Anthony Rivera is a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. He grew up on his ancestral lands of the Acjachemen Nation in southern California. He was called by President Ezra Taft Benson to serve in the Hamburg, West Germany Mission in 1987. Anthony earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Near Eastern Studies from Brigham Young University and a Master of Theological Studies Degree in Hebrew Scripture and Interpretation from the Harvard Divinity School. He has completed post-graduate PhD work (ABD) at UCLA in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and is completing a PhD in Biblical Studies at Faulkner University.
Anthony is a Research Associate at the Ancient America Foundation specializing in research and presentations in ancient studies of Native America, Mesoamerica, and the ancient Near East. He served on the Faculty of Ancient Scripture and Religious Studies at BYU. He has also taught Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic language courses for the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies associated with the Hebrew University. He also runs the HebrewBible.Info website, which serves as a customized instruction and resources site for students of ancient scriptural texts and languages. His various research interests include Ancient Near Eastern languages including Sumerian, Akkadian, Old Babylonian, Assyrian, Ugaritic, Aramaic, Hebrew; Jewish Religious Texts including Hebrew Bible, Talmud, Midrash, Targumim, Dead Sea Scrolls; Christian Aramaic and Syriac Peshitta; he is also an expert on Native American culture, history, and peoples; he also conducts expeditions and travels throughout the Holy Land, the Middle East, and Mesoamerica.
Anthony is a living Lamanite and Citizen of the Acjachemen (pronounced A-ha-che-men) Nation in California and has served as the Chairman of his Nation and People. Anthony and his wife Jill have 3 daughters, 2 grandkids, and currently reside in Pleasant Grove, Utah.