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Leroy A. Huizenga
Assistant Professor of New Testament
On faculty since 2006

Office location: BGC 215
Phone: 630-752-5056
Leroy.A.Huizenga@wheaton.edu


Education

Ph.D., Duke University, Graduate Program in Religion, 2006

Visiting Ph.D. Candidate and Instructor, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 2004-2005

M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary, 2001

B.A., Jamestown College, Jamestown, ND, 1996
 
Professional and Personal Interests
My professional interests largely concern the postcritical retrieval of the Bible as Christian Scripture, understanding the New Testament not merely as an artificial collection of written artifacts from early Christianity, but also as canon, the sacred apostolic deposit of the faith of the Church.

The post-Enlightenment period has been a time of fracture in which such a holistic, coherent understanding of Scripture and its function has suffered dissolution: the Bible has been separated from the Church and its tradition; faith has been separated from reason; Jesus has been separated from Christ, the Gospels, the Apostles, and the Church; the Apostles have been separated from each other; and exegesis has been separated from theology. Many contemporary scholars and theologians, however, regard this state of affairs as less than desirable and are endeavoring to put the pieces back together in serious attempts at creative reintegration. Such attempts are neither pre-critical nor naive; rather, they are undertaken on the far side of the desert of criticism in the realm of a second naivete.

I believe that postcritical retrieval involves renewed consideration of the relationship of biblical studies and theology, reflection on the historical development and hermeneutical significance of the canon, attention to the history of biblical interpretation, an awareness and appreciation of intellectual history and the questioning of received academic wisdom. Thus, in my work I am concerned to bring philosophy, theology, the history of interpretation, theory, and exegesis together.

In terms of personal matters, I have been married to my beloved wife Kari since 1997, and together we share interests in athletics, literature, music, hiking, and travel.



Courses Taught
 
  • BITH 213 New Testament Literature and Interpretation
  • BITH 359 The Sermon on the Mount
  • BITH 359 The Gospel of Matthew
  • BITH 351 Jesus of Nazareth
  • BITH 371/524 Biblical Interpretation and Hermeneutics
  • BITH 456 Parables of Jesus

Membership in Professional Societies

  • Society of Biblical Literature
  • Institute for Biblical Research
  • North American Patristics Society

Research
  • Gospel studies, particularly Matthew and Mark, alternatives to Q, and narrative approaches
  • Jewish traditions of interpretation and their appropriation in the New Testament
  • The historical development and hermeneutical significance of the canon
  • The theological relationship of the biblical Jesus Christ to the historical Jesus
  • The theological and ecclesial interpretation of Scripture
  • Philosophy of language, hermeneutics, and literary theory as they bear on biblical interpretation and Christian theology and practice
  • The history of biblical interpretation ancient, modern, and postmodern
  • Intellectual history and its relationship to Christian thought

Publications and Presentations
"Matt 1:1: 'Son of Abraham' as Christological Category." Horizons in Biblical Theology, 2008 [forthcoming].

"Obedience unto Death: The Matthean Gethsemane and Arrest Sequence and the Adeqah." Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2008 [forthcoming].

"Bathsheba (NT)," "Bartholomew (NT)," and "Bartholomew (Christianity)," in the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. H. Spieckermann, et al, eds. 30 vols. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, [forthcoming].

The Bible in Dialogue: Intertextuality and Interpretation. Editor, with R. Hays and S. Alkier. Waco, TX: Baylor Press, 2008 [forthcoming].

"The Matthean Jesus and the Isaac of the Early Jewish Encyclopedia," in Huizenga, Hays and Alkier, eds. The Bible in Dialogue: Intertextuality and Interpretation. Waco, TX: Baylor Press, 2008 [forthcoming].

Review of Dale Allison, Studies in Matthew. Interpretation Past and Present (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005) and Ulrich Luz, Studies in Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005) Journal of Biblical Literature 125.4 (2006): 816-821.

"The Incarnation of the Servant: The 'Suffering Servant' and Matthean Christology." Horizons in Biblical Theology 27.1 (2005): 25-58.

"Das Matthäusevangelium in intertextueller Perspektive," with Michael Schneider. Zeitschrift für Neues Testament 16 (2005): 20-29.

"Der Jesus des Matthäusevangelium und der Isaak der antiken jüdischen Enzyklopädie. Akedah-Überlieferungen und das Matthäusevangelium." Pages 71-92 in Die Bibel im Dialog der Schriften: Konzepte intertextueller Bibellektüre. Neutestamentliche Entwürfe zur Theologie 10. S Alkier and R.B. Hays, eds. Tübingen: Francke Verlag, 2005.

"The Battle for Isaac: Exploring the Composition and Function of the Aqedah in the Book of Jubilees." Journal for the Study of the Pseudipigrapha 13.1 (2002): 33-59.

The Patristic Understanding and Interpretation of Scripture: An Historical Overview." Princeton Theological Review VII, 4.23 (2000): 10-16.

Presentations:
"Mark 14:62 in light of Markan Narrative Dynamics." SBL Annual Meeting, Mark Group, San Diego, November 19, 2007.

"Lawgiver or Sacrifice? Jesus, Moses, Isaac and the Interpretation of the Matthean Transfiguration." International SBL Annual Meeting, Synoptic Gospels section, Vienna, July 25, 2007.

"Resurrection Reconsidered: The Corinthian Denial, Paul's Response, and Recent Anglo-American Scholarship." International SBL Annual meeting, Paul and Pauline Literuature section, Vienna, July 24, 2007.

"Deciphering the Da Vinci Code." St. Giles Presbyterian Church, Raleigh, NC, May 24, 2006.

"Obedience unto Death: Matthew's Jesus and Jewish Martyr THeology (Matt 26:36-56)." Duke University New Testament Colloquium, January 18, 2006.

"'Intertextual Disposition' and St. Ephrem's Interpretations of Genesis 22." SBL Annual Meeting, Scripture in Early Judaism section, Philadelphia, November 22, 2005.

"Jesus als Neuer Isaak im Matthausevangelium." Presented at the conference "Die Bibel im Dialog der Schriften: Konzepte intertextueller Bibellektur," Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat, Frankfurt, Germany, Novermber 4, 2004.

"The Incarnation of the Servant: Umberto Eco and Matthean Christology." SBL Annual Meeting, Reading, Theory and the Bible section, Atlanta, November 23, 2003.

"The Akedah as Allusive Apologetic at the Arrest of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew." Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion (Southeastern Regional SBL), Chattanooga, TN, Matthew section, March 14, 2003.

"On the Impossibility of Using Christology to Determine Synoptic Literary Priority." SBL Annual Meeting, Synoptic Gospels section, Toronto, Ontario, November 23, 2002.