University College Academic Appointed to Society for New Testament Studies

A leading expert in early Christianity at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham has been elected to membership for the prestigious Society for New Testament Studies, or Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS). Prof Chris Keith, who joined St Mary’s in 2012 as Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity and Director of the Centre for Social-Scientific Study of the Bible, was elected to membership of the group this past July at their annual meeting. SNTS is the premier scholarly society for the study of the New Testament, and membership is by nomination and election only. In addition to his membership, Prof Keith has also been invited to speak at next year’s annual conference, which will take place in August 2014 in Szeged, Hungary.  He will deliver a lecture on the topic of “Memory” for a new seminar on “Memory, Narrative, and Christology in the Synoptic Gospels.” The group publishes an annual academic journal, New Testament Studies, which explores issues surrounding the history and theology of early Christianity and the New Testament, to which Prof Keith contributed an article in 2010. Prof Keith said, “It’s an overwhelming honour to be elected to SNTS by my professional peers.  It hopefully indicates all the more that St Mary’s is becoming an important voice in the critical discussion of early Christianity.” Next week, Wednesday 16^th October, St Mary’s is hosting Prof Keith’s inaugural lecture, ‘Social Memory Theory and the Gospels: Assessing the First Decade’, which will assess the first decade of this interdisciplinary discussion. The inaugural lecture is open to members of the public. For more information and to book a place, please contact Marion Shaw on marion.shaw@stmarys.ac.uk.