Professor Paul Trebilco is pictured centre holding his Festschrift, which is a collection of academic essays that honour his research.
A mainstay of Mātai Whakapono Karaitiana - Theology at Otago has been honoured with a Festschrift, a book that pays tribute to a respected academic.
Professor Paul Trebilco received this collection of academic essays written and compiled in honour of his research, at a Society of New Testament Studies conference in Durham, England.
The accolades didn’t end there. During the conference, Paul was also appointed President of this prestigious academic society.
Paul says he was taken completely by surprise by the gift of the Festschrift. He was expecting a meeting with two people and was instead greeted by a gathering of many of the book’s contributors and other friends.
“I was completely overwhelmed and honoured to have such an amazing volume presented to me. The 24 contributors to the book are colleagues and former students and they have written a wonderfully engaging book, which makes an excellent contribution to the field of New Testament Studies. I’m so grateful to them all,” Paul says.
“I was completely overwhelmed and honoured to have such an amazing volume presented to me." – Professor Paul Trebilco
The lead editor of the work is Paul’s colleague at Otago, Dr Katie Marcar. She was supported by Emeritus Professor John Barclay of Durham University and Professor James Harrison of the Australian University College of Divinity. The work will also be published in Brill’s Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity academic book series.
Katie says this volume brings together established essays by world-class academics as well as younger scholars.
“As the lead editor of this project, I wanted to bring together a symphony of scholarly voices to celebrate the breadth and depth of Paul’s contribution to New Testament studies.
“Paul is a world-class scholar, as well as a wonderful human being (and those two things don’t always go together!). It has been an honour and a pleasure to lead this project and to pay respect to Paul’s great mahi and mana,” Katie says.
The essays relate to various aspects of Paul’s academic work and cluster around three broad and overlapping themes. The first theme is Early Christianity in Ephesus, Asia Minor, and the Greek Easter, the second is Early Christian women in the Greek East, and finally Early Christian identity and insider/outsider language.
One of the book’s contributors is Dr Jonathan Robinson, Director of the Graduate School at Carey Baptist College, Aotearoa. Jonathan completed his PhD in 2020 under Paul’s supervision, and he says he is pleased to contribute as one of his many appreciative former students.
“Paul’s supervision was exemplary and it was amazing to work here in Aotearoa with someone so highly respected internationally.
“My chapter is a critical analysis of the role worship of the Greek goddess Artemis may have played in the culture of the Ephesian church to which the New Testament letter of 1 Timothy is written. Because Paul is an expert on Ephesus this was a great opportunity to engage the work of a dear friend and mentor.”
Head of Theology at Otago, Professor Murray Rae says the high regard in which Paul is held by his colleagues in New Testament scholarship throughout the world is appropriately celebrated through this publication of a very fine collection of essays in his honour and his appointment as President of the society.
“Since its inception in 1996, Professor Trebilco has been the mainstay of the Theology programme at the University of Otago. Not only has he nourished and guided its growth into the flourishing programme that it is today, but he has also built an international reputation for his work on the world of the New Testament and Early Christianity. Otago can be proud of the achievements of one of its most eminent scholars,” Murray says.
Paul says it is a great privilege and honour to be elected as the 2028-2029 President of the leading academic society in the field of New Testament Studies, which began in 1938 and now has around 900 elected members. Paul is the second New Zealander to be President. The first was Professor Graham Stanton in 1996, an Otago graduate who spent his academic career at Kings College, London and the University of Cambridge.
Theology at Otago
The Theology Programme at Otago offers campus and distance courses on the Bible, Christian theology, church history, public theology, pastoral and practical theology, ministry, and chaplaincy that will deepen your understanding of the Christian faith.
Study Theology