Christine Hayes awarded an honorary degree by the University of Lund

December 16, 2022

It is our privilege to inform you that our colleague Christine Hayes has been awarded an honorary degree by the University of Lund. We all extend our heartiest congratulations.

Johannes Anyuru and Christine Hayes are appointed honorary doctors at the Faculty of Theology at Lund University.

The Swedish writer and poet Johannes Anyuru is appointed honorary doctor at the Faculty of Theology in Lund for his sharp and perceptive writing, which does not shy away from addressing the burning ethical and political issues of our time, such as exclusion, racism and religion.

Anyuru grew up in Borås and Växjö, and made her debut with the poetry collection Det är bara gudarna som är nya (2003). This has been followed by further collections of poetry and several novels, including the August Prize-winning De kommer att drunkna i sina mödrars tårar (2017). Her latest novel, Ixelles (2022), was also nominated for the prize.

“At a time when public discourse is all too often characterised by prejudice and simplification, Anyuru’s writing offers an urgent counterbalance,” says the Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Professor Stephan Borgehammar. “Anyuru’s efforts to counter stereotypes and promote a sober public discourse, in which religion also has something essential to contribute, we want to draw attention to through this honorary doctorate.”

Christine Hayes is Professor of Religious Studies with a focus on Jewish Studies at Yale University in the United States. Hayes is an exceptionally well-respected scholar and a valued teacher whose many areas of research include rabbinic Judaism and literature, Jewish identity, and Jewish law.

In the award-winning book What’s Divine about Divine Law? Early Perspectives (2015), she compares different conceptions of divine law in the Bible and the surrounding Greco-Roman culture and shows how tensions between them still shape Western thought and legal tradition today.

“By appointing Christine Hayes as an honorary doctor at the Faculty of Theology in Lund, the Faculty recognises a distinguished scholar whose penetrating studies of late antique Judaism illuminate and enrich the self-understanding of contemporary Western culture,” says Stephan Borgehammar.

The honorary doctors will receive their awards at the doctoral ceremony in Lund on 26 May 2023.