Meet the researcher
Dr Jonathan Robinson is a biblical scholar with particular interests in the interaction of scripture and ethics and the New Testament's use of the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament). He has worked as a minister in churches in both the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and is currently the pastor of Musselburgh Baptist Church in Dunedin.
He is a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Theology and Public Issues and teaches as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Otago and Carey Baptist College (Auckland).
About the project
The Biblical prophets are rich with profound theological reflection on social, political and environmental ethics. However, modern interpretive strategies can leave the prophetic word stranded in the past, unable to address the present with anything more than abstract platitudes. As our world faces crises of inequality, political polarization and environmental degradation the prophets are a resource of ancient wisdom that may bring fresh insight or galvanize effective action on contemporary public issues.
The initial phase of this research project will seek to address the following questions:
- How do Christians perceive, receive and enact the ethical demands of the prophets today?
- Do the Biblical prophets have anything to offer contemporary ethical discussion of public issues beyond prooftexts for abstract imperatives that we already ascribe to?
- Do the pre-modern interpretive strategies (hermeneutics) employed by the New Testament open up new ways of appropriating the prophetic word for contemporary ethical crises?