Rachelle completed her studies in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at the University of Sydney (PhD), before undertaking postdoctoral research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Edinburgh. She currently serves on the editorial boards for鈥Journal for the Study of the Old Testament鈥and the鈥Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Series鈥for T&T Clark, and is the Hebrew Bible editor for Australian Biblical Review. She has formerly been an editor for the鈥Review of Biblical Literature;鈥and was founder and co-chair of the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting programme unit,鈥Book of Samuel: Narrative, Theology and Interpretation.鈥Her current projects include a commentary on 1 Samuel 1-15 for the IECOT/IEKAT commentary series (Kohlhammer).
Current Research Areas
- Literature, language, and background of Samuel-Kings.
- Divine violence and the portrayal of God in the Hebrew Bible.
- Memory and history in Biblical narrative; memory and prophecy.
- Critique of ideology and feminist approaches to the Hebrew Bible.
Areas for Supervision
- Literature and theology of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.
- Biblical Hebrew language.
- History of Israel and the ancient Near East.
- Contemporary approaches to interpretation of the Hebrew Bible.
Publications
Books
- Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021)
- Juxtaposition and the Elisha Cycle (LHBOTS 594; London: T&T Clark, 2014)
- Representing the Past: A Literary Analysis of Narrative Historiography in the Book of Samuel (VTSup. 143; Leiden: Brill, 2011).
Edited book
- Political Theologies in the Hebrew Bible. Edited with Mark G. Brett (Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplement Series; Paderborn: Brill 厂肠丑枚苍颈苍驳丑, 2023).
Journal articles and book chapters
- 鈥淭he Politics of Beauty in the Books of Samuel and Esther,鈥 pp. 54-72 in Political Theologies of the Hebrew Bible (ed. Mark G. Brett and Rachelle Gilmour; Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplement Series; Paderborn: Brill 厂肠丑枚苍颈苍驳丑, 2023).
- 鈥淪ex Scandal and the Politics of David鈥檚 Throne.鈥 Journal of Biblical Literature 141 (2022): 89-110.
- 鈥淥verturning Sovereignty: Esther in Dialogue with the Book of Samuel,鈥 pp. 57-67 in Reading Esther Intertextually (ed. David Firth and Brittany Melton; LHBOTS; London: T & T Clark, 2022).
- 鈥淜ing David and the White Bear Justice Park,鈥 pp. 179-191 in Theology and Black Mirror (ed. Amber Bowen and John Anthony Dunne; Theology, Religion and Popular Culture; Lanham: Lexington Books, 2022).
- 鈥溾橞ut he would not listen to her鈥: Revisiting the story of Tamar in 2 Samuel 13,鈥 pp. 55-66 in Terror in the Bible: Rhetoric, Gender, and Violence (ed. Robyn Whitaker and Monica Melanchthon; Atlanta: SBL, 2021)
- 鈥淭he Monuments of Saul and Absalom in the Book of Samuel,鈥 pp. 243-261 in Collective Memory and Collective Identity: Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History in Their Context (ed. Johannes Unsok Ro and Diana Edelman; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021)
- From Anxiety to Reverence: Fear of God鈥檚 Retribution and Violence in the Book of Samuel,鈥 Die Welt des Orients 51 (2021): 84-91
- 鈥淩ehabilitating Rehoboam,鈥 pp. 65-82 in Characters and Characterization in 1 and 2 Kings (ed. Keith Bodner and Benjamin Johnson; London: Bloomsbury, 2020)
- 鈥淭he Rejection of Saul and the Obscene Underside of the Law,鈥 The Bible and Critical Theory 15 (2019)
- 鈥淩emembering the Future: The Topheth as Dystopia in Jeremiah 7 and 19,鈥 Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 44 (2019): 64-78
- 鈥淒ivine Violence and Divine Presence: Reading the Story of Uzzah and the Ark in 2 Samuel 6 with Slavoj 沤i啪ek,鈥 Biblical Interpretation 27 (2019): 1-19
- 鈥淛eremiah at the Gate: Identifying the People鈥檚 Gate in Jeremiah 17:19,鈥 Biblische Notizen 177 (2018): 75-82
- 鈥淛uxtaposition and reinterpretation in Joshua 1-2,鈥 pp. 143-155 in Registers and Modes of Communication in the Ancient Near East: Getting the Message Across (ed. Kyle H. Keimer and Gillan Davis; London: Routledge, 2018)
- 鈥淎 Tale of the Unexpected: The Ending of 2 Kings 3 Re-examined,鈥 Australian Biblical Review 65 (2017): 17-29
- 鈥淩eading Jeremiah 19:1鈥13: Integrating Diachronic and Synchronic Methodologies,鈥 Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 17 (2017) DOI: 10.5508/jhs.2017.v17.a5
- 鈥淐hapter 15: (Hi)story Telling in the Books of Samuel,鈥 pp. 192-203 in The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative (ed. Danna Nolan Fewell; New York: Oxford University Press, 2016)
- 鈥淭he Exodus in the Bible鈥檚 Teaching and Our Teaching of the Bible: Helping to Reconcile Faith and Critical Study of the Bible through Threshold Concept Theory,鈥 Journal of Adult Theological Education 13 (2016): 116-127
- 鈥淲ho Captured Jerusalem? Reading Historiography and/or Collective Memory in Samuel,鈥 pp. 63-82 in The Books of Samuel: Stories 鈥 History 鈥 Reception (ed. Walter Dietrich; Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium; Leuven: Peeters, 2016)
- 鈥淓濒颈蝉丑补,鈥&苍产蝉辫;Oxford Bibliographies Online (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016)
- 鈥淭he Function of Place Naming in 2 Samuel 5-6: A Study in Collective Memory,鈥 Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 39 (2015): 405-431
- 鈥淩eading a Biblical Motif: Gifts of Listed Food Provisions in the Books of Samuel,鈥 Australian Biblical Review 61 (2013): 30-43
- 鈥淎 Note on the Horses and Chariots of Fire at Dothan,鈥 Zeitschrift f眉r alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 125 (2013): 308-313
- With I. Young. 鈥淪aul鈥檚 Two Year Reign in 1 Samuel 13:1,鈥 Vetus Testamentum 63 (2013): 150-154
- 鈥淪uspense and Anticipation in I Samuel 9:1-14,鈥 Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 9 (2009), DOI: 10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a10.
Community Engagement
- Forthcoming. 鈥1 Samuel鈥 and 鈥2 Samuel.鈥 In New Oxford Annotated Bible. Sixth Edition. Edited by Michael Coogan, Marc Brettler, Julia O鈥橞rien, and Emma Wasserman. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ABC Religion and Ethics.
- ABC Religion and Ethics.
- The 11th Annual Memorial Alan Crown Public Lecture, Mandelbaum House, University of Sydney, October 2018.
- ABC Religion and Ethics.
- ABC Religion and Ethics.