Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL) - Department of Biblical and Theological Studies

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Leroy A. Huizenga

Assistant Professor of New Testament
On faculty since 2006

Office: BGC 215
Phone: (630) 752-5056
Email: 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. We welcomed our son Hans Arnold Huizenga into the world on June 21, 2008.

Courses Taught

BITH 213 New Testament Literature and Interpretation
BITH 325/524 Biblical Interpretation and Hermeneutics
BITH 359 The Sermon on the Mount
BITH 359/546 The Gospel of Matthew
BITH 351 Jesus of Nazareth
BITH 390 Marriage, Sex and Family in the Christian Tradition
BITH 454/546 The Gospel of Mark
BITH 456 Parables of Jesus
BITH 494 Senior Seminar: Global Christianity
BITH 495 Theology of Martin Luther
CE 131 Introduction to Spiritual Formation

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

Papers Published and/or Presented

The New Isaac: Intertextuality and Tradition in the Gospel of Matthew. Novum Testamentum Supplements 131. Leiden: Brill, 2009.

Reading the Bible Intertextually. Editor, with Richard Hays and Stefan Alkier. Waco, TX: Baylor Press, 2009.

“The Aqedah in the First Century of the Common Era: 4 Maccabees, L.A.B., the Antiquities, and First Clement.” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha [forthcoming].

“Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” in the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Edited by Daniel G. Reid, et al. 2d ed. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press [forthcoming].

Review of Scott Hahn, Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of God’s Saving Promises (Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library; New Haven: Yale, 2009). Bulletin for Biblical Research 20 (2010) [forthcoming].

"Obedience unto Death: The Matthean Gethsemane and Arrest Sequence and the Aqedah." Catholic Biblical Quarterly 71 (2009): 507-26.

"Matt 1:1: 'Son of Abraham' as Christological Category." Horizons in Biblical Theology 30 (2008): 103-113.

"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 Matthean Jesus and the Isaac of the Early Jewish Encyclopedia," Pages 63-81 in Huizenga, Hays and Alkier, eds. Reading the Bible Intertextually. Waco, TX: Baylor Press, 2009.

"Solus Christus: the Markan Contrast Between Jesus and His Disciples." Currents in Theology and Mission 35 (2008): 325-332.

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 (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. Stefan Alkier and Richard. 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 (2002): 33-59.

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

Presentations:
“The Figure of Isaac and the Matthean Jesus as New Temple and Sacrifice.” International SBL Annual Meeting, Synoptic Gospels section, Rome, July 3, 2009.

“Reading the Gospels as Narratives and Artifacts.” International SBL Annual Meeting, Methods in New Testament Studies section, Rome, July 2, 2009.

“The Rhetoric of the Barren: Sarah as Marian Type in Tradition and Scripture.” NAPS Annual Meeting, Mariology (II) section, Chicago, May 23, 2009.

"Experimental Intertextuality, Patristic Sarah-Mary Typologies and Matthean Christology." SBL Annual Meeting, Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity section, Boston, November 25, 2008.

"Synoptic Interpretation and Model Readers." SBL Annual Meeting, Semiotics and Exegesis section, Boston, November 24, 2008.

"Sarah-Mary Typologies and the Value of Patristic Exegesis." Wheaton College Humanities Brown Bag Colloquium, April 25, 2008.

"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.