Description of research and teaching

Martti Nissinen (born 1959 in Kuopio, Finland) is Doctor of Theology (1992) and Professor of Old Testament studies at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Theology (2007–). He was the leader of the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence “Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions” (2014–19). Earlier, Nissinen has served the University of Helsinki as Professor of Bible and the Ancient Near East (2002–2007), as research fellow of the Academy of Finland (1994–2002), and as Assistant Professor of Old Testament studies (1985–1994). He also served as translator of the Finnish Bible Translation Commission for two years in the late 1980’s, and as the leader of the Finnish Doctoral Programme of Theology in 2009–14.

Nissinen is known as an expert of the prophetic phenomenon in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean, and his research interests include also gender issues (love poetry, homoeroticism, masculinity) in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean. His books include Prophetic Divination: Essays in Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy (2019), Ancient Prophecy: Near Eastern, Biblical and Greek Perspectives (2017), Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East (2nd ed. 2019), Homoeroticism in the Biblical World: A Historical Perspective (1998), References to Prophecy in Neo-Assyrian Sources (1998), and Prophetie, Redaktion und Fortschreibung im Hoseabuch (Diss., 1991). He has edited several volumes and published a significant number of articles on topics related to prophecy, gender, and history of ancient Near Eastern religion.

Nissinen was member of the Institute of Advanced Study in 2008–9 and 2016, visitor in 2011, and member in 2016. He has lectured in ca. 40 European and North American universities and has several positions of trust in academic communities, for example, Society of Biblical Literature, OTSEM network, and Finnish Exegetical Society. He is Honorary Member of the Society for Old Testament Study, member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, and the Inspector of the Savonian Student Nation. He was the President of the Foundation for the Finnish Institute in the Middle East 2010–21.