—David Aune, the Walter Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, to give annual Thompson Lecture on February 25—

Princeton, NJ, February 12, 2013–Dr. David Aune, the Walter Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, will deliver Princeton Seminary’s annual Alexander Thompson Lecture on Monday, February 25, 2013, at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Lounge of the Mackay Campus Center. The title of his lecture is “The Bible in the Church.”

The lecture will consider some of the more important ways in which the Bible functions in a variety of Christian traditions, including both Catholic and Protestant (liturgical and non-liturgical), including the Bible as icon in both the church and society; some of the ways that scripture is read and used in worship (including the use and rejection of lectionaries); the role of the Bible in worship as a lieu de mémoire (“site of memory”) i.e., as a source of communal memory; the role of the church in biblical interpretation; and ways in which the relationship between scripture and tradition are understood.

Aune taught at the University of Notre Dame for thirteen years. Prior to that he taught at Loyola University as professor of New Testament and Christian origins, and director of the Graduate Program in Theology. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, the University of Minnesota, Wheaton Graduate School, and Wheaton College.

He has published Apocalypticism, Prophecy, and Magic in Early Christianity: Collected Essays (WUNT 199, Mohr Siebeck, 2006; American paperback edition, Baker Academic, 2008), The Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Literature and Rhetoric (John Knox Press, 2003), Revelation 17–22, World Biblical Commentary 52C (Thomas Nelson, 1998), Revelation 6–19, World Biblical Commentary 52B (Thomas Nelson, 1998), and Revelation 1–5, World Biblical Commentary 52A (Thomas Nelson, 1997).

Aune was elected a fellow of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi) in 2009, a fellow of The Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab) in 2001, honored with a Festschrift: The New Testament and Early Christian Literature in Greco-Roman Context: Studies in Honor of David E. Aune, (edited by John Fotopoulos, Supplements to Novum Testamentum, 122, Brill, 2006), and named honorary president for life of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research in October 2012.

The Reverend Alexander Thompson Memorial Lecture was established to honor Alexander Thompson, a 1909 graduate of the Seminary, with the broad definition of dealing with “some aspect of the Bible.” Past lecturers have included Phyllis Trible, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Hans Wilhelm Frei, Elaine Pagels, Hans Dieter Betz, Carol Ann Newsom, Victor Furnish, and many other notable scholars. 

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Communications/Publications Office at 609.497.7760.       

Princeton Theological Seminary was founded in 1812, the first seminary established by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. It is the largest Presbyterian Seminary in the country, with more than 500 students in six graduate degree programs.