Pomona College Southern Seminary
James Washington Watts went to which school from 1982 to 1986?
James Washington Watts James Washington Watts ( born 24 August 1960 ) is an American professor of religion at Syracuse University . His research focuses on the rhetoric of Leviticus . His publications also compare the Bible with other religious scriptures , especially in their ritual performances , social functions , and material symbolism . Biography . James W . Watts is a U.S . citizen born in Switzerland where his father , John D . W . Watts , was teaching at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Rüschlikon . He left there with his family in 1970 for Louisville , Kentucky . They spent three years in India where he attended Woodstock School , before finishing High School in South Pasadena , California . Watts earned his B.A . in Philosophy from Pomona College ( 1982 ) where he studied with Frederick Sontag , briefly with Masao Abe and , during a term at Oxford University , with Stephanie Dalley . He then earned his M.Div . and M.T.S . in New Testament from Southern Seminary in Louisville , Kentucky ( 1985 , 1986 ) , and his Ph.D . in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament from Yale University in New Haven , Connecticut ( 1990 ) where he studied with Robert R . Wilson , Brevard S . Childs , and Mark S . Smith . He taught on the faculty of Hastings College in Hastings , Nebraska ( 1993-1999 ) and then joined the Department of Religion of Syracuse University in Syracuse , New York ( 1999- ) , where he served as Department Chair from 2009 to 2015 . Academic work . James W . Watts has advocated a rhetorical approach to analyzing the contents and influence of biblical literature . He applied this method to the Pentateuch ( 1999 ) and especially to the book of the Leviticus ( 2007 , 2013 ) . Watts argued that the ritual rhetoric of Leviticus empowered the temple priests of Jerusalem and Samaria , who in turn ritualized the Torah/Pentateuch containing Leviticus as Judaisms first , and most important , scripture . Watts also drew attention to iconic books—written texts that are revered primarily as objects of power or influential symbols rather than just as words of instruction , information , or insight . In 2001 , he and Dorina Miller Parmenter founded the Iconic Books Project at Syracuse University ( Watts 2013 ) . In 2010 , together with S . Brent Plate , they founded the Society for Comparative Research in Iconic and Performative Texts ( SCRIPT ) . Watts ( 2013 , 2019 ) has advocated a three-dimensional model for understanding how religious communities ritualize their scriptures and other sacred texts : in the iconic dimension of the texts visual appearance , material form , and physical manipulation ; in the expressive ( or performative ) dimension of the texts expression in oral words and mental thoughts , as well as in song , visual art , theater and film ; and in the semantic dimension of the texts interpretation in preaching , commentary , and ritualized study . Watts brought these two research programs together into a religious studies approach to biblical studies . He argued that ritualizing first the Torah/Pentateuch ( 2017 ) and then biblical literature generally ( 2021a ) in these three dimensions generated their status as scripture . Their continuing ritualization by Jews and Christians in all three dimensions reinforces their scriptural status . Published books . - 1992 : Psalm and Story : Inset Hymns in Hebrew Narrative . Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 139 . Sheffield : JSOT Press , 1992 . ( Revision of the authors Ph.D . dissertation , Yale University , 1990 , titled Psalms in narrative contexts of the Hebrew Bible. ) - 1996 : ( Co-editor with Paul R . House ) Forming Prophetic Literature : Essays on Isaiah and the Twelve in Honor of John D . W . Watts . Journal for the study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 235 . Sheffield Academic Press , 1996 . - 1999 : Reading Law : The Rhetorical Shaping of the Pentateuch . Biblical Seminar 59 . Sheffield Academic Press , 1999 . - 2001 : ( Editor ) Persia and Torah : The Theory of Imperial Authorization of the Pentateuch . Symposium Series . Society of Biblical Literature , 2001 . - 2001 : ( Co-editor with Stephen L . Cook and Corrine L . Patton ) The Whirlwind : Essays on Job , Hermeneutics and Theology in Memory of Jane Morse . Journal for the study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 336 . Sheffield Academic Press , 2001 . - 2007 : Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus : From Sacrifice to Scripture . Cambridge University Press , 2007 . - 2013 : Leviticus 1-10 , Historical Commentary on the Old Testament . Leuven : Peeters , 2013 . - 2013 : ( Editor ) Iconic Books and Texts . Sheffield : Equinox , 2013 . - 2017 : Understanding the Pentateuch as A Scripture . Oxford : Wiley Blackwell , 2017 . - 2018 : ( Editor ) Sensing Sacred Texts . Sheffield : Equinox , 2018 . - 2019 : How and Why Books Matter : Essays on the Social Function of Iconic Texts . Sheffield : Equinox , 2019 . - 2021a : Understanding the Bible as A Scripture in History , Culture , and Religion . Oxford : Wiley Blackwell , 2021 . - 2021b : ( Co-author with Yohan Yoo ) Cosmologies of Pure Realms and the Rhetoric of Pollution . New York : Routledge , 2021 . - 2021c : ( Co-editor with Yohan Yoo ) Books as Bodies and as Sacred Beings . Sheffield : Equinox , 2021 . External links . - The Society for Comparative Research on Iconic and Performative Texts ( SCRIPT ) - The Iconic Books Project