Aubrey Buster

Biography

Dr. Aubrey E. Buster joined the Wheaton faculty in 2018. Prior to that, she received her B.M. in Voice with Elective studies in English Literature and her M.A. in Biblical Exegesis from Wheaton College, and her Ph.D. from Emory University, where she was a recipient of the George W. Woodruff Fellowship.

Dr. Buster’s research focuses on the Psalms, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Daniel, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. She is the author of Remembering the Story of Israel: Historical Summaries and Memory Formation in Second Temple Judaism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022). She is currently co-authoring the Daniel volume for the NICOT series with John H. Walton, and the Ezra-Nehemiah volume for the Bible in God's World Series.

In 2022, she recieved the Junior Faculty Achievement Award, given in recognition of outstanding achievement and promise as a pre-tenure faculty member at Wheaton.

When not studying the Old Testament with her colleagues and students, she likes to spend time with her husband Jeff, her two sons, Malcolm and Martin, and with friends.

Education

Emory University
Ph.D., Hebrew Bible, 2018

Wheaton College
M.A., Biblical Exegesis, 2011

Wheaton College
B.M., Voice and English Literature, 2009

Areas of Expertise

Psalms
Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah
Daniel
Dead Sea Scrolls
Cultural Memory

Professional Affiliations

Society of Biblical Literature
Institute for Biblical Research
European Association of Biblical Studies

Presentations

“Recited History and Social Memory in the Ancient Mediterranean.”
European Association of Biblical Studies Annual Meeting, Helsinki, 2018

“‘He Remembered that they were but Flesh’: The Wilderness as Site of Sin and Grace in Israelite Historical Résumés. ”
Theology Connect Conference, Sydney, 2018

“Cultural Memory and Historical Poetics in Psalm 78.”
United Theological College Research Colloquium, Parramatta, NSW, 2018

“1 Chronicles 16:8 - 36: Psalms as Social Strategy.”
Chronicles -Ezra-Nehemiah Section. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Boston, 2017

“Bring Back Lament: Navigating Strategies for Soul Repair and Healing Among Korean - Adoptees and Immigrant College and Seminary Students.” Co -authored with Joseph Kim Paxton.
Bible and Practical Theology Section. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Boston, 2017

“Historical Recital as Social Strategy in Nehemiah 9:6-37 .”
United Theological College Research Colloquium, Parramatta, NSW, 2016

“‘Chaining Out’ on Deuteronomy: Fantasy Theme Analysis of Prayers in Ezra - Nehemiah.”
Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah Section. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Atlanta, 2015

“Resolving Violence in the Psalms through Music: Leonard Bernstein and the Chichester Psalms.”
Bible and Modern Culture Section. Society of Biblical Literature Southeastern Regional Meeting, Nashville, 2015

“Memory and Agent Formation in the Psalms.”
Bible and Practical Theology Section. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Diego, 2014.

Books

Remembering the Story of Israel:
Historical Summaries and Memory Formation in Second Temple Judaism

Cambridge University Press, 2022
by Aubrey Buster, Ph.D.

From the publisher
"In this book, Aubrey Buster demonstrates how methods adapted from cultural and social memory studies and the new formalism can illuminate the communal function of biblical and extra-biblical historical summaries in Second Temple Judaism. Refining models drawn from memory studies, she applies them to ancient texts and demonstrates the development of Judah's speech about their past across the Second Temple period. Buster's wide-ranging study demonstrates how and where the historical summary functions in the book of Psalms, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles, as well as the Qumran Psalms Scrolls, Words of the Luminaries, Paraphrase of Genesis and Exodus, and Pseudo-Daniel. She shows how the historical summary proves to be a generative, replicable, and ultimately productive form of memory. Crossing the boundaries of genre categories and time periods, liturgical performances, and literary works, historical summaries crafted a highly selective but broadly useful mode of commemoration of key events from Israel's past."

Reviews
‘This is a thought-provoking, well-researched work. I am excited about it and about the promise it carries for future research.’
- Ehud Ben Zvi - University of Alberta

Selected Publications

"Exodus and Egypt in the Psalms." Cambridge Companion to Exodus. Edited by Keith Bodner and Brent A. Strawn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.

"The Role of the Spirit in the Wilderness: Nehemiah 9:5b-37 and Isaiah 63:7-64:11." Isaiah and Intertextuality. Edited by Wilson de Angelo Cunha and Andrew Abernethy. Forschungen zum Alten Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming.

"Historical Psalms”, Cambridge Companion to Psalms. Edited by Brent A. Strawn and Joel M. LeMon.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.

"Recited History and Social Memory in the Ancient Mediterranean", in Collective Memory and Collective Identity: Case Studies in Deuteronomistic History. Edited by Johannes Unsok Ro and Diana Edelman. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 534. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021.

"Sense of a Beginning: The Role of Beginnings in the Israelite Historical Résumés." Pp. 3-21 in For Us But Not To Us: Essays on Creation, Covenant, and Context in Honor of John H. Walton. Pickwick, 2020.

"Written Record and Membership in Persian Period Judah and Classical Athens.", Pp. 297-320 in Voice and Voices in Antiquity Edited by Niall Slater. Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World, Vol. 11. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

“Genre.”, The Dictionary of the Bible and Ancient Media. Edited by T. Thatcher, Chris Keith, Raymond Person, and Elise Stern. London: T & T Clark, 2017.

“Horn,” “Humility: HB/OT,” “Hosts, Hosts of Heaven,” “Hosts, Lord of.”, Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception. Edited by Hans-Josef Klauk et al. Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2016

Courses Taught

Old Testament Literature and Interpretation
Psalms
Daniel
God and Emotions