Dr Peter Joshua Atkins is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Old Testament and Hebrew Bible at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Divinity. Prior to his current position, Peter completed undergraduate (BA) and postgraduate (MA) degrees in Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield. He moved to the University of Chester to complete his PhD in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies where he was also a Visiting Lecturer and worked as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant on the AHRC-funded project "Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare." In 2022, he moved to the University of Edinburgh as a Teaching Fellow in Old Testament and Hebrew Bible. His revised doctoral thesis has recently been published as The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4: Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary (T&T Clark, 2023). He is also co-founder and co-chair of the 'Animals and the Bible' research group for the European Association of Biblical Studies.
I am primarily interested in how the Bible and academic Biblical Studies can contribute to our understanding of nonhuman animals. My work has incorporated a range of approaches to the Bible including: the reception and historical interpretation of biblical texts, critical theory, ancient contextual studies, and historical-critical approaches. I am currently using historical and ecological methods to re-examine biblical texts in light of contemporary debates surrounding human overpopulation and rewilding.