Franz Wendler is associate member of the DFG Research Training Group 2792 „Autonomy of Heteronomous Texts in Antiquity and the Middle Ages“. He concluded his studies in English and Religious Education (teacher training) at FSU Jena with an exegetical work on the Jephta story (Judg 10,1–12,6) and expanded his knowledge through additional Latin studies and an M.A. in the history and archaeology of Israel at Tel Aviv University. His PhD project explores the biblical versus the archaeological presentation of the “Gilead”, a mountainous region east of the Jordan river in today’s Kingdom of Jordan. One main interest of the work is the diachronical reconstruction of the multilayered and ‘grown’ term “Gilead”, whose meaning ranges in various, yet interconnected biblical texts from a purely territorial to a genealogical concept that is integrated in the system of the twelve tribes of Israel.

His interests are centered around Old Testament/Hebrew Bible studies, languages, the culture and history of the Ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean, as well as the interplay of literary-exegetical and historical-archaeological research.

Moreover, he is an associate of the „Tel Shaddud Regional Project“, an archaeological excavation in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel, which is co-directed by his supervisors Prof. Dr. Hannes Bezzel (Old Testament Studies, FSU Jena) und Prof. Dr. Omer Sergi (Archaeology, Tel Aviv University).