Rate My Professor Ken Hanson

Kenneth L. Hanson is an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Program in Judaic Studies within the Department of History at the University of Central Florida. He earned a Ph.D. in Judaic Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 1991 and a Master's degree in international and intercultural communication and television. In October 2021, he was invested into the Tess and Abe Wise Endowed Professorship in Judaic Studies in recognition of his accomplishments. Before his academic career, Hanson lived and studied on Jerusalem's Mt. Zion, became fluent in Hebrew, worked for a television news gathering operation in southern Lebanon, commuted over a hostile border, served as company liaison with the Israeli Defense Force in northern Galilee, and taught Hebrew to international groups at Kibbutz Ga'aton in western Galilee. In 1997, he received a fully-funded scholarship from the Holocaust Memorial Center of Maitland, Florida, to study at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

Hanson's academic interests encompass Hebrew language and literature, the history of biblical lands, Jewish and early Christian culture, the ancient Near East, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. He has authored six books: Dead Sea Scrolls: The Untold Story (Council Oak Books, 1997), Kabbalah: Three Thousand Years of Mystic Tradition (Council Oak Books, 1998), Words of Light: Spiritual Wisdom from the Dead Sea Scrolls (Council Oak Books, 2000), Secrets from the Lost Bible (Council Oak Books, 2005), Blood Kin of Jesus (Council Oak Books, 2010), and The Eagle & the Bible: Lessons in Liberty from Holy Writ (New English Review Press, 2012). He has published scholarly articles on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Judaism of late antiquity. His research appeared in the 2007 History Channel documentary Banned from the Bible II. Hanson teaches courses on Jewish history and culture, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Hebrew Bible, and innovates with custom cinematic video content for online students. He serves as a commentator on the History Channel and Travel Channel and delivers public lectures.