Biography
Kaspars has been fascinated by ancient languages since his teens. His training is in historical linguistics, specifically Indo-European linguistics, a field which integrates traditional philology (the close reading and analysis of ancient texts) and the diachronic study of language. In his doctoral dissertation, he examined the phenomenon of Schwebeablaut, a marginal phonological process (distinct from ordinary ablaut) present in Indo-European daughter languages.
His current work is in Northwest Semitic philology (chiefly Ugaritic and Biblical Hebrew). In particular, he is studying the many personal names found in administrative records at Ugarit. These names, written in alphabetic cuneiform, are being incorporated into a rich database that is the basis for further research, including linguistic and prosopographical analysis. The goal of this and related scholarship is to gain a better understanding of the Ancient Near Eastern linguistic context of the Hebrew Bible and, in turn, a greater knowledge and appreciation for the Hebrew Bible itself.
Qualifications:
MDiv, The Master’s Seminary
PhD, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
BA, University of Latvia