Student Opportunities Fund: Chris’ trip to the British New Testament Conference

Thanks to a grant from the St John’s College Student Opportunities Fund, Christopher de Stigter was able to attend the British New Testament Conference in Exeter.

For those that don’t know me, my name is Chris de Stigter and I am 3rd year PhD student in the Theology & Religion department working with Prof. John Barclay. My primary area of research is on the intersection of Psychology, Theology, and Pauline studies. Specifically, I explore how current trends in cognitive studies broaden our understanding of what St. Paul means by knowledge.

With the help of funding through John’s student opportunities award, I attended this year’s British New Testament Conference in Exeter. It was a tremendous time to meet colleagues (old and new), hear stimulating presentations, and open doors to further conversation. With that, I wanted to fill you in a bit more about how beneficial this time was for me and my research. 

The conference included several lectures that directly related to my own project. The first plenary lecture was given by Elizabeth Shively (Baylor University), and it included an analysis of the cognitive science of emotion and its relation to fear in Mark’s gospel.

Afterwards, her and I connected further on approaches to cognitive science and opportunities for further discussion. During most of the conference I attended the NT & Christian Theology seminar group. As my research contains several implications for Christian theology, this lively group proved to be an excellent place to meet those engaged in similar questions.

Susannah Ticciati (King’s College London) gave a lecture detailing a theological approach to Paul’s eschatology. Particularly interesting was her discussion of how to read Scripture for the common good. I was able to have breakfast with Susannah and discuss some of the intersections between her work and mine.

I also connected with several scholars who are working directly in my area of Pauline Theology: Jamie Davies’ (Trinity College Bristol), Erin Heim (Oxford), and Andrew Boakye (Manchester). This along with the many conversations with other doctoral students left me invigorated and encouraged in my research.