Since 10/2022
Postdoctoral Researcher in New Testament Studies at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg

2020  2022
Library Traineeship and Master’s studies in Library and Information Science at Humboldt University Berlin

10/2017 – 12/2017
Research Stay at Durham University (UK)

2016 – 2020
Doctoral studies at Humboldt University Berlin; Dissertation on “Determined by Christ: The Pauline Metaphor ‘Being in Christ’” (supervisor: Prof. Dr. Cilliers Breytenbach)

2009 – 2015     
Protestant Theology studies at Humboldt University Berlin

2007 – 2009     
Worship Music studies in Sydney (AUS)

Determined by, Dependent on, and Dominated by Christ: The Pauline Metaphor ‘Being in Christ’

The dissertation addresses one of the apostle Paul’s most concise and widespread phrases: “being ‘in Christ’” and its variants such as ‘in the Lord’ or ‘in Christ Jesus’. While the phrase has received considerable attention throughout the history of research there is no consensus as to its origin and understanding. Therefore, the central aim of this investigation is to seek to determine how Paul came to use this prepositional phrase so frequently and what he meant by it. Especially striking and puzzling are those instances which refer to a person or group of people “being” ‘in Christ’”, so that they will be at the focus of this study. In order to answer these two main aspects, references from outside of the New Testament which make use of a similar prepositional phrase help to perceive that Paul’s usage expresses a relationship of dependence between Christ and the believers. Moreover, by the aid of modern metaphor theories the semantic context of the Pauline phrase receives special attention. On the basis of this follows a thorough study of the relevant references in the letters of Paul as well as a wider investigation into passages going beyond the scope of “being ‘in Christ’”, those using a related prepositional phrase (such as ‘with Christ’ or ‘through Christ’), and the usage of the phrase in the deutero-Pauline letters.

This dissertation project was successfully completed withinthe Research Group C-2 Space and metaphor in cognition, language, and texts of the Excellenc Cluster 264 Topoi.

ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8592-352X

Forthcoming                   
Determined by Christ: The Pauline Metaphor ‘Being in Christ’, Supplements to Novum Testamentum 191, Leiden.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004686199

2023
Review of: Niepert-Rumel, Sophia: Metaphernkombinationen in der neutestamentlichen Rede vom Tod Jesu (WUNT II/563). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2021, Theologische Literaturzeitung Juni/2023, 585–587.
http://www.thlz.com/artikel/23530/?inhalt=heft%3D2023_6%23r21

Ἔν τινι εἶναι als Hintergrund der paulinischen Rede vom Sein ‚in Christus‘“, Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 114,1 (2023), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.18452/26553

2022
Kolleghefte als Studiertechnik und Studienobjekt: Eine Sammlungsbeschreibung, Jahresbericht der Universitätsbibliothek der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 2021, 44–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/24853

Art. Narcissus, Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception 20, Berlin, 793. https://doi.org/10.18452/26570