Philip Michael Forness received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is currently a post-doctoral researcher in late antique Christianity in the Near East at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. The two focal points of his research are the consequences of theological debates on ordinary people and cultural exchanges through the transmission of early Christian texts among Middle Eastern Christian communities. His research projects encompass several interrelated subjects and methodologies, including book culture and manuscript studies, the transmission of ideas across linguistic boundaries, and the relationship between doctrine and religious practices. He also holds a particular interest in the reception of the bible and recently published an article on the reading communities for the earliest complete Old Testament manuscript in Syriac. He is translating 1–4 Maccabees for the Antioch Bible.