Academics

Welcome

I'm a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow working in early Church history, though my primary area of expertise is the New Testament.

Research Interests

I'm especially interested in the way that early Christianity believed that money ought to be used, a subject I call "Wealth Ethics".  My doctoral thesis examined wealth ethics in Luke and Acts, and my postdoctoral research takes a much wider perspective on the topic, investigating the teachings and practices of early Christians (proto-orthodox and heterodox) in the era before the rise of Constantine.

I also help lead two interdisciplinary colloquia here at Oxford, one on eschatology (the "Delay of the Parousia") and another on Science and Genesis 1-3.

Finally, I am interested in the intersection between critical biblical scholarship and confessional Christianity, and I am the assistant translator for Wolfram Kinzig's forthcoming We Believe: A Collection of Early Christian Creeds. 2-3 volumes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).

Select Publications

1. Strange Bedfellows? Evangelicals and Historical Criticism. Editor, with Christopher Ansberry. London: SPCK, 2013 (forthcoming).

2. Sensitivity to Outsiders: Exploring the Dynamic Relationship between Mission and Ethics in the New Testament. Editor, with Kobus Kok. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament II. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012 (forthcoming).

3. “Theological Hermeneutics and the Historical Jesus” in The Quest for the Real Jesus, Jan van der Watt, ed.  Leiden: Brill, 2012 (forthcoming).

4. “Provision for the Poor and the Mission of the Church: Ancient Appeals and Contemporary Viability.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 68.1 (2012).

5. "Slaughtering Stewards and Incarcerating Debtors: Coercing Charity in Luke 12:35-13:9." Neotestamentica 46.1 (2012): 41-60.

6. “Resumptions of Radicalism: Christian Wealth Ethics in the Second and Third Centuries.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 102.2 (2011): 261-282.

7. Luke’s Wealth Ethics: A Study in Their Coherence and Character. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament II, vol. 275. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.

8. “Beyond Mint and Rue: The Implications of Luke’s Interpretive Controversies for Modern Consumerism.” Political Theology 11.3 (2010): 387–402.

9. “Re-evaluating Reciprocity: Wealth Ethics and Hermeneutics in the Writings of Luke.” Sapientia Logos 2.1 (2009): 32–62.

10. “‘By Almsgiving and Faith Sins are Purged?’ The Theological Underpinnings of Early Christian Care for the Poor” in Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Interpretation, Bruce Longenecker and Kelly Liebengood, eds. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 260–280.

11. “Hating Wealth and Wives: An Examination of Discipleship Ethics in the Third Gospel” Tyndale Bulletin 60.1 (2009): 47–68.

12. “Marcion vs. Luke: A Response to the Plädoyer of Matthias Klinghardt.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 99 (2008): 213–232.

Academic Biography

I did my early studies at Wheaton College in the US (BA: Ancient Languages; MA: Biblical Exegesis; MA: Theological Studies) before traveling to the UK to do doctoral research under the supervision of Prof. Markus Bockmuehl.  During my doctorate I studied at the universities of St Andrews, Bonn, and Oxford (whence I derived his D.Phil. in New Testament studies). After a year of working under Prof. Wolfram Kinzig as a Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter in the Early Church History Department at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität, Bonn, I have returned to Oxford to take up a my British Academy Postdoctoral fellowship at Keble College.