The Fruits of Madness

John Tracy Greene is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. During his twenty-six year career there, he lectured in the history of religions, scriptural and historical studies, and Hebrew language. From 1983 until his retirement at the end of 2006, Professor Greene directed the university’s Archaeology, History of Religions and Hebrew Language Summer Program in Israel and excavated the archaeological site of Et-Tell/Bethsaida, where he still serves as one of the excavation’s co-directors. He is the author of The Role of the Messenger and Message in the Ancient Near East and Balaam and His Interpreters, co-editor of two anthologies with Mishael Caspi, Unbinding the Binding of Isaac and “And God Said: ‘You’re Fired!’”: Elijah and Elisha, and of Probing the Frontiers of Biblical Studies (with J. Harold Ellens). Professor Greene is an active member of the Society of Biblical Literature and is convener of the Seminar in Biblical Characters in Three Traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), and editor of the Seminar’s summer International Meetings proceedings.