After several moves across the Atlantic, I am excited to have arrived at NTC where I teach Biblical Studies, especially in the area of the Old Testament. I grew up in northern Germany but have spent most of the last decade in Canada, where I met my wife, Darcy, and in Scotland, where I completed my PhD in 2016. My research covers a wide range of Old Testament materials, but is focused primarily on prophetic literature, the poetry of the Psalms, and the dynamics of Hebrew narrative.

A significant part of my journey of learning and teaching has been my involvement in church communities in Germany, Canada, and the UK. Because of this, I am passionate about ‘unlearning’ that strange instinct of viewing intellectual and spiritual formation as separate categories. This intersection is foundational for what happens in my classroom and is relevant especially in the world of the Old Testament which deserves our best academic work yet also demands our personal involvement and imagination.

When I am away from the office I bike and run and wander, listen to (almost) all kinds of music and even try to play some, sit on cozy kitchen counters and read real books, marvel at trees, lawns, and hedgework, drink tea and chat with Darcy about everything and nothing, and enjoy every silly moment with my children, Sophie and Ezekiel.

Qualifications:

BA English/Music (Universität Oldenburg, Germany)
MA Theological Studies (Briercrest Seminary, Canada)
PhD Hebrew and OT Studies (University of Edinburgh)

Publications:

Interpreting Quoted Speech in Prophetic Literature: A Study of Jeremiah 2.1-3.5. VT Sup 174. Leiden: Brill, 2017.

“‘Woe is Me!:’ The Book of Jeremiah and the Language of Despair.” JBL 139 (2020): 479–97.

“Whose Voice is Heard? Speaker Ambiguity in the Psalms.” CBQ 82 (2020): 197–213.

“The Proof-and-play of Quoted Speech in the Joseph Story (Genesis 37-50).” Pages 39-56 in Doubling and Duplicating in the Book of Genesis. Edited by E. Hayes, and K. Vermeulen; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2016.

“The Servants of Saul: ‘Minor’ Characters and Royal Commentary in 1 Samuel 9-31.” JSOT 40 (2015): 179–200.

Forthcoming in 2021:

“Are God’s ‘Good Plans’ not Good Enough? The Place and Significance of Jer 29.15 in Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles” (JSOT); “When Words become too Violent: Silence as a Form of Nonviolent Resistance in the Book of Jeremiah” (BibInt); “‘I am a lonely Bird:’ Psalm 102 and the Psychology of Loneliness” (BTB)