Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Faculty of Divinity and Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge.  He read Classical Mods and Greats at Christ Church, Oxford, followed by a DPhil in Patristics.

After a brief spell as a Research Fellow of the University of Southampton he came to Cambridge as Lecturer in Rabbinics, becoming Reader in Hebrew and Jewish Studies in 1995 and Professor in 2001.

His research interests include Hellenistic and Byzantine Judaism.