Department of Biblical and Ancient Studies

Prof M le Roux

College of Human Sciences
School of Humanities
Department: Biblical and Ancient Studies
Professor
Tel: 012 429 4389
Fax: 012 429 4570
E-mail: lrouxm1@unisa.ac.za

Qualifications

  • DLitt et Phil  (Unisa, 1999)

NRF Rating

C2

Fields of academic interests

  • Old Testament
  • Biblical Archaeology
  • Pre-monarchic Israel
  • Tribes of Israel
  • Africa and the Bible
  • Ancient Near Eastern Studies

Field of Specialisation

  • Iron Age I archaeology
  • The Book of Judges
  • Judaising Groups in Africa – especially the Lemba

Books

Monographs:

  • 2011. Vhalemba. Ndi Lushaka lwo Xelaho lwa Israele lu re Tshipempe ha Africa naa? Pretoria: University of South Africa Press (Translation of Lemba book into Tshivenda).
  • 2015. A Lost Tribe of Israel in Southern Africa? The Case of the Lemba. Second edition (with corrections). Pretoria: University of South Africa Press.
  • 2017. Richteren commentaar. De Prediking van het Oude Testament. Becking, B (ed). Utrecht: Kok. (In print).

Book chapters:

  • 2012  ‘Pre-Islamic Arabic Trade and Religion on the East Coast of Africa’, in Nader, T J (ed.), People from the Desert: Pre-Islamic Arabs in History and Culture,107-128. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
  • 2012  ‘The Lemba: An Indispensable Tool for Teaching and Interpreting the Old Testament’, in Bruder, E & Parfitt, T (eds), African Zion: Studies in Black Judaism, 175-191. London: Cambridge Scholars' Press.
  • 2017  'Eat, Sing, Pray: Transmission of Tradition in Lemba Communities in Southern Africa', in Markowitz, F (ed), Special issue of Africa and Black Diaspora: An International Journal. ‘Tastes and Tunes of Black Israeli(te)s’, Chicago: Routledge.
  • 2017  'The Lemba of Southern Africa', in Bruder, E (ed), Jews from Elsewhere. Paris: Albin Michel.
  • 2017  'Lemba Perspectives on Great Zimbabwe, Mapungubwe and Moriah', in Bruder, E, Brettsschneider, M and Le Roux, M  (eds), Judaism in Africa, the African Diaspora and in Asia in the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars' Press.

Conference proceedings:

  • 2017   'Judaism in the Sabaen "Kingdom": Oral world, material culture and written word', in Graeco-Arabica Vol XII. Conference Proceedings of the 13th International Congress on Graeco-Oriental & African Studies and Colloquium. East and West: Greek-Arabic Relations. Held in Kifficia, Greece from 25-26/4/2015.

Journal articles

  • 2011    (co-author) 'King Saul’s mysterious malady'. HTS 68 (1), Art.906, 10 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v68i1.906.
  • 2012    'Teaching and interpreting the Old Testament in Africa. Written word, archaeology and oral world.' Old Testament Essays 25 (3), 559-582.
  • 2013    (co-author) 'Hezekiah and the Assyrian tribute'. Verbum et Ecclesia 34 (2), 8 pages (online).
  • 2013    (co-author) 'The Phoenicians and the dangers inherent to sailing on the Mediterranean Sea in Antiquity'. Ekklesiastikos Pharos 95, N.S. 24, 319-331.
  • 2015    'Agsa, die vrou van Otniël'. Journal of Semitics 24, 503-521.
  • 2016    'The wife of Mahoah, the mother of Samson'. Journal of Semitics 25, 546-571.

Projects

  • Archaeological excavations in Israel (Hazor) @ www.magdelleroux.blogspot.com
  • Archaeological excavations in Greece (Messene)
  • Graeco-Oriental and Africa studies group
  • The International Society of the Study of African Jewry