Conferences and Seminars Organized
Memberships in Learned Societies
- Uppsala exegetiska sällskap/Svenska exegetiska sällskapet 1990-
- Society of Biblical Literature 2001-
- Canadian Society for Biblical Studies 2004-
- Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas 2006-
I am involved in the organisation of seminars at two annual conferences:
Within the Studiorum novi testamenti societas (SNTS; http://etfnt.univie.ac.at/home-aktuelles/snts-seminar/), I am co-chair, together with Prof. Dr. Markus Öhler, University of Vienna, and Prof. Dr. Hermut Löhr, University of Münster, of the seminar Social History and the New Testament. The seminar was approved 2009 and runs until 2014.
We have covered/are covering the following topics: Slavery (Berlin 2010; papers by Werner Eck, J. Albert Harrill, and Hermut Löhr); Voluntary Associations (Annandale, 2011; papers by Andreas Bendlin, John Kloppenborg, and Markus Öhler); Economy (Leuven 2012; papers by Willy Clarysse, Philip Harland, and Roland Deines); Ethnic Identity (Perth 2013; papers by J. Albert Harrill, Kathy Ehrensperger, and Anders Runesson); Gender (Szeged 2014; papers by Cecilia Wassen, Christine Zimmermann and Cilliers Breytenbach, and Margaret Y. MacDonald); Domestic Religion (Amsterdam 2015; papers by Peter Oaks, Ferdinand Prostmeier, and Gabriele Fassbeck). The topics for the coming meetings in Montreal (2016) and Pretoria (2017) is Religion and the Polis and Religion and Empire, respectively.
Within the Society of Biblical Literature, I am involved in the steering committee of two units. I am co-chair of the Matthew Section, and I am a member of the Paul and Judaism Consultation steering committee.
Other Conference Organisation
Other experience of and involvement in the organisation of conferences and lectures include:
Science and Religion (a university-wide interdisciplinary discussion group at McMaster operating on the basis of a grant from Metanexus, which purpose is to help support dialogue between science and religion. This is under their Local Societies Initiative [LSI] program). I was a member of the steering committee 2007-2010.
In Sweden I was for many years a member of the board of the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ), Southern Region. (The ICCJ serves as the umbrella organisation of 38 national Jewish-Christian dialogue organisations worldwide.) I was President 2001-2003, before moving to Canada, and I was also the editor of their journal for a period of time.
Involvement in broader interreligious dialogue led me to also take on a leading role on the steering committee of InterReligiöst Forum (Inter-Religious Forum), a dialogue group in Lund, Sweden, with representatives from seven religions (1995-2002).
As president of the Institute for Contextual Theology, Sweden, I was also part of organising community events and conferences, some of which overlapped with interests in interreligious relations, for example Religionsteologi och religionsdialog i Sverige idag [Theologies of Religion and Religious Dialogue in Sweden Today]. A one-day conference on religious dialogue (Christianity, Islam and Buddhism). An event sponsored by the Institute for Contextual Theology, Lund November 1999.
Teologi och befrielse i globaliseringens tid. Tio år efter Per Frostin (Theology and Liberation in a Global World. Ten years after Per Frostin). An International Conference exploring recent developments in Contextual Theology with special emphasis on Sweden, Norway, and Tanzania. Lund University 2002. Co-organised with the Institute for Contextual Theology.
Mark and Matthew – Texts and Contexts. Two international conferences for the study of gospel literature in comparative perspective, taking place over two consecutive years in Aarhus, Denmark (2008) and Hamilton, Canada (2009). Co-organised with Prof. Eve-Marie Becker, Aarhus University. The first conference focussed on the gospels in their first-century historical contexts. The second conference at McMaster dealt with hermeneutical, reception-historical, and theological perspectives. The conference proceedings from the first conference were published in 2011, and the results of the second conference were published in 2013, both volumes by Mohr Siebeck (WUNT).
Assignments and Affiliations
Member of the International Advisory Board of Neotestamentica; 2018 – .
Founding Member of the Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology; 2018 – . (See also my Panel Contribution at the inaugural meeting of the Society in Denver, November 2018.
Affiliate of the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, England; 2013 – .
Founding Co-Editor of Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting: From the First to the Seventh Century (JJMJS), 2010; first Issue launched 2014. From 2014 Editor-in-Chief.
Founding Member of the Society for Post-Supersessionist Theology; 2018 – . (See also my Panel Contribution at the inaugural meeting of the Society in Denver, November 2018.
Affiliate of the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, England; 2013 – .
Founding Co-Editor of Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting: From the First to the Seventh Century (JJMJS), 2010; first Issue launched 2014. From 2014 Editor-in-Chief.
