in the Hebrew Bible within its ancient Near Eastern contexts. Her first book Atonement and Purification: Priestly and Assyro-Babylonian Perspectives on Sin and its Consequences will be published by Mohr Siebeck.