Gevirtz, Stanley

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GEVIRTZ, STANLEY

GEVIRTZ, STANLEY (1929–1988), U.S. Bible scholar. Gevirtz received his B.A. at Brooklyn College and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1959. He remained at Chicago at its Oriental Institute until 1972. He then left Chicago for the Los Angeles campus of Hebrew Union College, where he taught until his death from cancer. As a young man Gevirtz had studied drama and world literature. As a result he earned a reputation as an outstanding classroom teacher and captivating public lecturer, whose public delivery bordered on the poetic. His monograph, Patterns in the Early Poetry of Israel (1963), illustrates Gevirtz's literary sensibility and his far-ranging knowledge of ancient Semitic poetic style and syntax. Especially incisive are Gevirtz's studies of ancient biblical poetry.

bibliography:

maarav, 7–8 (1991–92); list of Gevirtz's publications, maarav, 8, 377–79.

[S. David Sperling (2nd ed.)]

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