Professor Grant Macaskill awarded British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship of £131,000

Professor Grant Macaskill is one of two academics from the University of Aberdeen to be awarded a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship. The grant of £131,000 will fund his research into the Ethiopic and Slavonic Enoch traditions and their possible origin in Jewish communities living in Roman Syria during Antiquity. The Enoch stories are apocalyptic works linked to a biblical figure who ascends into the heavenly realms and receives instruction to share with his people. The works Professor Macaskill will study are of debated origin and have been preserved mainly in Christian circles, but are generally considered to be of Jewish origin. Their development casts light on the continued entanglement of Jewish and Christian cultures in late antiquity and the influences of Jewish culture on Ethiopian Christianity. The Book of Enoch is still considered sacred by Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

This project builds on his earlier work, preparing an edition of the Slavonic texts of Enoch, which was also funded by the British Academy. This year, the British Academy made 28 awards as part of this scheme, two of which were awarded to the University of Aberdeen.

https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/the-british-academy-announces-28-mid-career-fellowships-for-outstanding-academics-across-the-uk/