An excerpt from Assistant Professor Rebecca Scharbach Wollenberg’s book, entitled “The Book That Changed: Narratives of Ezran Authorship as Late Antique Biblical Criticism,” won the Society of Biblical Literature's 2018 David Noel Freedman Award for Excellence and Creativity in Hebrew Bible Scholarship. The Freedman award is given to a member of has received his or her Ph.D. or Th.D. in biblical studies or a related field within the last ten years. Papers must engage in the Hebrew Bible and are evaluated on persuasive of the thesis, clarity of expression and thought, and originality and creativity.


A previous draft of Wollenberg’s manuscript won the Society of Biblical Literature's De Gruyter Prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History. Which means the manuscripts of her unpublished book have now won both of the Society of Biblical Literature’s early career awards in the field of Hebrew Scholarship. She will deliver her paper at the Society of Biblical Literature’s Annual Meeting this November in Denver, followed by panel responses and general discussion.