I work in the area of New Testament and early Christianity, with a focus on biblical interpretation and doctrinal developments in the pre-Nicene era.  In approaching Biblical texts, I consider Wirkungsgeschichte—often rendered "reception history"—as a valuable complement to historical-critical exegesis of the New Testament.  I also view it as crucial to study how early Christians expressed their religious identity by reworking doctrines, imagery, and practices inherited from the many currents of Second Temple Judaism.   

 

As a second field of interest, I do research in the history of Christian thought, focusing on doctrine and spirituality in the early centuries and the Byzantine tradition. 

 

My academic interests, bridging the conventional boundaries between New Testament Studies, Patristics, and the history of Christian thought, were shaped significantly by participation in the interdisciplinary Seminar on the Jewish Roots of Christian Mysticism and the "Theophaneia School," both led by Dr. Alexander Golitzin and Dr. Andrei Orlov at Marquette University.

 

My study of early pneumatology has been published by Brill (see home page).

 

At present I am working on a monograph dedicated to the Christian exegesis of the biblical theophanies during the first millennium.