Nordic New Testament Conference University of Gothenburg, 12–15 June 2026

15.00–17.00   Arrival and onsite registration

17.00–17.15   Welcome address by the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, followed by some practical information

17.15–18.15   Keynote lecture I: 
Kasper Bro Larsen, Aarhus University, “Metalepsis in the Gospels: Postclassical Narratology and Early Christian Storytelling” 

Chair: Tobias Hägerland, University of Gothenburg

18.15–19.15   Welcome reception (drinks and snacks) 

9.00–10.00     Keynote lecture II: 
Outi Lehtipuu, University of Helsinki, “Historical but Non-canonical? Non-historical but Canonical? John 7:53–8:11 in Scholarship”

Chair: Lotta Valve, University of Eastern Finland

10.00–10.30   Coffee and tea

10.30–12.00   Seminar session I

12.00–13.30   Lunch at the Museum of World Culture, Södra vägen 54

13.30–14.45   Special session I: PhD projects in progress

Veljko Birač, Stockholm School of Eastern Christian Studies and University of Eastern Finland, “The Son David Sang About: The Psalmistic Background of the Messiah Language of Early Christianity within Ancient Judaism Literary Discourse”

Annette Hjort Knudsen, University of Copenhagen, ”The Phenomenon of Power Encountered in Biblical Narratives and Historic Case Studies Illuminated by Hannah Arendt’s Reflections”

Anni-Maria Peltola, University of Eastern Finland, ”Biblical References in Statements Given by Church Leaders in the Context of the Russo-Ukrainian War”

Chairs: Ellen Aasland Reinertsen, University of Oslo, and Lukas Hagel, Lund University

14.45–15.15   Coffee and tea

15.15–16.30   Special session II: PhD projects in progress

Myriam Pauline Razamanaro, VID Specialized University, “Should Nenilava remain Silent? A Malagasy Reading of 1 Corinthians 14:33b–40”

Tin Nwe Aye, University College Stockholm, “Seeing the Invisible in View of Stoic Knowledge in a Hellenistic Jewish Context”

Victoria Vasquez, Uppsala University, “Envisioning an Honourable Death – The Death of Jesus in the Synoptics”

Chairs: Ellen Aasland Reinertsen, University of Oslo, and Lukas Hagel, Lund University

17.00–19.00   Excursion – sightseeing by boat (with drinks and snacks), departing from Kungsportsplatsen

9.00–10.30     Seminar session II

10.30–13.30   Coffee and tea, followed by Sunday morning break, and lunch at the Museum of World Culture, Södra vägen 54

13.30–14.30   Keynote lecture III: 
Marianne Bjelland Kartzow, University of Oslo, “Nordic and New Testament Neighborhoods: Intersectional Entanglements”

Chair: Anders Martinsen, Olso Metropolitan University

14.30–15.00   Coffee and tea

15.00–16.30   Seminar session III

16.30–17.00   Break 

17.00–18.00   Keynote lecture IV: 
Rúnar Már Thorsteinsson, University of Iceland, “Did Paul Address Jesus Followers (’Christians’) in Romans?”

Chair: Sigurvin Lárus Jónsson, University of Münster

18.15–21.00   Dinner at Restaurang Tiljan, Berzeliigatan 1

9.00–10.00     Keynote lecture V: 
 Karin Neutel, Umeå University, “Why We Need to Demythologize the Bible – Again”

Chair: Thomas Kazen, University College Stockholm

10.00–10.30   Coffee and tea

10.30–12.00   Seminar session IV

12.00–13.30   Lunch at the Museum of World Culture, Södra vägen 54

13.30–15.00   Business meetings, farewell and departure

Apocalypticism in the New Testament, room C250 (FINLAND)

Helge Ask, VID Specialized University, “Jude and the Rebellious Angels: A Case of Lex Talionis?”

Cato Gulaker, Ansgar University College, “Bound to Comply: Exploring the Autonomy of the Devil in Revelation 20” 

Tobias Hägerland, University of Gothenburg, “Regeneration and Inheritance: An Apocalyptic Saying De-apocalypticized (Titus 3:5–7)”

Chair: Lotta Valve, University of Eastern Finland

Greco-Roman Society and Literature and the New Testament, room C254 (ICELAND)

Thomas Christensen, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, “Paul as a Figure of Cultural Memory in Acts: Negotiating Christian Identity within Greco-Roman Values”

Sara Didriksen, Aarhus University, “The Father, The Son and Homer”

Veli-Pekka Haarala, University of Helsinki, “From Workshop to Ekklesia: Urban Space and the Material Conditions of Early Christian Gathering”

Chair: Sigurvin Lárus Jónsson, University of Münster

Receptions of the New Testament, room C452 (NORWAY)

Ingunn Aadland, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, “Shaping the Bible: Scripture in Liturgy”

Tobias Ålöw, University of Oslo, “Apparitions of Authority: Bakhtinian Heteroglossia and the Pauline Body in the Lyrics to Ghost’s ‘Satanized’”

Morten Beckmann, University of Agder, “Hell is Loose: Reinventing the Afterlife in Martin Luther’s 1545 Translation”

Chair: Anders Martinsen, Olso Metropolitan University

Socio-cognitive and Evolutionary Approaches to the New Testament, room C454 (SWEDEN)

Johanna Saari, University of Helsinki, “Memory in Early Christian Mission”

Harri Söderholm, University of Helsinki, “Old Stories, New Tools: A Laboratory Experiment with Early Christian Martyr Narratives”

Chair: Thomas Kazen, University College Stockholm

Greco-Roman Society and Literature and the New Testament, room C254 (ICELAND)

Daniel Hjort, Johannelund School of Theology, “Imitation of Role Models in Greco-Roman Biographies and in the Gospel of Matthew”

Ioannis Nusias, Uppsala University, “Does Paul Reflect an Aristotelian Concept of Change in 1 Corinthians 15:51–52?”

Sara Saarela, University of Eastern Finland, “Parables in Paul’s Letters: What, How, and Why?”

Chair: Sigurvin Lárus Jónsson, University of Münster

Jewish Texts and Traditions in Early Christianity, room C456 (DENMARK)

Katja Kujanpää, University of Helsinki, “Contradictions within the Scriptures? Paul and Barnabas Playing One Quotation against Another”

Martin Landgren, University College Stockholm, “’The Middle Ground in Jewish Relations’ and the Dating of Ignatius – Some Considerations”

Jill Middlemas, University of Gothenburg, “The Concept of the Divine Image in the Hebrew Bible and Issues of Inclusion in Paul's Letter to the Galatians (3:28)”

Chair: Lukas Hagel, Lund University

Power, Hierarchies and Asymmetries and the New Testament, room C454 (SWEDEN)

Camilla Brokholm Pedersen, Aarhus University, “’Read these verses with faith’: Augustine’s Use of Biblical Texts in His Letters on Sexual Violence”

Heikki Hietanen, University of Helsinki, “Why Exactly Did They Not ‘Hold Everything in Common’: The Disturbing Presence of Four Others in Interpreting Acts 2:44 and 4:32”

Jacob Munk Rosenlund, Aarhus University, “’The Voice of the Bridegroom’ as Production of Presence in Patristic Writings on John 3:29”

Chair: Ellen Aasland Reinertsen, University of Oslo

Socio-cognitive and Evolutionary Approaches to the New Testament, room C250 (FINLAND)

Thomas Kazen, University College Stockholm, “Matthew in a World of Apocalyptic Myth: Emotions and Conceptual Blending in Matthew’s Expansions and Reworkings”

Aldar Nõmmik, University College Stockholm, “What Is Intuitive about Divination? Cognitive Science Approaches to Descriptions of Prophetic Activity in Philo and Paul”

Chair: Kamilla Skarström Hinojosa, University of Gothenburg

Apocalypticism in the New Testament, room C250 (FINLAND)

Merete Hodt, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, “Apocalyptic Apologetics in 2 Corinthians?”

Ludvig Nyman, Lund University, “Reaching Back to Sinai: 2 Cor 3 and Apocalyptic Claims for Legitimacy”

Anna Rebecca Solevåg, VID Specialized University, “Coronapocalypse: Polemics of Apocalypse and Plague in Covid-19 and Its Aftermath”

Chair: Lotta Valve, University of Eastern Finland

Greco-Roman Society and Literature and the New Testament, room C254 (ICELAND)

Gunnar Samuelsson, University of Gothenburg, “The Alkimila Graffito Reconsidered”

Victoria Vasquez, Uppsala University, “A Noble Death Disrupted: Luke 22:43–44 and Early Christian Reception of Jesus’s Agony”

Chair: Sigurvin Lárus Jónsson, University of Münster

Jewish Texts and Traditions in Early Christianity, room C456 (DENMARK)

Jacob Munk Rosenlund, Aarhus University, “Burying the Bridegroom: John’s Use of the Song of Songs in Context of Jesus’ Burial”

Pasi Schultz, University of Eastern Finland, “From a Winged River to a Sea Dragon : Allusions to Isaiah 7–8 in Rev 12”

Chair: Lukas Hagel, Lund University

Power, Hierarchies and Asymmetries and the New Testament, room C454 (SWEDEN)

Annette Hjort Knudsen, University of Copenhagen, “Paradoxes of Power in the Book of Acts”

Jennifer Nyström, University of Gothenburg, “Apocalypse and Amalek: New Testament Reception in Christian Zionist Responses to the Israel–Hamas War”

Chair: Ellen Aasland Reinertsen, University of Oslo

Receptions of the New Testament, room C452 (NORWAY)

Britt Dahlman, Lund University, “The Bible in the Greek and Latin Cassian”

Gunnar Haaland, NLA University College, “Nativity and Violence: Intertextual and Theological Explorations of Biblia pauperum nova in and beyond the Classroom”

Joel Kuhlin, Lund University, “The Failure of the End: Apocalyptic Imaginary and the Immanence of the World in Roy Andersson’s Living Trilogy”

Chair: Anders Martinsen, Olso Metropolitan University

Apocalypticism in the New Testament, room C250 (FINLAND)

Maria Sturesson, Lund University, “A Rupture in Time: On Mark's and Matthew's Resurrection Narratives Between History and Apocalypse”

Lotta Valve, University of Eastern Finland, “Revisiting the Carcass and the Vultures”

Cecilia Wassén, Uppsala University, “Third Temple Movements and the Use of the New Testament in Contemporary Apocalyptic Discourse”

Chair: Tobias Hägerland, University of Gothenburg

Greco-Roman Society and Literature and the New Testament, room C254 (ICELAND)

Jacob P. B. Mortensen, Aarhus University, “Computing Mark’s Genre”

Joel Waris, University of Helsinki, “Nero and the Apocalyptic Imagination: Seneca, Lucan, and the Book of Revelation”

Chair: Gunnar Samuelsson, University of Gothenburg

Jewish Texts and Traditions in Early Christianity, room C456 (DENMARK)

Daniel Ridings, University of Gothenburg, “Pesher in 2 Clement”

Kamilla Skarström Hinojosa, University of Gothenburg, “From Stone to Community and Temple: Isaiah 28:16 as a Jewish Symbolic Tradition in Early Christianity”

Samuel Tedder, University of Eastern Finland, “Why Is the Spirit So Central in Paul's Argument in Galatians?”

Chair: Jill Middlemas, University of Gothenburg

Power, Hierarchies and Asymmetries and the New Testament, room C454 (SWEDEN)

Moona Kinnunen, University of Helsinki, “Queering the Lamb of God: Jesus, Animality and Ecocentrism”

Lauri Thurén, University of Eastern Finland, “’Sell your cloak and buy a sword’ (Luke 22:36)”

Chair: Jennifer Nyström, University of Gothenburg

Receptions of the New Testament, room C452 (NORWAY)

Daniel C. Maier, University of Copenhagen, “Scripture on Screen: Exploring the Bible in Digital Gaming”

Anders Martinsen, Oslo Metropolitan University, “’Real’ and ‘Unreal’ Homosexuality: A Critical Examination of The New Testament and the Norwegian Church, and the ‘Question of Homosexuality’”

Jorunn Økland, University of Oslo, “From Peritomé to Castration: The Realization of a Pauline Sarcasm in Early Christianity?”

Chair: Tobias Ålöw, University of Oslo