Jeffrey R. Chadwick

Dr. Jeffrey R. Chadwick serves at BYU as Jerusalem Center professor of archaeology and Near Eastern studies and also as a professor in the Department of Church History and Doctrine, with emphasis in Bible, Church, and Christian History, Jewish studies, and Islamic studies. He is also host of the annual BYU Passover Seder each spring, one of the largest model seder programs in the United States.

Jeff Chadwick was born and raised in Ogden, Utah, and graduated from the world-famous Ben Lomond High School. He served a Latter-day Saint mission in West Berlin and West Germany (the old Hamburg mission). He and his wife, Kim, are the parents of six adult children and several grandchildren. Dr. Chadwick earned a BA from Weber State College (1978) with a major in political science and a minor in German and also a MA degree from Brigham Young University (1984) in international and area studies—Near Eastern studies. He did graduate work in Israel at Tel Aviv University and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and completed his PhD at the University of Utah Middle East Center in archaeology and anthropology, specializing in archaeology of the land of Israel, with a minor in Hebrew, Egyptian, and other ancient Near Eastern languages. He taught for the Church Educational System for twenty years in seminaries (1980s) and at the institutes at Weber State and Utah State University (1990s). Joined by his wife, Kim, Dr. Chadwick has taught Ancient Scripture and Near Eastern Studies courses in twenty-three different student programs at the BYU Jerusalem Center between 1982 and 2015 and traveled widely with Jerusalem Center students for more than thirty-three years in field study all over Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey.

Dr. Chadwick has also researched, surveyed, and excavated at several biblical sites in Israel, including Jerusalem and Tell er-Rumeide/Hebron (1980s), Tel Gerisa, and Tel Miqne/Ekron (1990s), and Tell es-Safi/Gath (since 2001). He is currently senior field archaeologist with the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project in Israel (Aren M. Maeir, project director), where he directs excavations in Area F in the “upper city” and in Area D in the “lower city” of the ancient Philistine capital city. He is also director of the American Expedition to Hebron (AEH) Publication Project and associate member of the AEH excavation staff. He has served as a member of the board of trustees of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) and is a senior fellow at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem.

Courses Taught: Near Eastern Studies (NES 136, 326, 336), Archaeology (NES 101, 398), Ancient Near Eastern History (ANES 239), Ceramic Typology of Israel (ANES 392), Writings of Isaiah (RELA 392), Old Testament (RELA 301, 302, 303), New Testament (RELA 211, 212, 213, 311, 411, 511), Book of Mormon (121, 122), Book of Mormon in the Land of Jerusalem (NES 101, RELA 392), Survey of Judaism and Islam (RELC 357), Survey of Judaism (RELC 355), Survey of Christianity (RELC 352), and Survey of World Religions (RELC 351)

Areas of Research:  Archaeology of Israel, Archaeology of the Near East, Archaeology of the Bible, Judaism and the Jewish People, Early Mediterranean Christianity, Islamic History and Doctrine, Hebrew Bible, New Testament

Languages:  Hebrew (modern, ancient), German, Arabic, Aramaic (ancient), Greek (ancient), Egyptian (ancient), Mayan (ancient southern classic)