John Van Maaren, Ph.D.
A Few Words About Me
John believes that the synoptic gospels, if read through the eyes of their own time, still portray a picture of Jesus as a Jew who was faithful to the law.
Education
John Van Maaren has a Ph.D. in Early Christianity and Early Judaism from McMaster University (Canada). His research focuses on changing conceptions of Jewishness in the Southern Levant during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods (200 BCE-135 CE) and the gradual emergence of a distinct, non-Jewish, Christian identity. His dissertation, The Gospel of Mark within Judaism: Reading the Second Gospel in Its Ethnic Landscape, is the first systematic argument that Mark should be read as Jewish literature. He was a fellow at Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies in Jerusalem during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years.
Professional Experience
John has over nine years of teaching experience in high school, university, seminary and community settings. He has been teaching the Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament course since its inception.
