Research
My research interests are located within what is traditionally divided into three disciplines: New Testament Studies, Hebrew Bible, and Jewish Studies. I focus on the Jesus movement and the texts it produced, using a variety of methods and tools to find answers to socio-historical and theological questions.
Locating my research within these areas, the time periods covered in my published work extend more or less from the Persian period (from the reign of Cyrus 539 BCE) up to and including early rabbinic and patristic literature. Within these time periods, in addition to studies on early Jewish and early Christian history, I have specialised, and published, in the following fields: Archaeology and Inscriptions, relating especially to ancient synagogue and associations; New Testament, Jewish/Christian relations, and early Christian identity formation; Methodology and Epistemology. For details klick on "publications," or browse through "papers" above.
Books Under Contract
Other Current Book Projects
Locating my research within these areas, the time periods covered in my published work extend more or less from the Persian period (from the reign of Cyrus 539 BCE) up to and including early rabbinic and patristic literature. Within these time periods, in addition to studies on early Jewish and early Christian history, I have specialised, and published, in the following fields: Archaeology and Inscriptions, relating especially to ancient synagogue and associations; New Testament, Jewish/Christian relations, and early Christian identity formation; Methodology and Epistemology. For details klick on "publications," or browse through "papers" above.
Books Under Contract
- Commentary on the Gospel Matthew. With Oxford University Press; will appear in their new commentary series. Approach is Ricœurean, with three foci: The world of the text, the world behind the text, and the world in front of the text.
- The Synagogue in the Time of Jesus. With Baker Academic. A study on the importance of the ancient synagogue for the understanding of the New Testament and the earliest history of the Jesus movement. The book develops the argument from a 2014 article (“The Historical Jesus, the Gospels, and First-Century Jewish Society: The Importance of the Synagogue for Understanding the New Testament.”).
- Reading Matthew After Supersessionism: Restoring the Mosaic Covenant. With Cascade Publishers. Part of a new series entitled The New Testament After Supersessionism (NTAS), edited by Justin Hardin, David Rudolph, J. Bryan Tucker, and Joel Willitts.
- Matthew Within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel. With SBL/Early Christian Literature Series. Co-editor, with Daniel Gurtner. Scheduled for publication 2019.
- The New Testament and Christian Origins: An Introduction. With Eerdmans. This is a translated, updated and expanded edition of a textbook first published in 2006 (in Swedish). Co-editor with Dieter Mitternacht. Scheduled for 2020.
Other Current Book Projects
- Architecturalizing Jesus: Space, Art, and Identity in the Material Lives of Early Christ Groups.nCo-authored with Wally V. Cirafesi. Deals with the reception of Jesus in architecture until 300 CE. The monograph builds on our co-authored article “Art and Architecture at Capernaum, Kefar ‘Othnay, and Dura Europos,” Scheduled to appear in 2019.
- From Jesus to Paul to Matthew: Introducing Institution Criticism. Monograph manuscript, partial. The book lays out the details of a new approach I have called institution criticism, aimed at understanding the effect of institutional structures on the formation of theology.
- Judaism for Gentiles: Paul Beyond the Parting of the Ways Paradigm. A collection of revised and updated essays on Paul, some of which are previously unpublished. There will also be a summarising discussion bringing the various conclusions of the essays into sharper focus in an overall reconstruction of Paul. This project is with Mohr Siebeck.
