Susanne Luther appointed Assistant Professor of New Testament

Dr Susanne Luther has been appointed Assistant Professor of New Testament in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Groningen from October 2018.

New Testament studies

Susanne Luther previously worked at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz as a postdoc researcher in the field of New Testament studies with a special interest in speech ethics, ancient miracle stories and in the debate on fictionality and factuality in early Christian literature. ‘I switched to the University of Groningen because it is an internationally renowned university with a strong focus on research and also on interdisciplinary cooperation,’ she adds.

Teaching and research

Susanne: ‘This academic year, I will be teaching course units on academic writing, New Testament Exegesis, and Crucial Texts in Cultural Contexts. And I am looking forward to continuing my research on ancient curse tablets: small lead tablets with curse formulas that were frequently used in antiquity to control or restrain rivals, and that show many similarities to formulas used in the New Testament.’

Expertise

‘My expertise, on the one hand, lies in the field of speech ethics – that is, the ethics of interpersonal verbal communication in the ancient world and in early Christianity. The Gospel of Matthew and the Letter of James, for instance, are especially engaged in the ancient discourse on speech ethics and developed their own discourse positions and speech-ethical admonition. On the other hand, my expertise lies in the field of the debate on fictionality and factuality, especially on literary strategies used in ancient texts to create authenticity in texts. I have worked especially on the Gospel of John by drawing on literary and genre theory.’

First impressions

Susanne moved to Groningen at the end of September ‘My first impressions are that the Faculty is very open and warmly welcoming to new staff, that the students are enthusiastic, committed and open to critical discussion, and that the Faculty building is absolutely astonishing!’ Indeed, we would like to wish Susanne a very warm welcome at our Faculty and the best of luck in her new role.