The small corpus of texts known as the New Testament is perhaps one of the most influential collections in the history of western civilisation. New Testament Studies is the discipline that seeks to understand these texts in every way possible, with the aid of literary, historical, theological, philosophical, and social-scientific methods (among others).
Click the tabs below for more information on what Aberdeen has to offer by way of research expertise and doctoral supervision, how to apply, and what students can expect when studying with us.
- New Testament Studies in Aberdeen
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Studying the New Testament in Aberdeen offers notable advantages, including supervisor expertise in the subject area. Our academic staff are specialists in many aspects of New Testament studies, including the theological study of the New Testament; Second Temple Judaism; the transmission of Jewish apocalyptic texts in Christian tradition; textual connections with Christian origins (including canon formation); Hellenistic philosophies and the New Testament; rhetoric; and emotion studies.
- Staff
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We are interested in hearing from students wishing to undertake postgraduate level work in New Testament Studies at the doctoral level. Please contact one of the supervisors below if you are thinking about applying for a PhD in their subject area.
Professor Grant Macaskill : Grant Macaskill's research interests include the New Testament as a coherent body of theological literature emerging from the diverse contexts of late Second Temple Judaism; treatments of theological issues in the New Testament, notably 'Union with Christ'; examination of the transmission of Jewish apocalyptic texts in Christian tradition, particularly 1 Enoch and 2 Enoch.
Dr Katherine Hockey : Katherine Hockey's research is interested, more broadly, in the formation and shaping of Early Christian identity/identities. More specifically, this includes an interest in 1 Peter and the Catholic Epistles; Christian self-conception; emotion studies and the New Testament; and Greco-Roman philosophical ethics and rhetoric.
Dr Sam Newington : Supervision can be offered in the field of ancient Greek religion with particular focus on comparisons with Biblical and Near Eastern traditions (creation narratives especially).
We are grateful also to be joined by our Kirby Laing Research Fellow in New Testament. The current post holder is:
Dr Logan Williams whose research interests include: ritual, reception of legal traditions in the Second Temple Period, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the New Testament more broadly.
- Publications
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The following are some selected publications relating to New Testament Studies by staff at the University of Aberdeen:
Professor Grant Macaskill
- 'Autism Spectrum Disorders and the New Testament: Preliminary Reflections' . Journal of Disability & Religion.
- Matthew and the Parables of Enoch: Parables of Enoch. in DL Bock (ed.), Parables of Enoch. vol. New York, Bloomsbury, pp. 218-230.
- 'New directions in the study of the New Testament' . Theology, vol 118, no. 1, pp. 18-25.
- The Slavonic Texts of 2 Enoch. Studia Judaeoslavica, Brill.
- Union with Christ in the New Testament . Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Dr Katherine Hockey
- Hockey, KM 2019, The Role of Emotion in 1 Peter. Society for New Tesatement Studies Monograph Series, vol. 173, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.[ONLINE] DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1017/9781108567343
- Hockey, KM & Horrell, DG (eds) 2018, Ethnicity, Race, Religion: Identities and Ideologies in Early Jewish Texts, and in Modern Biblical Interpretation. Bloomsbury T&T Clark, London and New York.
- Hockey, KM 2017, 1 Peter 4.16: Shame, Emotion and Christian Self-Perception. in KM Hockey, MN Pierce & F Watson (eds), Muted Voices of the New Testament: Readings in the Catholic Epistles and Hebrews. The Library of New Testament Studies, vol. 587, Bloomsbury T&T Clark, London and New York, pp. 27-40.
- Hockey, KM, Pierce, MN & Watson, F (eds) 2017, Muted Voices of the New Testament: Readings in the Catholic Epistles and Hebrews. The Library of New Testament Studies, vol. 587, Bloomsbury T&T Clark, London and New York.
- Hockey, KM 2017, The Missing Emotion: The Absence of Anger and the Promotion of Nonretaliation in 1 Peter. in FS Spencer (ed.), Mixed Feelings and Vexed Passions: Exploring Emotions in Biblical Literature. Resources for Biblical Study, vol. 90, SBL Press, Atlanta, pp. 331-353.
Dr Logan Williams
- Christology and Ethics in Galatians: Love and the Shared Self. Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (in press).
- 'The Stomach Purifies All Foods: Jesus' Anatomical Argument in Mark 7.18-19', New Testament Studies 70 (2024): 290-311.
- 'Melchizedek, The Son of Man, and Eschatological Jubilee: The Sin-Forgiving Messiahs in 11QMelchizedek and Mark', Journal for the Study of the New Testament 46 (2023): 111-149.
- 'Debating Daniel's Dream: The Synoptics and the Similitudes of Enoch on the Son of Man'. Pages 23-37 in Beyond Canon: Early Christianity and the Ethiopic Textual Tradition. Edited by Meron Gebreananaye, Logan Williams, & Francis Watson. LNTS 643. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark. 2020.
Affiliated Staff
Dr Sam Newington
- Stuckenbruck, L.T., Lewis, S. & Newington, S. (eds), Animals and Monsters in Ancient Religion and Culture (Oxford: Taylor and Francis Group, forthcoming 2017)
- Links
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Some helpful links for further information and resources in New Testament Studies include: