Biography:
Prof. Bockmuehl’s teaching and research is in the area of the New Testament in the context of biblical, Jewish and early Christian studies. His approach stresses the symbioses of history with theology, of Christianity alongside Judaism, and of exegesis in and as reception especially of the first three centuries. Before coming to Oxford in 2007, he was a professor at the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge, and previously taught at Regent College and the University of British Columbia, Canada. In Oxford, he is a Fellow of Keble College and has also served as Associate Head of the University’s Humanities Division (with responsibility for graduate studies). He has a particular commitment to mentoring early career scholars, including a focus on Asia. Among his authored books are Seeing the Word: Refocusing New Testament Study (2006), Simon Peter in Scripture and Memory (2012), and Ancient Apocryphal Gospels (2017). Other recent books include Creation ex Nihilo (2018, ed. with Gary A. Anderson), Austin Farrer (2020, ed. with Stephen Platten) and the English translation of Wolfram Kinzig’s Christian Persecution in Antiquity (2021).
Research Area(s):
Biblical Studies: New Testament
Research Interests:
Current book projects include editing the New Cambridge Companion to Jesus as well as a monograph on the absence and presence of Jesus in the New Testament. I am also working on a medium-term project on the relationship between transcendent hope and immanent aspiration in early Christianity.
Research Centres & Projects:
Current and Recent Funded Research Projects
- 2018-2021 Oxford-Notre Dame Project on Scriptural and the Development of the Old Roman Creed ($45,000, joint PI with Nathan Eubank; additional funding from the University of Notre Dame). Proceedings will be published by Mohr Siebeck (2022).
- 2018-2019 seminar on Dead Sea Scrolls Research at Oxford (joint PI with Hindy Najman & Martin Goodman). Proceedings published in Revue de Qumran (2021)
- 2013-2015 Oxford-Notre Dame project on Creatio ex Nihilo (joint PI with Gary Anderson; total funding ca. $107,000); proceedings published by University of Notre Dame Press (2018)
Recent Postdoctoral Fellowships Mentored
- 2020-2022 European Research Council (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions) Postdoctoral Fellowship in New Testament for Jeremiah Coogan, following an internationally advertised competition (€225,000)
- 2018-2020 European Research Council (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions) Postdoctoral Fellowship in New Testament and Dead Sea Scrolls for Daniel Schumann, following an internationally advertised competition (€200,000).
Editorships:
Associate Editor, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament.
Links:
Publications:
Recent Books (since 2015; Authored or Edited/Translated)
2021 [September] Wolfram Kinzig, The Persecution of Christians in Antiquity. Translated by M. Bockmuehl. Waco: Baylor University Press.
Pp. 188. ISBN 978-1481313889
2020 Austin Farrer: Oxford Warden, Scholar, Preacher. Ed. M. Bockmuehl & S. Platten. London: SCM Press. ISBN 9780334058595
2018 Creation ex Nihilo: Origins, Development, Contemporary Challenges. Ed. G.A. Anderson & M. Bockmuehl.
Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. Pp. viii+421. ISBN 9780268102531
2017 Ancient Apocryphal Gospels. Interpretation: Resources. Louisville: Westminster John Knox. Pp. xiv+330. ISBN 9780664235895
Selection of Recent Articles and Book Chapters
2020 ‘The Presence of the Ascended Son in the Gospel of John.’ Nova et Vetera 18: 1301-22.
2020 ‘The New Testament’. With Evangeline Kozitza. The Oxford Handbook of Christmas, 77-89. Ed. Timothy Larsen.
Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
2020 ‘Conflicting Criminal Jurisdictions in Early Christianity.’ In Mark Hill et al. (eds), Christianity and Criminal Law, 31-46. Law and Religion.
London/New York: Routledge.
2020 ‘Attitudes to Jewish and Roman Power in the Gospel and Acts of Peter.’ In R. Dijkstra (ed.), The Early Reception and Appropriation
of the Apostle Peter (60-800): The Anchors of the Fisherman, 81-98. Euhormos: Greco-Roman Studies in Anchoring Innovation.
2020 ‘Introduction: Dead Sea Scrolls Research in Oxford.’ Revue de Qumran 32.2: 165-69. (Published Feb 2021)
2020 ‘Introduction.’ With Stephen Platten. In Austin Farrer: Oxford Warden, Scholar, Preacher, 1-14. Ed. M. Bockmuehl & S. Platten.
London/New York: SCM Press.
2019 “The Dynamic Absence of Jesus in Hebrews.” Journal of Theological Studies 70: 141-62.
2019 "Fourfold Gospel Writing." In Writing the Gospels: A Dialogue with Francis Watson, 40-60. Ed. C. S. Hamilton with J. Willitts.
Library of New Testament Studies 606. London/New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark.
2018 ‘Scriptural Completion in the Infancy Gospel of James.’ Pro Ecclesia 27: 180-202.
2018 ‘Simon Peter: The Transformation of the Apostle.’ In Sources of the Christian Self: A Cultural History of Christian Identity, 69-83.
Ed. J.M. Houston & J. Zimmermann. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
2018 ‘The Gospels on the Knowledge of God.’ In A Transforming Vision: Knowing and Loving the Triune God, 57-70. Ed. G. Westhaver.
London: SCM.
2018 ‘Introduction.’ In Creation ex Nihilo: Origins, Development, Contemporary Challenges, 1-13. Ed. G.A. Anderson & M. Bockmuehl.
Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
2017 ‘The Personal Presence of Jesus in the Writings of Paul.’ Scottish Journal of Theology 70: 39-60
