In the field of humanities and cultural studies, direct educational exchanges with researchers studying in the Holy land hold particular value. Direct contact with this region—historically and culturally rich, yet marked by contemporary tensions—allows students to perceive the related issues in a more concrete and vivid way. This is especially true in the field of theology.
Br. Anthony Giambrone, OP, vice-director of the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem, was appointed honorary professor of topography and material culture of the biblical world at the Faculty of Catholic Theology of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich on April 6, 2025. The letter of appointment, signed by president Huber, was formally presented to him by Professor Knut Backhaus, the faculty’s liaison for cooperation with the Ébaf.
Since 2021, a cooperation agreement has linked the LMU with our research institution. This collaboration is reflected in a sustained and dynamic exchange of doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and academic staff, and continues with vitality despite the political crises affecting the near east region.
Br. Anthony received his theological training at the Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.), the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and the University of Notre Dame (indiana). He held a Humboldt research fellowship in 2020–2021 within the Chair of New Testament Exegesis and Biblical Hermeneutics at LMU, and has since been regularly teaching in the field of the material realities of the biblical world.
Professor Backhaus emphasized that the academic and personal connection with the Ébaf, located in east Jerusalem, represents an exceptional research opportunity for LMU’s young scholars, especially those specializing in biblical languages and cultures or engaged in the study of religious and political issues specific to the Israeli-Palestinian context. The “material turn” currently underway in the humanities and social sciences has been exemplified by the Ébaf since its foundation in 1890 by Br. Joseph-Marie Lagrange, OP, in a perspective that is both rigorous and critical.
With Br. Anthony, the Munich Faculty gains a highly competent scholar and educator with solid pedagogical experience, who stands in the hermeneutical tradition of the Ébaf’s founders while actively contributing to contemporary research through his keen sense of complexity and remarkable productivity. In Jerusalem, a city where jewish, christian, and muslim traditions converge, the conditions are also ideal for making a scholarly contribution to intercultural and interreligious dialogue. cooperation with the Ébaf, and especially with Br. Giambrone, opens new fields of research and intellectual exchange for LMU Munich. The establishment of this honorary chair will allow the full potential of this cooperation to be harnessed in service of university education.
Photograph: © Cedric Büchner.
