Dr David M. Moffitt

Dr David M. Moffitt

Reader in New Testament

Researcher profile

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 2829
Email
dm206@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Biography

Dr Moffitt came to St Andrews in 2013, having previously taught New Testament at Duke Divinity School and Campbell University Divinity School. Dr Moffitt’s research interests orbit around the various ways the earliest Christians understood Jesus and their own identities in relation to Jewish scripture, practices, and beliefs. His work is especially focused on the Epistle to the Hebrews and the strategies the text employs to interpret early Christian claims about Jesus’ person, death, resurrection, and ascension in high-priestly and sacrificial terms. His book on Hebrews (Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews) attempts to show that the Christology and Soteriology developed by the author rests upon his correlation of the basic narrative of early Christian proclamation (i.e., Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension) with the ritual process of the Yom Kippur sacrifices, the end goal of which was the restoration and maintenance of fellowship between God and creation (i.e., atonement). In addition to contributions in various edited volumes, Dr Moffitt’s publications appear in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Biblical Literature, New Testament Studies, Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Älteren Kirche, Journal of Theological Studies, and Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. Dr Moffitt has been a Fulbright Scholar (Germany 2006–2007). His book Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews was a recipient of a Manfred LautenschlägerAward for Theological Promise (2013). He has also received a British Academy Small ResearchGrant to engage in research on several mosaics depicting sacrifice located in and around Ravenna.

Teaching

DI2003 Paul and the Epistles 

DI3601 Biblical Hermeneutics and Exegesis 

DI4608 The Gospel of Matthew 

DI4616 Atonement (with Dr Madhavi Nevader) 

DI4628 The Epistle to the Hebrews 

DI5107 Greek Readings 

Dissertation and Thesis supervision

Research areas

Dr Moffitt’s research focuses on the variety of ways the earliest Christians understood Jesus and their own identities in relation to Jewish scripture, practices, and beliefs. His core areas of ongoing research concern the Epistle to the Hebrews and the ways this ancient, Christian sermon develops claims about Jesus’ person, death, resurrection, and ascension in high-priestly and sacrificial terms. Beyond Hebrews, Dr Moffitt has particular interests in the ways the early Christian confession of Jesus’ ascension influences the theologies of the various books of the New Testament.

PhD supervision

  • Joshua Johnson
  • Joel Butcher
  • Eric Foster-Whiddon
  • Cody Warta
  • Rainer Thiessen
  • Gwangsoo Lee
  • Aogu Suzuki
  • Tammy Wiese

Selected publications

 

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