About Me
I am Professor of New Testament at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society in Oslo, where I research early Christianity and Judaism within the diverse cultural and religious worlds of the ancient Mediterranean.
My studies, professional appointments, and service work have brought me from the United States to Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Israel, and Palestine. I earned my PhD at the University of Notre Dame and my master’s degree at Harvard. Following my doctoral studies, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Durham, and most recently served as Principal Investigator of the German Research Foundation (DFG)–funded project The Ancient Fable Tradition and Early Christian Literature at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, which was completed in 2025.
My research interests span a range of sub-disciplines, time periods, and methods, but I have developed particular expertise in, and a long-standing fascination with, ancient popular literature and the fable tradition, especially as they relate to the gospels and the “parables” of Jesus. This work is exemplified by my book, The Fables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke: A New Foundation for the Study of Parables (Brill, 2021). The book received the Manfred Lautenschläger Prize, formed the basis of the multi-year DFG-funded research project, and was the subject of a panel review at the British New Testament Society. Learn more about the book or just Download the book PDF (Open Access).
More recently, I’ve also cultivated a second line of my research focusing on non-human animals in the ancient world. I am co-editor of the book Animals in the New Testament (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2025) and of the forthcoming T&T Clark Handbook of Animals and the Biblical World.
A curriculum vitae that includes a full list of my work in these and other areas is available as a downloadable PDF Download CV (PDF).
For some recent publications and lectures, check out the research profiles linked on my contact page: Connect.