Eric D. Huntsman

Eric Dennis Huntsman is a religion professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) and was coordinator of the university's ancient near eastern studies program from 2012-2022. He is currently the academic director of the BYU Jerusalem Center

Huntsman was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and raised in New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Huntsman served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Thailand. He graduated from BYU with a BA in Classical Greek and Latin in 1990. He then earned an MA and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1993, he married N. Elaine Scott. They are the parents of two children.

Huntsman joined the BYU faculty in 1994 as an instructor in classics. In 1997, after completing a Ph.D., he became an assistant professor in Ancient History and Classics. In 2003, Huntsman transferred departments to be a member of the Department of Ancient Scripture in BYU's College of Religious Education. In 2008, Huntsman moved to the rank of associate professor. In 2012, he began serving as the coordinator of BYU's Ancient Near Eastern Studies Program, and in 2015 he was promoted to full professor.

Huntsman was among the contributors to the documentary Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God. He was a co-author of Jesus Christ and the World of the New Testament: An Illustrated Guide for Latter-day Saints along with Richard N. Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment, he also contributed a number of chapters to their series The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ. Huntsman also wrote “Levels of Meaning: The Ara Pacis Augustae and the Teaching of Roman History,” which was published in the journal Interdisciplinary Humanities Vol. 15, Issue 1 (Spring 1998), p. 62–76. His article "Livia Before Octavian" was published in the journal Ancient Society in 2009. In addition his article And the Word was Made Flesh: An LDS Exegesis of the Blood and Water imagery in John was published by the journal Studies in the Bible and Antiquity in 2009 (pages 51–65).

Huntsman's study of the Passion Narratives entitled God So Loved the World: The Final Days of The Savior's Life was published in 2011. A companion volume on the Infancy Narratives, Good Tidings of Great Joy: An Advent Celebration of the Savior's Birth, was released in the fall of 2011. He assisted S. Kent Brown with his commentary on the Gospel of Luke and in August 2014 released The Miracles of Jesus with Deseret Book.

In early 2023, he and Trevan G. Hatch released Greater Love Hath No Man: A Latter-day Saint Guide to Celebrating the Easter Season. He and Deidre Nicole Green have co-edited and contributed to a volume with the University of Illinois Press entitled Latter-day Saint Perspective on Atonement, scheduled to be released in January 2024.

Huntsman is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Association of Ancient Historians.

Huntsman has been a member of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

From 1996 to 2002, he served in the LDS Church as a bishop of a local congregation (ward) in Provo.