Dr Thea Gomelauri
Personal: thea.gomelauri@outlook.com
The Forum-related: oxford-interfaith-forum@outlook.com
Dr Thea Gomelauri is a multidisciplinary scholar interested in Comparative Religions and History of Religions with intercultural, and interfaith lenses.
A recipient of the prestigious biennial Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize (2024) bestowed by Hofstra University (NY,USA), and HM King Abdullah II of Jordan Award for the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week Programme (2023) promoting Peace and Religious Education. She received the Interfaith Leadership in Multifaith World Grant from Interfaith America (2021-2022).
Dr Gomelauri is the Founder and Director of the largest international, interfaith, interdisciplinary, and intercultural academic hub–Oxford Interfaith Forum. She is a Faculty Member at the Centre for Early Modern Studies (CEMS) at the University of Oxford, and ass. Member of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Thea’s research interests include Biblical Exegesis, the Reception History of the Bible, and Biblical Manuscripts.
Thea’s current research focuses on Georgian Jewry—the world’s oldest continuous Jewish diaspora—and their contribution to the Jewish scribal traditions. Her book The Lailashi Codex: The Crown of Georgian Jewry (Oxford: Taylor Institution Library, 2023) explores the fascinating history of the miracle-working biblical codex, and its owners. She is currently working on a diplomatic edition of the Lailashi Codex. Her next book introduces the unknown Georgian Jewish manuscripts, providing a necessary context for further interdisciplinary studies.
Thea has vast experience in different international, and intercultural contexts. She is a recipient of multiple research and teaching grants, including the Robert S. McNamara Fellowship at the World Bank Institute, the International OSI Policy Fellowship at the Open Society Institute, the Curriculum Development Fellowship at Central European University, and the European Commission Tempus Program. At different times, she worked on research and consultancy assignments with the EBRD, UNDP, and UNHCR in troubled and war-torn regions.
Recordings of the Presentation of the Lailashi Codex
Book at Lunchtime at the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), 22 January, 2025
Online Presentation at the Conference on At the Crossroads of Cultures: The Jews of Central Asia and the Caucasus, organised by the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center (Moscow) with the Ben-Zvi Institute (Jerusalem) and the Georgian American University (Tbilisi), 5-8 June, 2024
Book Presentation at the Oxford Interfaith Forum, 28 May, 2024
International Interfaith Awards
- The Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize, awarded by Hofstra University, NY, USA in collaboration with the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Charitable Foundation, 2024
- The UN World Interfaith Harmony Week Prize, awarded by The HM King Abdullah II ibn Al-Hussein, 2023
- The Interfaith Leadership in Multifaith World by Interfaith America, 2021-22
Publications
The Miracle-Working Hebrew Manuscripts in Medieval Georgia: The Bret Bibles and The Lailashi Codex
Gomelauri, T
Edited by: Martini Annette, et al
Chapter | Creating Holiness: Books, Scrolls and Icons as Carriers of Sacredness | Submitted.
David’s Children in the Arts
Gomelauri, T
Edited by: Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia, and Shepherd David
Chapter | The Oxford Handbook on King David | Oxford University Press. Accepted and in press 2025.
Reimagining Abishag: Retelling Her Story
Gomelauri, T
Edited by: Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia
March 2025 | Chapter | The Hebrew Bible in Contemporary Fiction and Poetry | Routledge | pp. 218-233.
Saint Paul of Thebes: The Holy Anchorite in Georgian Manuscript and Ecclesiastical Culture
Gomelauri, T
Edited by: Agaiby, Lisa
December 2024 | Chapter | First in the Desert: St. Paul the Hermit in Text and Tradition | Leiden: Brill, pp.282- 321.
The Lailashi Codex: The Crown of Georgian Jewry
Gomelauri, T. with a contribution by Ginsberg, J.
October 2023 | Book | Oxford: Taylor Institution Library.
Reviews:
Prof Golda Akhiezer, Ancient Jew Review, April 16, 2024. The full text.
Dr Elvira Martín Contreras, SEFARAD, Vol. 84, No. 1, 2024 (in Spanish). The full text.
Prof Teófilo Correa, Biblical and Early Christian Studies, January 3, 2025. The full text.
Satan between the Sages and the Fathers
Gomelauri, T
Edited by Vinzent, M
November 2021 | Article | Studia Patristica. Vol. CXXIII – Papers presented at the Eighteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2019: Volume 20: Biblica; Judaica; Philosophica, Theologica, Ethica | Leuven: Peeters Publishers, pp. 385-398.
Book Reviews
Gomelauri, T. (2021). Women in the Bible, Jaime Clark-Soles. Westminster John Knox Press, 2020. Reviews in Religions and Theology, 28:3, 263-265.
Gomelauri, T. (2020). The Land and Its People: 1-2 Kings, Johanna W.H. Van Wijk-Bos. William B Eerdmans Publishing Company. Reviews in Religions and Theology, 28:2, 231-233.
Gomelauri, T. (2021). David in Distress: His Portrait Through the Historical Psalms. Vivian L. Johnson, Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2020. Reviews in Religions and Theology, 28:1, 69-71.
Gomelauri, T. (2020). The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar, Eitan P. Fishbane. Oxford University Press, 2018. Reviews in Religions and Theology, 27:4, 518-520.
Online Articles
The Lailashi Codex: The Best-Kept Secret of Georgian Jewry
Theological Anti-Semitism
Scottish Episcopal Church and the G-d of Israel
Conference Papers
The Hebrew Bibles in Georgia, presented at the seventh International Conference on Jewish Field Studies: Findings, Experiences, and Conceptualisation, organised by the Research Centre of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre (Moscow), 18–20 November, 2024.
Sacred Jewish Books in Medieval Georgia: The Lailashi Codex and the Bret Bibles, presented at the conference on Creating More Holiness: Books, Scrolls and Icons as Carriers of Sacredness, organised by Freie Universität Berlin, 23-25 September, 2024.
Book Presentation: The Lailashi Codex, presented at the conference on At the Crossroads of Cultures: The Jews of Central Asia and the Caucasus, organised by the Research Center of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center (Moscow) together with the Ben-Zvi Institute (Jerusalem) and the Georgian American University (Tbilisi), 5-8 June, 2024.
Job in Crisis, presented at the Annual Conference of the British Association for Jewish Studies on World in Crisis: Reflections and Responses from Antiquity to the Present, University of Southampton and the Parkes Institute, 5-7 July, 2021.
King David Code: Mystery of Psalm 30, presented at the LOGOS Fellows webinar, organised by Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford (SCIO), 13 April 2021.
The Book of Job: Enigma, presented at the Oxford Branch of the Council of Christians and Jews. 26 October, 2020.
Responsible Reading of Sacred Scriptures of the Religious Other, presented at the conference on Crossing Boundaries of Faith – towards a Christian Theological Understanding of Inter-religious Ritual Participation: Challenges, Risks and Opportunities, organised by the Inter-Faith Theological Advisory Group of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, Glasgow, 3-5 March, 2020.
Exegetical (Ex)change: Jewish ‘Satan’ vs. Christian ‘Demon’, presented at the XVIII Quadrennial International Conference on Patristic Studies, University of Oxford, 19-24 August, 2019.
When Commentary is Not Commentary: the Reception Commentary of 1 Kings 1-2, presented at the Annual Conference of British Association of Jewish Studies on What is commentary? University of Oxford, 22-24 July, 2019.
Reading Job through the Lens of Moses, presented at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion Annual Conference on Compassion and Theodicy: Practice, Thought, and Tradition, University of Oxford, 19-20 July, 2019.
What Would You Do on the Worst Day of Your Life? The Pointers by King David, organised by the Oxford Branch of the Council of Christians and Jews, 23 January, 2019.
Moses about Moses: Unusual Letters of the Torah, organised by the Oxford Branch of the Council of Christians and Jews, 22 November, 2018.
King David in the Great Scriptures v. Modern Biblical Scholarship, presented at the Study Day on The Great Scriptures: 500 years since the publishing of the Great Scriptures – Mikraot Gadolot, organised by the Oxford University Chabad Society, 18 November, 2018.
The Puzzle of Psalm 30, presented at the Oxford Psalms Network, organised by the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), University of Oxford, 12 June, 2018.
The Lailashi Codex Presentation Calendar (Jan 2024 – Jan 2025):
1) 29 February 2024 – University of Oxford, New College, in-person, no recording
2) 3 May 2024 – The Bodleian Weston Library, in person, no recording
3) 28 May 2024 – Oxford Interfaith Forum, recording
4) 1 June 2024 – New Books Network, podcast
5) 6 June 2024 – At the Crossroads of Cultures: The Jews of Central Asia & the Caucasus, recording
6) 23 Sept 2024 – Freie Universität Berlin, online, no recording
7) 18 Nov 2024 – Jewish Field Studies: Findings, Experiences, and Conceptualisation, no recording
8) 22 Jan 2025 – The Oxford Research Centre in Humanities (TORCH), film
