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Jörg Frey, Professor of New Testament at the University of Zurich, will give the three-part Shaffer Lectures at Yale Divinity School on January 23, 25, and 30. Frey will speak on “Theology and History in the Fourth Gospel.”
Each of the lectures will take place at 5:30 p.m. in Niebuhr Hall. A reception will be held following the final lecture, at 6:30 p.m. in the Old Common Room.
Fifty years after the release of J. L. Martyn’s influential study on History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel, Frey will take a reverse perspective: In John, the priority is not on history, but on theology. While Martyn had focused on the hypothetical reconstruction of the history of the Johannine community and its literature, Frey takes as his point of departure the challenging theological interpretation in the gospel narrative, in which all the earlier traditions are reconfigured and reshaped.
The three lectures are as follows:
Lecture I: “Christology as Theology: The Johannine Approach as a Challenge Then and Now”
Lecture II: “The Quest for the Jesus of History and Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel”
Lecture III: “The Spiritual Gospel: John’s Reworking of the Jesus Story for Deeper Understanding”
Professor of New Testament at the University of Zurich, Jörg Frey studies early Judaism and hermeneutics. He succeeded Martin Hengel as the managing editor of the monograph series Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament and is co-editor of the journal Early Christianity as well as editor of numerous thematic volumes. Frey has published extensively published in the fields of Johannine studies, Catholic Epistles, the Dead Sea Scrolls, early Christian apocrypha, and New Testament theology. His major publications include Die Johanneische Eschatologie (3 vols., Mohr Siebeck, 1997-2000); Die Herrlichkeit des Gekreuzigten: Studien zu den Johanneischen Schriften 1 (Mohr Siebeck, 2013; ET in preparation with Baylor University Press); Der Judasbrief und der Zweite Petrusbried (EVA, 2015; ET in preparation with Baylor University Press); and Von Jesus zur Neutestamentlichen Theologie. Kleine Schriften 2 (Mohr Siebeck, 2016).
The Shaffer Lectureship was established in 1929 by a gift from John C. Shaffer of Chicago, as a memorial to his son, Kent Shaffer, Ph.D. 1907, to provide lectures on the life, character, and teachings of Jesus. This series is given every second year, alternating with the Nathaniel W. Taylor lecture series.