Adele Berlin, now professor emerita, was the Robert H. Smith Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Maryland. She taught at Maryland since 1979 in the Jewish Studies Program, the Hebrew Program, and the English Department. Her main interests are biblical narrative and poetry, and the interpretation of the Bible. While at Maryland, Professor Berlin served as Director of the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies (1988-91), held the position of Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs (1994-97), and was Chair of the University Senate for the 2005-2006 academic year.
Professor Berlin has written seven books and numerous articles and essays. Among her books are three commentaries: Zephaniah, Esther, and Lamentations. The commentary on Esther, published in English by the Jewish Publication Society, was translated into Hebrew as part of the Miqra Le-yisra’el series. The Hebrew version was awarded a prize by the Israeli Ministry of Education, Culure and Sport. Other books are Biblical Poetry Through Medieval Jewish Eyes, The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, and Enmerkar and Ensuhkesdanna, A Sumerian Narrative Poem. She co-edited with Marc Brettler The Jewish Study Bible, which received a National Jewish Book Award. A revised and expanded edition of this work is currently in progress. She also served as editor-in-chief for the revised edition of The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion. Professor Berlin has now embarked on new ventures—writing commentaries on the book of Psalms and on Song of Songs and serving in an editorial capacity on several publication projects.
Professor Berlin has received numerous awards and honors. She is a Fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research. In 2000 she served as President of the Society of Biblical Literature. She has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Institute of Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University (Jerusalem).