Faculty and Administration

Christopher joined McMaster Divinity College as Assistant Professor of New Testament and Linguistics in 2013. His research focuses on the application of linguistic theories and methods in biblical scholarship, as well as on the life of the Apostle Paul and the historical development of early Christianity. Chris is the Director of the Centre for Biblical Linguistics, Translation, and Exegesis and he is Director of Development for the OpenText.org project. He serves as an associate editor for two peer-reviewed journals (Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters and Biblical and Ancient Greek Linguistics) and co-edits Brill’s Pauline Studies series.

Practical Ministry Experience:
Chris has launched and/or led a number of different lay ministries over the years, including various Bible studies, small group ministries, and worship gatherings. He is part of a lay-led church community in Hamilton’s east end, where he regularly preaches and leads worship.

Research Interests:
Generally speaking, Christopher’s research seeks to apply the insights of modern linguistics to the study of the New Testament. Sometimes, this involves him in general descriptions of the Greek language, but it also draws him to a range of longstanding exegetical discussions. Chris’s dissertation employs the notions of register-specific structure and semantic potential from Systemic Functional Linguistics in order to demonstrate that 2 Corinthians looks like a single, coherent letter with a single, unified context. Alongside this linguistic research, Chris is interested in reconstructing the life and legacy of the Apostle Paul, such that he spends a lot of time working with Paul’s letters and the Acts of the Apostles. Additional interests include the emergence of christological beliefs in the first century and the influence of (both Greco-Roman and Early Jewish) culture on the New Testament.

Current Projects:
Chris is currently writing a book for students of New Testament Greek that seeks to present the grammar of the language using a functional linguistic framework. He is also spearheading the development of OpenText.org 2.0, which will introduce a revised annotation scheme, a more robust and interactive web interface, and an expanded corpus. Smaller projects include an article on Paul’s so-called opponents in Galatians, an article on Paul’s accusers in 1 Corinthians 9, and an explicit description of the structure and semantic potential of the Pauline church letter.

Lectures and Conference Papers:
With Francis G.H. Pang. “Exploring Web-Based Methods for Syntactic Annotation.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, November 2017.

“Torah Observance without Faith: The Interlocutor of James 2:18 as a Critic of Jesus-Faith.” Evangelical Theological Society Annual Meeting, Providence, RI, November 2017.

“Torah Observance without Faith: The Interlocutor of James 2:18 as a Critic of Jesus-Faith.” Canadian Society of Biblical Studies Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, May 2017.

With Francis G.H. Pang. “The Past, Present, and Future of the OpenText.org Greek Annotation Greek Corpus.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, November 2016.

With Francis G.H. Pang. “The Past, Present, and Future of the OpenText.org Greek Annotation Greek Corpus.” Bingham Colloquium, McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton Ontario, June 2016.

With Claire Urbach. “An Appliable Linguistics Indeed: SFL and the Structural Potential of Ancient Letters.” 42nd International Systemic Functional Congress, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, July 2015.

“The Benefits Outweigh the Costs: Human Obedience and Divine Blessing in 2 Cor 6:1–7:2.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 2014.

“‘There Is No Longer Any Place for Me in These Regions’: The Historical Setting of Romans.” H.H. Bingham Colloquium in New Testament, McMaster Divinity College, June 2014.

“‘And It’s Not Like Moses Put a Veil Over His Face…’ (2 Cor 3:13): An Hypothesis Regarding Paul’s Understanding of Exodus 34.” Canadian Society of Biblical Studies Annual Meeting, St. Catherines, ON, May 2014.

“Many Wronged but No Wrongdoers: The Enigma of 2 Cor 7:5–16.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, November 2013.

“Many Wronged but No Wrongdoers: The Enigma of 2 Cor 7:5–16.” McMaster Divinity College Theological Research Seminar, October 2013.

“Reconciliation and Unification: A Response to Porter and Schnabel on the Theme of Alienation in Paul and Luke.” H.H. Bingham Colloquium in New Testament, Hamilton, ON, June 2013.

“Jesus Before Pilate: A Discourse Analysis of John 18:33–38.” Congress of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Waterloo, ON, May 2012.

“‘We Put No Stumbling Block in Anyone’s Path, so that Our Ministry Will Not Be Discredited’: Paul’s Response to an Idol Food Inquiry in 1 Cor 8:1–13.” McMaster Divinity College Linguistics Circle, September 2011.

“The Theoretical Architecture of Systemic Functional Linguistics.” McMaster Divinity College Linguistics Circle, March 2011.

“M.A.K. Halliday: The Early Years.” McMaster Divinity College Linguistics Circle, March 2011.

“Ferdinand de Saussure.” McMaster Divinity College Linguistics Circle, February 2011.

“Jürgen Moltmann and the Old Testament: A Biblical-Dogmatic Discussion of Human Sin.” McMaster Divinity College Theological Research Seminar, February 2010.

Publications:
With Stanley E. Porter and Francis G.H. Pang. Linguistics and the Bible: Retrospect and Prospects. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, forthcoming.

“Torah Observance without Faith: The Interlocutor of James 2:18 as a Critic of Jesus-Faith.” In Light from Linguistic Criticism on the Epistle of James: Whole Grains from “Straw.” Edited by James Dvorak and Zachary Dawson. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, forthcoming.

Edited with Stanley E. Porter. Paul and Scripture. Pauline Studies 10. Leiden: Brill, forthcoming.

“‘And It’s Not Like Moses Put A Veil Over His Face to Hide…’ (2 Cor 3:13): An Hypothesis Regarding Paul’s Understanding of Exodus 34.” In Paul and Scripture. Edited by Stanley E. Porter and Christopher D. Land. Pauline Studies 10. Leiden: Brill, forthcoming.

“‘There Is No Longer Any Place for Me in These Regions’: The Historical Setting of Romans.” In Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Edited by Stanley E. Porter and Francis G.H. Pang. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, forthcoming.

With Claire Urbach. “An Appliable Linguistics Indeed: SFL and the Structural Potential of Ancient Letters.” In Challenging Boundaries in Linguistics: Systemic Functional Perspectives. Edited by Stella Neumann, Rebekah Wegener, Jennifer Fest, Paula Niemietz and Nicole Hützen, 133–60. Aachen British and American Studies Series 20. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2017.

With Francis G.H. Pang. “The Past, Present, and Future of the OpenText.org Annotated Greek Corpus.” In The Language and Literature of the New Testament: Essays in Honour of Stanley E. Porter’s 60th Birthday. Edited by Lois K. Fuller Dow, Craig A. Evans, and Andrew W. Pitts, 69–105. Biblical Interpretation 150. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

Edited with Stanley E. Porter and Gregory P. Fewster. Modeling Biblical Languages: Selected Papers from the McMaster Divinity College Linguistics Circle. Linguistic Biblical Studies 13. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

With Stanley E. Porter and Gregory P. Fewster. “Introduction.” In Modeling Biblical Languages: Selected Papers from the McMaster Divinity College Linguistics Circle. Edited by Stanley E. Porter, Gregory P. Fewster, and Christopher D. Land. Linguistic Biblical Studies 13. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

“Jesus before Pilate: A Discourse Analysis of John 18:33–38.” In Modeling Biblical Languages: Selected Papers from the McMaster Divinity College Linguistics Circle. Edited by Stanley E. Porter, Gregory P. Fewster, and Christopher D. Land. Linguistic Biblical Studies 13. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

The Integrity of 2 Corinthians and Paul’s Aggravating Absence. New Testament Monographs 36. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2015.

“Paul and the Alienation of the Jews: A Response to Stanley E. Porter and Eckhard J. Schnabel.” In Rejection: God’s Refugees in Biblical and Contemporary Perspective. Edited by Stanley E. Porter, 181–90. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2015.

“Digitizing Ancient Manuscripts: Some Thoughts about the Production of Digital Editions.” Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 9 (2013): 9–41.

“‘We Put No Stumbling Block in Anyone’s Path, so that Our Ministry Will Not Be Discredited’: Paul’s Response to an Idol Food Inquiry in 1 Cor 8:1–13.” In Paul and His Social Relations. Edited by Stanley E. Porter and Christopher D. Land, 229–83. PAST 7. Leiden: Brill, 2013.

“Paul and His Social Relations: An Introduction.” In Paul and His Social Relations. Edited by Stanley E. Porter and Christopher D. Land, 1–6. PAST 7. Leiden: Brill, 2013.

Paul and His Social Relations. Edited with Stanley Porter. Pauline Studies 7. Leiden: Brill, 2012.

“Varieties of Greek.” In The Language of the New Testament: Context, History and Development. Edited by Stanley E. Porter and Andrew Pitts, 243–60. LBS 6. Leiden: Brill, 2012.