Background
Friedman was born Noel Freedman in New York City in 1922, the son of David and Beatrice Freedman.
Friedman was born Noel Freedman in New York City in 1922, the son of David and Beatrice Freedman.
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Doctor of Medicine (1945-1948), Doctor of Philosophy Semitic Languages and Literature
Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey (1941-1944), Th.B. Hebrew Bible
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California (1938-1939), Bachelor of Arts Modern European History
City College of New York,New York, New York (1935-1938).
He was one of the first Americans to work on the Dead Sea Scrolls. The elder Freedman died about 1935 and Noel adopted his name as a mark of respect. He then went on to study at The Johns Hopkins University.
In 1947, while still a graduate student, the excavation of caves near the Dead Sea was just beginning to unearth thousands of fragments of texts.
He became one of the first American scholars to get access and spent twenty years painstakingly studying and translating a scroll of Leviticus, one of the books of the Torah. After earning his doctorate in 1948, he then held a series of professorial and administrative positions at various theological institutions and universities.
As the general editor of several distinguished series, including the Anchor Bible Series (1956–2008), Eerdmans Critical Commentaries (2000–2008), and The Bible in Its World (2000–2008), and as the editor and author of numerous other award-winning volumes, including the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000), Freedman has produced over three hundred and thirty scholarly books (2007). As editor of the Leningrad Codex: A Facsimile Edition (1998), Freedman and his colleagues brought the world’s oldest complete to synagogues, churches, libraries and individuals around the world for the first time in history.
1992-2008: Endowed Chair in Hebrew Biblical Studies at the University of California, San Diego (University of California, San Diego).
1989-1997: Program Director for the Study of Religion at University of California, San Diego. 1986-1992: Teaches at the University of Michigan and University of California, San Diego 1984-1992: Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1971-1983: Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor 1966-1971: Dean of Faculty at SFTS 1964-1971: Gray Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at San Francisco Theological Seminary (San Anselmo, California) and the Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley, California) 1961-1964: James A. Kelso Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary 1948-1964: Professor of Old Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and Western Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1947-1948: Assistant Instructor at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland 1946-1947: Teaching Fellow, The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (American Schools of Oriental Research), Jerusalem Annual Director, 1969-1970, 1976-1977 Ashdod Excavation Project Director, 1962-1964 Doctorate. B.
