About the lecture
A key concern of historical-critical interpretation of the New Testament is its contextualization within Greco-Roman antiquity, including ancient Judaism. However, in doing so, epigraphic sources were neglected for a long time, as the focus was exclusively on the literary evidence. In fact, these, together with surviving papyri, represent the linguistic world of antiquity much more than the writings of elite authors. A close study of the use of lexemes in the hundreds of thousands of inscriptions from antiquity therefore allows conclusions to be drawn about the meaning of lexemes such as δικαιοσύνη, both in terms of the authors' intentions and of the potential receptions. The lecture will therefore open up new perspectives on the question of whether δικαιοσύνη is to be regarded as justice or as righteousness, and at the same time show how the inscriptional sources can be made fruitful for the exegesis of the New Testament.
About Markus Öhler
- 1967 born in Linz, Upper Austria
- 1985-1992 Study of Protestant Theology in Vienna
- 1992-2001 University Assistant for New Testament Studies
- 1996 PhD on the reception of Elijah-Traditions in the New Testament
- 1999-2001 research stay at the University of Tübingen
- 2001 Habilitation on the historical figure of Barnabas and his presentation in the Book of Acts
- 2001-2011 Associate Professor in Vienna
- Full Professor since 2011
- Former research fields: History of Early Christianity, Graeco-Roman Associations, Household Religion
- Current projects: Epigraphical Commentary on the New Testament, Paul's Letter to the Romans
About the Dahl Lecture
The Faculty of Theology presents every other year an international lecture in honour of Nils Alstrup Dahl. He was a professor at the University of Oslo and at Yale University, USA, and Norway’s most international New Testament scholar in the 20th century. His publications ranged widely thematically and in time, from 1936 until 2000, and his ideas are still discussed. Dahl played a role in initiating the new Historical Jesus research in the 1950s. Dahl was born 25th of June 1911 and died July 2nd in 2001.