About
Jiani completed her DPhil in Theology/Hebrew Bible at the University of Oxford. Her dissertation is on the Wisdom of Solomon in which she argues that scriptural interpretation enables the reading community to re-experience God’s saving acts in history. Originally from Shanghai, China, she has spent six years in the US before she comes to Oxford. She received her BA in Biblical Studies and Philosophy from Wheaton (IL) in 2018 and then completed an MAR at Yale Divinity School in 2020. Her research interests include wisdom literature, biblical narratives and their reception, and Hellenistic Jewish literature. She enjoys reading, cooking, and hosting people with her husband.
Membership
Society of Biblical Literature
Thesis
- Solomon and His Retelling of the Ancient Israelite History: An Examination of the Literary Structure of Ch.7-9 and Ch.10-19 in the Wisdom of Solomon. DPhil thesis. University of Oxford, 2023.
Courses taught
- OT101: Old Testament Foundations 1
- OT102: Old Testament Foundations 2
- HE101: Biblical Hermeneutics and Interpretation
Published Works
- “Flowers of Evil: Constructing the Wicked in Wisdom of Solomon.” The Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha. Dec., 2021.
Conferences & Workshops
- Participant in Workshop “Authorship and Authority in the Ancient World.” Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures, Renmin University of China, Beijing. Jun.16-21, 2019.
- “Lament, Protest, Hope: What can We Learn From the Ancients in the Biblical Era to Cope with Pain and Suffering in the Modern World?—A Reading of Lamentations.” Religious Studies Symposium, Oxford. Jul.31-Aug.2, 2019.
- “An Oxymoron: Historiography in Utterance—A Reading of the Confessional Prayer in Nehemiah 9.” Hebrew Bible and Historiography. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Diego. November 2019.
- “Flowers of Evil: Constructing the Wicked in Wisdom of Solomon.” Gronigen-Leuven-Oxford Online Conference. March 2021.
- “Biblical Responses to Philosophical Matters: A Reading of the Exodus Retelling in Wisdom of Solomon.” Oxbridge Event. April 2021.
- “Ethics: Lessons on Virtue and Vice—A Reading of the Plague Cycle in Wisdom of Solomon.” Early Biblical Interpretation Seminar. Oxford. November 2021.
- “Prayer, Scriptural Interpretation, and Temple Fulfilment: Solomon and his Exodus Retelling in Wisdom of Solomon.” Oxbridge Event. April 2022.
- “Time, Narrative, Presence: A Reading of the Plague Cycle in Wisdom of Solomon.” BIJAS. London. July 2022.
- “Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life”: Hellenistic Jewish Sages’ Commentary on the Life of Solomon. Oxford Medieval Commentary Network. Oxford. September 2022.
- “The Making of an Autobiography: Reading, Writing, and Shaping the Life of Solomon in Wisdom of Solomon 7-9.” OMCN Interdisciplinary Seminar Series. Oxford. February 2023.
- “Human’s Place in the Cosmos: A Philosophical Approach to the List of Knowledge in Wisdom of Solomon 7:15-22.” Oxbridge Event. April 2023.
- “Catalogue and Culture: A Reading of the List of Knowledge in Wisdom of Solomon 7:15-22”. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Antonia. November 2023.
- “The Sage’s Making of an Autobiography in the Wisdom of Solomon 7-9.” Early Biblical Interpretation Seminar. Oxford. November 2023.