Brief Bio
Photo: Jarli & Jordan
I was born in the coastal town of Åhus in Sweden in 1968. Between high school and university I enrolled in a one-year program on the economies of the two-thirds world and global trade, politics, and culture at Jämshögs folkhögskola, including travel and study in India. Among other things, I also worked one year as a teaching assistant in the village of Kidugala in south-western Tanzania (1987-1988).
At Lund University, where I began my undergraduate education in 1989, I earned a B.A. (Jewish Studies, 1995), an M.Div. (1995), an M.A. (Religious Studies, 1996), a Licentiate (New Testament Exegesis, 1997; thesis: The Judgment According to Matthew), and a Ph.D. (New Testament Exegesis, 2001; thesis: The Origins of the Synagogue: A Socio-Historical Study). I was appointed docent (approx. Dr. Habil.) in 2002, and was part of a team receiving the same year a four-year multi-million project grant for exploring the formation of early Christian identity.
My undergraduate and graduate studies focused on the New Testament, the Hebrew Bible and early Judaism (including rabbinics), with special attention to intra- and inter religious relations. I have worked with theological themes as well as with socio-historical analysis, and my research on the ancient synagogue also led me to archaeology and the study of inscriptions and papyri. In recent years, my interest in translation, hermeneutics, and the politics of interpretation have taken up more and more of my time.
Obviously, such overall academic interests relate closely to the Middle East and, especially, Jerusalem. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to have been able to spend some time there studying, teaching, and researching. In 1990 I took part in the excavations at Tel Yisreel, and my undergraduate years also included one semester of study at the Swedish Theological Institute in Jerusalem (1993). I returned to Israel and Palestine in 1999 for work related to my doctoral thesis on ancient synagogues.
Later, in 2003, I co-taught a course on religious dialogue (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) at Lund University, which included a field trip to Jerusalem and the Swedish Theological institute. In 2009-2010 I was a visiting Professor at the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University during a research leave from McMaster University. Apart from such longer research stays in Israel and Palestine, I have also travelled a fair bit in Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
I have always been interested in learning about life from cultures around the globe. In addition to academic historical and theological studies, I have travelled (independently) in 40 plus countries in Asia, Africa, North and Central America, the Middle East, and Europe. This has meant encounters with a wide variety of religious traditions, which have influenced my understanding of inter-religious relations as well as deepened my reflection on the relationship between society and academia. I am an ordained pastor in the Church of Sweden (Lutheran), which means I also have an active interest in relating what I have encountered and learned to church life and (contextual) theology, as well as to contemporary religious dialogue and theologies of religion.
Many of my journeys around the globe I have made together with my wife Anna, and some of them also with our three children. In 2003 I was appointed to the faculty at McMaster University, the Department of Religious Studies, and we left our native Sweden for Canada the same year. In 2015 we moved to Norway, where I am currently Dean and Professor of New Testament at the University of Oslo.
I specialize in New Testament studies, Jewish and Christian Origins, and synagogue studies, but I have also published studies on (liberation) theology and hermeneutics. I supervise students on all levels within these fields: from 4th-year undergraduate honours theses to M.A. and Ph.D. theses. My teaching on both undergraduate and graduate levels include a range of traditional topics, such as the historical Jesus, the Gospels, and Paul and Christian Origins, as well as more specialized courses on, e.g., inter-religious relations in antiquity, and the synagogue as the birthplace of two world religions.
I have authored and edited 14 books and some 80 peer-reviewed articles. Books cover topics on Matthew (Divine Wrath and Salvation in Matthew [Fortress 2016] plus three edited volumes), Paul (Judaism for Gentiles: Reading Paul Beyond the Parting of the Ways Paradigm [Mohr Siebeck, 2022] OPEN ACCESS), the historical Jesus and what this figure may mean theologically (O That You Would Tear Open the Heavens and Come Down! On the Historical Jesus, Jonas Gardell, and the Breath of God, Artos/Libris, 2011), and the Origins of the Synagogue (Almqvist & Wiksell, 2001). Other books I have been part of designing and producing include a textbook on Jesus and the emergence of Christianity (Jesus, the New Testament, and Christian Origins: Perspectives, Methods, Meanings [2021]), Jewish and Christian Identity Formation and inter-relationships (Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–600 CE) [2022]; Within Judaism? Interpretive Trajectories in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the First to the Twenty-First Century [2023]; Purity and Holiness in Judaism and Christianity: Essays in Memory of Susan Haber, [2013]), and liberation theology (Why Do you Look Towards Heaven? Challenges from Contextual Theology, 2005).
Right now I am half-way through a book tracing theological trajectories from Jesus to Paul to Matthew, basing the analysis on a new type of approach, which I have called Institution Criticism. Also in the making are a few other books: one is a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (with Oxford University Press), and another deals with the importance of the ancient synagogue for understanding the New Testament and the origins of Christianity and Judaism (with Baker Academic).
On a private note, I enjoy long-distance running; Marathons, half-Marathons, and, especially, the oldest road race in North America: the annual 30K Around the Bay in Hamilton. As an academic experiment, in 2013 I completed a Tough Mudder race together with a colleague at McMaster. Conclusion? Like a day at the office—and that, perhaps, says more about academia than about Tough Mudder... More generally, I take pleasure in the great outdoors: everything from the sandy beaches where I was born and grew up, to mountains, deserts, and forests, from the Rockies to the Middle East, from the Himalayas to Dundas Conservation Area, the Hamilton Waterfront Trail and Oslo’s Akerselva. I'm also part of the pilgrim movement, most recently, in the summer of 2024, making the 643 km trek from Oslo to the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim together with Anna.
At Lund University, where I began my undergraduate education in 1989, I earned a B.A. (Jewish Studies, 1995), an M.Div. (1995), an M.A. (Religious Studies, 1996), a Licentiate (New Testament Exegesis, 1997; thesis: The Judgment According to Matthew), and a Ph.D. (New Testament Exegesis, 2001; thesis: The Origins of the Synagogue: A Socio-Historical Study). I was appointed docent (approx. Dr. Habil.) in 2002, and was part of a team receiving the same year a four-year multi-million project grant for exploring the formation of early Christian identity.
My undergraduate and graduate studies focused on the New Testament, the Hebrew Bible and early Judaism (including rabbinics), with special attention to intra- and inter religious relations. I have worked with theological themes as well as with socio-historical analysis, and my research on the ancient synagogue also led me to archaeology and the study of inscriptions and papyri. In recent years, my interest in translation, hermeneutics, and the politics of interpretation have taken up more and more of my time.
Obviously, such overall academic interests relate closely to the Middle East and, especially, Jerusalem. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to have been able to spend some time there studying, teaching, and researching. In 1990 I took part in the excavations at Tel Yisreel, and my undergraduate years also included one semester of study at the Swedish Theological Institute in Jerusalem (1993). I returned to Israel and Palestine in 1999 for work related to my doctoral thesis on ancient synagogues.
Later, in 2003, I co-taught a course on religious dialogue (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) at Lund University, which included a field trip to Jerusalem and the Swedish Theological institute. In 2009-2010 I was a visiting Professor at the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University during a research leave from McMaster University. Apart from such longer research stays in Israel and Palestine, I have also travelled a fair bit in Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
I have always been interested in learning about life from cultures around the globe. In addition to academic historical and theological studies, I have travelled (independently) in 40 plus countries in Asia, Africa, North and Central America, the Middle East, and Europe. This has meant encounters with a wide variety of religious traditions, which have influenced my understanding of inter-religious relations as well as deepened my reflection on the relationship between society and academia. I am an ordained pastor in the Church of Sweden (Lutheran), which means I also have an active interest in relating what I have encountered and learned to church life and (contextual) theology, as well as to contemporary religious dialogue and theologies of religion.
Many of my journeys around the globe I have made together with my wife Anna, and some of them also with our three children. In 2003 I was appointed to the faculty at McMaster University, the Department of Religious Studies, and we left our native Sweden for Canada the same year. In 2015 we moved to Norway, where I am currently Dean and Professor of New Testament at the University of Oslo.
I specialize in New Testament studies, Jewish and Christian Origins, and synagogue studies, but I have also published studies on (liberation) theology and hermeneutics. I supervise students on all levels within these fields: from 4th-year undergraduate honours theses to M.A. and Ph.D. theses. My teaching on both undergraduate and graduate levels include a range of traditional topics, such as the historical Jesus, the Gospels, and Paul and Christian Origins, as well as more specialized courses on, e.g., inter-religious relations in antiquity, and the synagogue as the birthplace of two world religions.
I have authored and edited 14 books and some 80 peer-reviewed articles. Books cover topics on Matthew (Divine Wrath and Salvation in Matthew [Fortress 2016] plus three edited volumes), Paul (Judaism for Gentiles: Reading Paul Beyond the Parting of the Ways Paradigm [Mohr Siebeck, 2022] OPEN ACCESS), the historical Jesus and what this figure may mean theologically (O That You Would Tear Open the Heavens and Come Down! On the Historical Jesus, Jonas Gardell, and the Breath of God, Artos/Libris, 2011), and the Origins of the Synagogue (Almqvist & Wiksell, 2001). Other books I have been part of designing and producing include a textbook on Jesus and the emergence of Christianity (Jesus, the New Testament, and Christian Origins: Perspectives, Methods, Meanings [2021]), Jewish and Christian Identity Formation and inter-relationships (Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–600 CE) [2022]; Within Judaism? Interpretive Trajectories in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the First to the Twenty-First Century [2023]; Purity and Holiness in Judaism and Christianity: Essays in Memory of Susan Haber, [2013]), and liberation theology (Why Do you Look Towards Heaven? Challenges from Contextual Theology, 2005).
Right now I am half-way through a book tracing theological trajectories from Jesus to Paul to Matthew, basing the analysis on a new type of approach, which I have called Institution Criticism. Also in the making are a few other books: one is a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (with Oxford University Press), and another deals with the importance of the ancient synagogue for understanding the New Testament and the origins of Christianity and Judaism (with Baker Academic).
On a private note, I enjoy long-distance running; Marathons, half-Marathons, and, especially, the oldest road race in North America: the annual 30K Around the Bay in Hamilton. As an academic experiment, in 2013 I completed a Tough Mudder race together with a colleague at McMaster. Conclusion? Like a day at the office—and that, perhaps, says more about academia than about Tough Mudder... More generally, I take pleasure in the great outdoors: everything from the sandy beaches where I was born and grew up, to mountains, deserts, and forests, from the Rockies to the Middle East, from the Himalayas to Dundas Conservation Area, the Hamilton Waterfront Trail and Oslo’s Akerselva. I'm also part of the pilgrim movement, most recently, in the summer of 2024, making the 643 km trek from Oslo to the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim together with Anna.
