Institut für Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

John Van Maaren, MA PhD

2013–2019: Ph.D. in Religious Studies 

McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
• Dissertation: The Gospel of Mark within Judaism: Reading the
Second Gospel in Its Ethnic Landscape
• Emphasis: Biblical Field—Early Christianity/Early Judaism
• Comprehensive Exams (distinction): Early Christianity, Early Judaism,
and Hebrew Bible

2008–2011: M.A. in New Testament (cum laude)

Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL
• Thesis: A Comparison of the Method Used in the New Testament
Introductions of Theodor Zahn and Adolf Jülicher

2004–2008: B.A. in Biblical Studies, Philosophy, and Mathematics (summa cum laude)

Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL

2023–2024: Adjunct Professor of Religion

Seaver College, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, USA
• Heidelberg International Program

2017–2019: Adjunct Instructor of Religious Studies

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

2024–2027: FWF ESPRIT Postdoctoral Fellowship

University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
• Academic Host: Markus Öhler
• Project: Paul’s Letter to the Romans and Ancient Associations

2021–2024: Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship

University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
• Academic Host: Matthias Konradt
• Project: The Gospel of Mark’s Judaism and the Death of Christ as
Ransom for Many

2017–2018, 2018–2019: Tantur Ecumenical Institute Residential Doctoral Fellowship 

Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies, Jerusalem
• Administered by the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN
• Participated in a Tantur fellows’ seminar and events at associated
institutions, including the W.F. Albright Institute for Archaeological
Research, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, École biblique et
archéologique française de Jérusalem, and Pontificio istituto biblico

2018–2020: Research Assistant 

Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
• Supervisor: Daniel Machiela
• Project: A Handbook of the Aramaic Scrolls from the Qumran Caves:
Manuscripts, Language, and Scribal Practices (Brill 2022)

2019–2021: Assistant Director of Academic Support, Grants and Fellowships

The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
• Directed Tutoring Services including recruiting, hiring, training, scheduling, and paying
tutors; trend and data analysis; and strategic long-term planning.
o Proposed, implemented, and successfully received College Reading and Learning
Association International Tutor Training Program certification (level 1)
• Coordinated student fellowship applications. Responsibilities included promoting nationally
competitive fellowship programs, assisting students throughout application process, and
coordinating faculty interview committees.

University Service

  • 2024–2025: Protestant Faculty of Theology, University of Vienna, Austria
    • Curricular Working Group
  • Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
    • 2016: Departmental Relocation Committee
    • 2014–2015: Graduate Student Departmental Representative

Monographs

  • The Gospel of Mark’s Judaism and the Death of Christ as Ransom for Many. WUNT I/534.Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck (2025).

  • The Boundaries of Jewishness in the Southern Levant 200 BCE–132 CE: Power, Strategies, and Ethnic-Configurations. Studia Judaica 118. Berlin: De Gruyter (2022).

    Reviews

    Joseph Scales, Ancient Jew Review, Oct 15, 2023.
    Jason Maston. Religious Studies Review, Dec 8, 2023.
    Nicholas Taylor, Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal, Dec 21, 2023.
    Jason Staples, Journal for the Study of Judaism, Nov 10, 2024.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  • “The Twelve Tribes of Israel out from Every Nation, Tribe, People, and Language in Rev 7:9–17.” Harvard Theological Review 118.3 (2025).
  • “The Salvific Significance of Torah and Jesus’s Death as a Ransom for Many in Mark’s Narrative World.” Journal of the Jesus Movement in Its Jewish Setting 11 (2024): 53–75.
  • “Is the Gospel of Mark Distinctly Pauline? A Critical Evaluation.” Journal of Biblical Literature 143.1 (2024): 125–42.
  • “How Can the New Testament Writings Be within Judaism? Distinguishing Ways of Asking and Answering the Question.” Zeitschrift für die Neuetestamentliche Wissenschaft 114.2 (2023):
    264–303.
  • “Mapping Jewishness in Antiquity: New Contributions from the Social Sciences.” Journal of Ancient Judaism 9.3 (2018): 421–454.
  • “Does Mark’s Jesus Abrogate Torah?: Jesus’s Purity Logion and Its Illustration in Mark 7:15–23.” Journal of the Jesus Movement in Its Jewish Setting 4 (2017): 21–41.
  • “The Adam-Christ Typology in Paul and its Development in the Early Church Fathers.” Tyndale Bulletin 64.2 (2013): 275–297.

Book Chapters

  • “How are the Children before the Dogs? Reading Jesus’s Encounter with the Syrophoenician Woman within Ancient Child-Dog Symbolism.” Pages 86–97 in The Animal in the New Testament and Graeco-Roman World: Human-Animal Studies Perspectives from Christian, Jewish, and Pagan Thought. LNTS. London: T&T Clark (forthcoming 2025).
  • “Jubilees and Jewishness in Hasmonean Judea: Linking Text and Context in the Study of Jewish Identity with the Help of Ethnic Studies.” Pages 280–297 in Religious Inventions: Ancient Mediterranean Practice and the Study of Religion. Edited by Erin Vearncombe and William Arnal. Toronto, ON: McGill-Queens University Press (forthcoming 2025).
  • “Mark within Judaism.” Pages 111–122 in Within Judaism? Interpretive Trajectories in Judaism, Christianity and Islam from the First to the Twenty-First Century. Edited by Karin Herder-Zetterholm and Anders Runesson. Lanham, MD: Fortress (2023).
  • “Gentile Alterity and Ethnic Solidarity: The Role of Group Categorization in Understanding Mark as Jewish Literature.” Pages 139–158 in Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–400 CE). Edited by Karin Hedner Zetterholm, Anders Runesson, Magnus Zetterholm, and Cecilia Wassén. Coniectanea Biblica. Boston: Lanham: Fortress (2022).
  • “Constructing Mark’s Social Setting: Fissures in Gentile Mark; Blueprints for Jewish Mark.” Pages 211–226 in Genres of Mark: Reading Mark's Gospel from Micro and Macro Perspectives. Edited by Jacob P. B. Mortensen. Studia Aarhusiana Neotestamentica 9. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (2022).

Book Reviews

  • John within Judaism: Religion, Ethnicity, and the Shaping of Jesus-Oriented Jewishness in the Fourth Gospel, by Wally Cirafesi. Review of Biblical Literature (April 23, 2023)
  • Vision and Voice: Revelatory Experience in the Formation of Christian Identity, by Mark D. Batluck. Review of Biblical Literature. (Mar 24, 2023).

Other Writing

  • “Matthew (disciple).” Bible Odyssey. 2022. (Katelyn Schnoor and John Van Maaren)
  • “What Does ‘within Judaism’ Mean? Some Helpful Distinctions.” Ancient Jew Review. Sept 5, 2022.

Presentations

  • “The Scholarship of Mark Nanos: A Retrospective.” Paul within Judaism section. Society of Biblical Literature, Boston, MA, 22–25 Nov 2025. (panelist)
  • “If the Christ of the Earliest Gospel(s) Is thoroughly Jewish, How Might We Re-Imagine the Jesus of History?” Historical Jesus seminar. Societas Novi Testamenti Studiorum, Regensburg, Germany, 6–8 Aug 2025.
  • “Reconsidering Paul’s Jewish addressees in Rome.” New Testament Writings within Judaism research unit. European Association of Biblical Studies. Uppsala, Sweden, 24–26 June 2025.
  • “‘When Things Click,’ or Unexpected Confluences when Trying to Read to the Gospel of Mark within Judaism.” Colloquium Marcianum I: Aktuelle Forschungen zur frühesten Narratio des werdenden Christentums: Inter- und Transdisziplinäre Zugänge zum Markusevangelium und seiner Rezeption. Bonn, Germany, 28 Mar 2025. (Keynote)
  • “Paul’s addresses in Rome living among the nations.” Houston Christian University Research Seminar. Houston, TX, USA, 17 Jan 2025 (virtual).
  • “The Reconstruction of Early Christ-Groups in Rome as Proxy for Competing Contemporary Interests: A History of Scholarship,” Early Jewish Christian Relations Section. Society of Biblical Literature, San Diego, CA, 23 Nov 2024.
  • “Rewriting the Nations into the Earliest Memories of Jesus.” Rewriting Jesus: Forgotten Pasts and Possible Futures. Münster, Germany, 27 Sept 2024.
  • “John and the Synoptic Gospels and Their Places within Judaism” Johannine Literature Section. Society of Biblical Literature. San Antonio, TX, 20 Nov 2023.
  • “How does Mark Communicate through Stories? Or, When Can We Expect Symbolic Meaning from Narrative Accounts?” Judaism and Trajectories of Religious Interaction: From the New Testament to the Quran. Lund, Sweden, 11–13 Sept 2023.
  • “The Development of Gentile Mark in 19th and 20th Century Biblical Scholarship.” A Critical History of Exegesis since around 1900 Workshop. European Association of Biblical Studies. Syracuse, Italy, 10–13 July 2023.
  • “How are the Children before the Dogs? Reading Jesus’s encounter with the Syrophoenician Woman within Ancient Child-Dog Symbolism.” The Animal in the New Testament and Graeco-Roman World: Human-Animal Studies Perspectives from Christian, Jewish, and Pagan Thought. Mainz, Germany, 16 June 2023.
  • “The Gospels of Mark and John in Comparative Perspective.” John within Judaism in the context of a "within-Judaism" reading of all NT texts panel. Virtual Enoch seminar. 14 Mar 2023.
  • “Where Are the Nations in Revelation’s Vision of the New Jerusalem?” Jewish Christianity/Christian Judaism section. Society of Biblical Literature. Denver, CO, 20 Nov. 2022.
  • “Mark: Interpreting Paul within Judaism?” Pauline Epistles section. Society of Biblical Literature. Denver, CO, 20 Nov. 2022.
  • “What if the Christian New Testament is made up of Jewish Texts?” Faculty of Humanities and Theology Public Lecture, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 28 Oct. 2022.
  • “Creating Coherence while Reading Mark’s Gospel: το εὐαγγέλιον (‘the good news’) and Its Resonance Then and Now.” New Testament and Jewish Studies Joint Seminar, Lund University. Lund, Sweden, 25 Oct. 2022.
  • “How Can the New Testament Writings be Jewish Texts? Distinguishing Ways of Asking and Answering the Question.” Neutestamentliche Sozietät. Heidelberg, Germany, 11 Feb. 2022.
  • “Echoes of Restoration in Mark's Proclamation of the Kingdom.” Gospel of Mark section, Society of Biblical Literature. San Antonio, TX, 22 Nov. 2021. (remote)
  • “What Does Paul within Judaism Actually Mean?” Paul within Judaism section, Society of Biblical Literature. San Antonio, TX, 22 Nov. 2021. (panelist with Adele Reinhartz, Matthew Novenson, Anders Runesson, and Christine Hayes; remote)
  • “What did Mark expect from his intended recipients? Implications of assumed familiarity with Israel's ancestral writings for Mark's future expectations.” Theologische Facultät Oberseminar, Heidelberg, Germany, 13 Nov. 2021.
  • “Reading the New Testament within the Conceptual World of First-Century Judaism: The Gospel of Mark’s Kingdom of God as a Case Study.” 10th Virtual Bonn Humboldt Award Winners’ Forum. Bonn, Germany, 21 Oct. 2021.
  • “Reading Paul within Judaism: Criteria, Methodology, and Moving beyond Binaries.” Historical Paul section, Society of Biblical Literature. Boston, MA, 1 Dec. 2020. (remote)
  • “The Gospel of Mark as Jewish Literature in Recent Scholarship and Possible Implications for Markan Genre.” The Gospel of Mark and Genre: Micro and Macro. Aarhus University, Denmark, 29 Jan. 2020.
  • “Calling Sinners to Repentance: Torah Observance as Kingdom Membership Criterion in the Gospel of Mark.” Gospel of Mark section, Society of Biblical Literature. San Diego, CA, 23 Nov. 2019.
  • “Gentile Alterity and Ethnic Solidarity: The Role of Group Categorization in Understanding Mark as Jewish Literature.” Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–400 CE), Lund, Sweden, 14 May 2019.
  • “No Early Parting of the Ways: The Gospel of Mark within the Boundaries of Jewishness.” Early Christian Judaism group, Institute of Biblical Research. Denver, CO, 16 Nov. 2018.
  • “The Gentile Mission in Mark’s Gospel and the Boundaries of Jewishness among Early Jesus Followers.” Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo, Norway, 22 Oct. 2018.
  • “The New Testament as Jewish Literature: Mark within the Boundaries of Jewishness.” Tuesdays at Tantur, Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies, Jerusalem, 8 May 2018.
  • “Boundary Making and the Study of Jewish Christianity/Christian Judaism: Contributions from the
    Social Sciences.” Jewish Christianity/Christian Judaism section, Society of Biblical Literature. Boston, MA, 19 Nov. 2017.
  • “Jubilees and Jewishness in Hasmonean Judea: Linking Text and Context in the Study of Jewish Identity with the Help of Ethnic Studies.” Canadian Society of Biblical Studies. Toronto, Ontario, 28 May 2017.
  • “Defining Jewishness in Antiquity: Methodology and Case Study.” McMaster Ancient Judaism Ancient Christianity Seminar. Hamilton, Ontario, 29 Mar. 2017. Review Panel of Matthew Thiessen’s Paul and the Gentile Problem at the McMaster Ancient Judaism Ancient Christianity Seminar. Hamilton, Ontario, 24 Jan. 2017.
  • “Mark’s Judaism: Repositioning the Second Gospel.” Authoritative Texts and Their Reception Graduate Student Seminar. Athens, Greece, 11 Oct. 2016.
  • “Reconstructing Pharisaic Teaching on Oaths and Vows: A New Approach.” McMaster University Graduate Conference: Religion and Law. Hamilton, Ontario, 17 Oct. 2015.

  • Aramaic
  • French (reading)
  • Ge’ez
  • German (speaking, reading)
  • Greek (Koine)
  • Hebrew (Biblical, Qumranic, Rabbinic)
  • Latin (Classical)
  • Syriac (Estrangelo, Jacobite) 

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  • “Tutoring in Higher Education during COVID-19: Lessons from a Private University’s Transition to Remote Learning.” Journal of College Reading and Learning 52.1 (2022): 3–22. (John Van Maaren, Magdalene Jensen, Anna Foster)
  • “Reconceptualising Student Ratings of Teaching to Support Quality Discourse on Student Learning: A Systems Approach.” Higher Education: The International Higher Education Journal 83.1 (2022): 35–55. (Torgny Roxå, Arshad Ahmad, Janette Barrington, John Van
    Maaren, and Robert Cassidy)
  • “Crossing into New Ways of Thinking: The Potential of Threshold Concepts to Enhance Student Growth in Theological Education.” Didaktikos: Journal of Theological Education
    (2020).
  • “Transformative Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Toward a Threshold Concept Framework for Biblical Studies.” Wabash Center Journal for Teaching 1.1 (2020): 61–78. (with responses by Richard Ascough, Tat-siong Benny Liew, and Jocelyn McWhirter)
  • “Partnership in Practice: Implementing Healey’s Conceptual Model.” International Journal for Students as Partners 1.2 (2017): 1–10. (Arshad Ahmad, Aadil Ali, John Van Maaren, Janette Barrington, Olivia Merritt, and Kyle Ansilio)

Book Chapters

  • “Learning to Treat Other Ways of Being Generously through the Biblical Studies Classroom.” Christian Education in a Secular Age. Edited by Joy Demoskoff and Matthew Zantingh. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. (forthcoming).
  • “Visiting the Dead: Connecting Ancient Text and Modern Practice.” Pages 167–190 in Teaching the Bible with Undergraduates. Edited by Jocelyn McWhirter and Sylvie T. Raquel. Resources for Biblical Study 99. Atlanta: SBL, 2022. (John Van Maaren and Hanna Tervanotko)
  • “Measurement, Meaning, and Mindset: A Multi-perspective Reflection on Student Approaches to Learning and Institutional Development.” Pages 32–47 in Taking Stock 2.0: Transforming Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Edited by Joy Mighty, Julia Christensen
    Hughes, and Denise Stockley. Society for Teaching in Higher Education, 2022. (Janette Barrington, John Van Maaren, Torgny Roxå, Robert Cassidy, and Arshad Ahmad)

Presentations

  • “How Can We Teach Our Students if We Don't Know What They Are Thinking?” Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies Section. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting San Diego, 25 Nov 2024.
  • “Students as Research Partners as Transformative Teaching Practice.” From Policy to Practice: Critical Conversations and Quality Indicators that Make Teaching Count Panel. International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Perth, Australia. 27
    Oct. 2021. (remote)
  • “Preparing First-Gen Students to Return Home Well.” Framing an Equity-Minded Approach to SoTL through the Arts and Humanities Panel. International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Perth, Australia. 28 Oct. 2021. (remote)
  • “Teaching the Bible in the 21st Century: Depth of Analysis as Antidote for Polarization.” Christian Education in a Secular Age. Briercrest College and Seminary. Caronport, Saskatchewan. 29 Oct. 2021. (remote)
  • “Learning from Our Experience: Implications of the Transition to Remote Tutoring for Student Success and Well-Being.” Catholic University of America Research Day. Washington, DC, 15 Apr. 2021. (co-presented with Anna Foster and Magdalene Jensen)
  • “The Impact of Experiential Learning on Student Engagement and Well-Being: Results of a Small-Scale Study.” Teaching Biblical Studies in an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Context. Society of Biblical Literature. Boston, MA, 30 Nov. 2020. (remote)
  • “The State of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Religious Studies: A Student Perspective.” Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. Society of Biblical Literature. San Diego, CA, 23 Nov. 2019. (panelist with Maryellen Weimer, Frank Yamada, Joanne Maguire, and Kathleen Fisher)
  • “The Contribution of Threshold Concepts for Creating a Discipline of Pedagogy in Biblical Studies.” The Pedagogy of Bible Education, Mofet Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel, 4 Dec. 2018.
  • “Transformative Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Toward a Consensus of Threshold Concepts in Biblical Studies.” Society of Biblical Literature. Denver, CO, 18 Nov. 2018.
  • “Re-conceptualizing the Evaluation of Teaching: Two Contrasting Examples of Policy Uptake.” International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Bergen, Norway, 25 Oct. 2018. (co-presented with Torgny Roxå and Arshad Ahmad)
  • “Students as Partners: Theory, Practice, and Beyond.” International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Calgary, Alberta, 14 Oct. 2017. (in absentia)

University Courses

  • Pepperdine University
    The Story of Christian Scripture (taught four times) 2023–2024
  • McMaster University
    Archaeology and the Bible 2019
    Humour and Religion 2017
  • Trinity International University
    Beginning Greek II 2011
    Beginning Greek I 2010

Teaching Assistantships

  • McMaster University
    Humour and Religion 2017
    Introduction to Islam 2016
    Introduction to the New Testament 2016
    Introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament 2015
    What on Earth Is Religion? 2014–2015
    Death and Dying: Western Perspectives 2014
    Women in the Biblical Tradition 2013

Online Distance Learning Courses

  • Israel Institute of Biblical Studies, Tel Aviv, Israel
    The Jewish Background of the New Testament 2014–2021
    • Nine-month webinar-style course taught twenty times
  • Israel Bible Center, Galilee, Israel
    The Gospel of Mark as Jewish Literature 2019
    Partings of the Ways: Origins of Christianity and Judaism 2018

Community Engagement

  • Temple Anshe Sholom Reformed Synagogue, Hamilton, Ontario
    What Parted and When? Jews and Christians in the First Four Centuries 2017
    • Four-week lecture series co-hosted with St. Paul’s United Church of Canada

High School Teacher 2011–2013

  • Moses Lake Christian Academy, Moses Lake, WA
    • Taught Bible, literature, history, and math to secondary students

  • 2007–Pres.: Society of Biblical Literature
  • 2013–Pres.: Canadian Society of Biblical Studies
  • 2020–Pres.: Humboldt Network (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation)
  • 2022–Pres.: European Association of Biblical Studies 

  • 2024–2027: FWF ESPRIT postdoctoral fellowship (298,015.98 EUR)
  • 2021–2024: Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship (~120,000 EUR)
  • 2018–2019: Tantur Ecumenical Institute Residential Doctoral Fellowship (~$40,000 USD)
  • 2017–2018: Tantur Ecumenical Institute Residential Doctoral Fellowship (~$40,000 USD)
  • 2015–2016: Tuition Reduction Recipient (merit-based; $10,000 CAD)
  • 2015–2016: Abby Goldblatt Memorial Scholarship ($2,500 CAD)
  • 2011: Ludvig J. Pedersen Outstanding Thesis Award
  • 2010–2011: Greek Fellowship ($6,000 USD)
  • 2007–2008: Outstanding Senior of the Year, Trinity International University