Doctoral Colloquium 'A Place of Encounter'

The annual Doctoral Colloquium is an essential part of our PhD program. Students working on a dissertation gather during this week and meet with their professors, prepare for exams and present their research. Public defenses of dissertations also usually take place during this week.

This year’s theme is “A Place of Encounter”, expressing that loving the LORD our God and our neighbors as ourselves is always concrete and local. When Jesus’ followers are like Jacob on his way to Aram after having lost his home and family, the LORD may show us places that turn out to be houses of God (Gen 28:1-2). Moreover, Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35) illustrates that a neighbour is always someone next to us at a particular time and place. Accordingly, the theme invites to reflect theologically on places where we meet God and become neighbours.

You are welcome to attend one or more sessions of the public program (see schedule below).

If you want to attend a doctoral defense, please register by August 26, 2024 via the registration form (click on the link or the red ‘Register’ button at the bottom of this page). You don’t need to register to attend the opening chapel, morning devotions or faculty lectures. Attending the sessions is free of charge.

There is the option to join a meal before or after a session. Payment for meals will be processed immediately upon submission of the registration form.

• Lunch (at 13:00) is € 20,-
• Dinner (at 18:30) is € 40,-

Public program

Monday 2 September

Tuesday 3 September

Wednesday 4 September

Thursday 5 September

Friday 6 September

Abstracts

1. Opportunities and challenges of women leadership in Evangelical organizations
By Dr. Peirong Lin (ST)

Women are the majority of the world’s 2.5 billion Christians today, yet the leaders of this movement are often male. This paper begins with reviewing key moments of this movement to provide some reasons why. It continues thereafter with discussing the opportunities and challenges of increasing women leadership. Offering observations that she has encountered in her own experience, Dr Lin hopes to increase conversation on this topic in the hopes of co-leading and co-working with men for the sake of the gospel.

2. Encounter by the Sea: Fishing for Fishers, People, and OT Intertextual Referents in Mark 1:16
By Dr. Jeremy Otten (NT)

Jesus’s words of invitation to his first disciples (Mark 1:16) present the exegete with numerous interesting exegetical questions touching on modern translation theory, metaphor theory, and, most notoriously, intertextuality. While the majority of modern commentators assume an allusion to Jer 16:16, which speaks of Yahweh sending “fishers” to catch his scattered people, it is also generally recognized that in its immediate context in Jeremiah, the image is negative, alluding to the exile, thus raising questions as to what the Markan Jesus intends with the metaphor. This paper will argue that, while Jer 16:16 is indeed one of the intended OT references, it is meant to be understood through the lens of another “fisher” text, namely Ezk 47:10. This will be supported based on intertextual links between the two OT passages, links between both passages and the calling narrative in Mark, the use of Ezekiel 47 elsewhere in NT thought, observations on the LXX translation of Ezekiel 47, and, finally, Mark’s tendency to interpret OT passages through composite allusions, seen most prominently just a few verses earlier in Mark 1:2–3.

3. Where Do the Persistent Disagreements between German-Speaking and English-Speaking Biblical Scholarship Come From?
By Prof. Dr. Armin Baum (NT)

While the great majority of German-speaking exegetes regard 2 Thessalonians as post-Pauline, an equally large majority of English-speaking exegetes consider it to be Pauline. Why does this disagreement run along a language boundary? This question can only be answered from an interdisciplinary perspective by considering insights from the sociology of science: Scholarly judgements are not a purely binary process between exegetes and the objects of their investigations; they are strongly influenced by the scholarly environment in which they work. Exegetes go not only “where the evidence leads them,” but also where the research community to which they belong leads them. Ideally, a heightened awareness of the social contexts that affect every biblical scholar can lend greater weight to historical and exegetical arguments in international dialogue.

4. The Parable of the Good Samaritan: An Old Testament Ethics Perspective
By Prof. Dr. Markus Zehnder (OT)

The majority of contemporary interpreters holds the view that the main focus of the parable of the Good Samaritan is on ethics, particularly the demand of showing love/compassion in practical ways to persons who do not share one’s own ethnic and religious background. According to a more specific line of interpretation, the parable suggests that Jesus (or the author of this text) advocates for open-border policies in the current migration debate.
This paper attempts to explain that while the ethical line of understanding in terms of a broad request for neighborly love is adequate, the specific argument for an open-border interpretation is misplaced. In a second step, the question will be addressed whether other texts in the Old or New Testament might be better suited to promote the concept of open borders.

5. Proofing a Principle: Natural Theological Principles in Benedict Pictet’s Doctrine of God
By Dr. Stephen Tipton (HT)

There has been in recent scholarship an ongoing discussion about the impact of philosophical principles upon theological prolegomena – in particular, issues relating to Natural Theology. Such scholarly discussions raise questions that extend far beyond issues related to prolegomena. How, for instance, do theologians’ understanding of natural theology impact their formulations about the Doctrine of God. One such figure – Benedict Pictet (1655-1720) – has received some recent discussion regarding his natural theology, as well as the perception of “rationalizing” influences in his theology. Pictet held the position of Professor of Theology at the University of Geneva between François Turretini (1623-1687) and his son, Jean-Alphonse Turretini (1671-1737). Pictet is often characterized as a transition in more than tenure, but also in the influx of rationalism into Reformed Theology more broadly, and the University of Geneva more specifically. Indeed, Pictet is often represented as more in line with Jean-Alphonse’ rationalism (to which he halfway went) than the orthodoxy of François (from which he halfway came). We will discuss the question of Pictet’s principles of Natural Theology and how they impacted his formulations of the Doctrine of God – with particular discussions of the Divine Attributes and the Trinity. I will seek to show that Pictet’s Doctrine of God serves as proof of his natural theological principles, and that he should not be considered nearly so “rationalistic” as has been previously maintained.

6. The Climate Crisis and Christian Eschatology: Insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer
By Prof. Dr. Steven van den Heuvel (ST)

Christian eschatology has been identified as problematic in the context of the climate crisis; on one hand, it is accused of creating the preconditions for the modern exploitation of nature, while on the other it is accused of stimulating a quietist withdrawal from environmental action. There are understandings of Christian eschatology that are helpful in addressing the climate crisis, in particular the promising eschatology of the German Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Eschatological thinking develops throughout the three phases of his life, with two main themes emerging, namely 1) his understanding of the world as Christ-reality, and 2) the distinction he makes between the ultimate and the penultimate. Taken together, these concepts can be formative in the construction of the Christian virtue of hope in the context of the climate crisis.

7. Was Enoch (Gen 5:21-24) Translated Correctly?
By Dr. Creighton Marlowe (OT)

Tradition interprets Enoch’s “taking by God” in Genesis 5:24 as his physical “translation” from earthly to heavenly existence. However, the Hebrew text of Genesis 5:21–24 allows for another explanation. Many argue that Hebrews provides authoritative support for the traditional view. This is true if the author of Hebrews intended to exegete Genesis 5:24 contextually. Yet he more likely was making a spiritual application (consistent with his book, use of the LXX translation, and other out-of-context uses of the OT by the NT). The author of Genesis 5 seems to have described Enoch’s “short” life in a way very different than what has typically been thought. Rather than an example of “drop dead” righteousness, he was an idolater. God took his life, making him an example that proves the rule set by his Sethite ancestors and descendants (like Noah): that righteousness promoted a long life and wickedness a short one.