A NICE HONOR

Andrew Clarke (University of Aberdeen, UK), secretary of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS), sent an e-mail recently to inform me that I had been elected as a member of the society at its 74th annual meeting in Marburg, Germany.

Comprised of scholars from around the world, SNTS is devoted to the academic study of Christianity within its historical context of the first-century CE. Membership is by nomination only and is approved by a vote of members. Each candidate’s credentials and publications are critically evaluated in accordance with international scholarly standards.

One evaluator noted, “Election to SNTS is one of the highest honors a New Testament scholar can received. It signals that renowned NT scholars from around the globe have evaluated one’s published work and deemed it to be at the highest level in the disciple.”

Founded in 1939, SNTS is recognized as the premiere international society for the study of the New Testament. Past presidents of the society have included C. H. Dodd, Rudolf Bultmann, Joachim Jeremias, W. G. Kümmel, Oscar Cullmann, Rudolf Schackenburg, Bruce Metzger, Ernst Kasemann, C. K. Barrett, F. F. Bruce, Bo Riecke, Raymond Brown, Martin Hengel, James Dunn, Wayne Meeks, Adela Yarbro Collins, among others. John S. Kloppenborg is the current President.

In cooperation with Cambridge University Press, SNTS publishes the journal, New Testament Studies

Since I did not pursue NT scholarship until later in my academic career (2005)—I was professor of practical theology prior to that—I am humbled to be selected a member of the society. My two books Subversive Meals (2013) and Caesar and the Sacrament (2018), along with articles and chapters, published by Wiley Blackwell, T & T Clark Bloomsbury, Oxford University Press, and others were the basis of my selection.

Peter Davids, PhD (USA) and William S. Campbell, PhD (UK) nominated me for membership.

Next year’s meeting will be held in Rome, Italy. To prepare, I am ready to begin a Babbel course in Italian.

Until then, “Arrivederci.”