Matthew Grey

Dr. Matthew Grey is a professor of ancient scripture and the coordinator of the ancient Near Eastern studies program at Brigham Young University. He received a B.A. in Near Eastern studies from Brigham Young University (1999–2003); an M.A. in archaeology and the history of antiquity from Andrews University (2003–2005); an M.St. in Jewish studies (with an emphasis on Judaism in the Greco-Roman world) from the University of Oxford (2005–2006); and a Ph.D. in ancient Mediterranean religions (with a major emphasis on archaeology and the history of early Judaism and a minor emphasis on New Testament studies) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2006–2011).

Before being hired in BYU’s Department of Ancient Scripture, Dr. Grey taught Latter-day Saint Institute of Religion courses at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Oxford, and UNC-Chapel Hill/Duke University. Since being hired at BYU, he has taught courses on the New Testament gospels, the second half of the New Testament, the life of Jesus in its Jewish context, temples of the biblical world, and the archaeology of New Testament Palestine. During the 2017–2018 academic year he taught Near Eastern history and archaeology courses at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies; in 2025 he co-directed the winter study abroad program at the BYU London Centre; and he is currently an Alcuin Fellow with the BYU honors program.

For over twenty years, Dr. Grey has been actively involved in archaeological research relating to the world of the Bible in Israel, Jordan, and Italy. Since 2011 Dr. Grey has supervised excavations at the Roman-era village and synagogue at Huqoq (in Israel’s Galilee region); in 2017-208 he was an associate research fellow at the William F. Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem; and since 2020 he has been a founding co-chair of the Archaeology of Roman Palestine program unit of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Dr. Grey's research on various biblical, historical, and archaeological topics appears in volumes published by Oxford University Press, Brill, De Gruyter, Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, the Israel Exploration Society, and Fortress Press, as well as in articles published in the Journal for the Study of Judaism, the Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting, the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, the Journal of Roman Archaeology, Revue de Qumran, the Review of Biblical Literature, and Biblical Archaeology Review.

Research Interests: Jesus and his Jewish Setting; Archaeology and the Material Culture of Roman Palestine; Judeans and Jesus Followers in the Roman World; Sacred Space in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity; Jesus in Film; 19^th Century Exploration of the Holy Land; Hebrew Studies among the Early Latter-day Saints