Jared has been teaching in the Department of Ancient Scripture at BYU since 2006. Before that, he spent six years teaching religion and history at BYU–Hawaii and served the last two years as chair of the History Department. Jared received his bachelor’s degree from BYU in Near Eastern studies, his master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley in Biblical Hebrew, and his PhD in Near Eastern religions from UC–Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union. His primary research interests are in ancient Judaism and early Christianity. His dissertation was published as a book, Abraham Meets Death: Narrative Humor in the Testament of Abraham, by Sheffield Academic Press. He has also produced a world history textbook, Revealing World History to 1500. Jared has regularly presented papers at the Society of Biblical Literature Meetings and has participated in Sperry and similar symposia at BYU. He enjoys teaching Bible courses, Book of Mormon, world religions, and history. Jared served a mission to Campinas, Brazil, and has also lived in Germany and Israel, teaching twice at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies: 2011–12, 2016–17. He likes sports, snorkeling, and teaching. He is married to Margaret (Nelson), whom he loves greatly, and they have five children: Jared Jr., Joshua, Joseph, Marissa, and Melia.