About Me

Author:  Michael J. Kok 

Current Position: New Testament Lecturer and Dean of Student Life, Morling College Perth Campus

Education:  Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Theology with a Specialization in Biblical Studies (Taylor University College), Master of Arts in Religious Studies (University of Alberta), Ph.D. in Biblical Studies (University of Sheffield)

Monographs:

• Tax Collector to Gospel Writer: Patristic Traditions about the Evangelist Matthew (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2023).
• The Beloved Apostle? The Transformation of the Apostle John into the Fourth Evangelist. Eugene, OR: Cascade Press, 2017.
• The Gospel on the Margins: The Reception of Mark in the Second Century. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015.

Peer-reviewed Articles or Chapters in Edited Volumes

• “The Gospel of the Ebionites and the Synoptic Problem” Catholic Biblical Quarterly (forthcoming 2024)
• “The Heresiological Portrayals of the Ebionites and the Nazoraeans and their Reception of Paul.” In Paul within Judaism (ed. Michael Bird, Ruben A. Bühner, Jörg Frey, and Brian Rosner; WUNT 507; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023), 287-311.
• “The Utility of Adoptionism as a Heuristic Category: The Baptism Narrative in the Gospel of the Ebionites as a Test Case.” Scottish Journal of Theology 76.2 (2023): 153-163.
• “Justin Martyr and the Authorship of Luke’s Gospel.” Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 18 (2022): 9-36.
• “Jesus’ Imperial Authority over the Sea in Mark 6:45-52” in The Future of Gospels and Acts Research (ed. Peter G. Bolt; CGAR Series 3; Sydney: SCD Press, 2021), 123-138.
• “Morton Smith and the Carpocratians.” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses97.4 (2021): 629-645.
• “Re-naming the Toll Collector in Matthew 9:9: A Review of the Options.” Journal of Gospels and Acts Research 4 (2020): 24-34.
• “On the Implausibility of Identifying the Disciple in John 18:15-16 as a Galilean Fisherman.” Novum Testamentum 61.4 (2019): 367-385. With Robert Myles.
• “Classifying Cerinthus’s Christology.” Journal of Early Christian History 9 (2019): 43-62.
• “Did Mark’s Gospel Influence the Authorial Fiction in Second Peter,” in Der zweite Petrusbrief und das Neue Testament. Edited by Wolfgang Grünstäudl, Uta Poplutz, and Tobias Nicklas. WUNT 397. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017.
• “Did Papias of Hierapolis Use the ‘Gospel According to the Hebrews’ as a Source.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 25.1 (2017): 29-53.
• “Marking a Difference: The Gospel of Mark and the Early High Christology Paradigm” Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting 3 (2016): 102-24.
• “Christian Claims on the Inheritance of Israel: Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho the Jew as a Case Study.” Pages 165-178 in The Bible, Zionism and Palestine: The Bible’s Role in Conflict and Liberation in Israel-Palestine. Edited by M. Sandford. Dunedin: Relegere Academic Press, 2016.
• “Does Mark Narrate the Pauline Kerygma of ‘Christ Crucified’? Challenging an Emerging Consensus on Mark as a Pauline Gospel.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 37 (2014): 139-60.
• “The Flawed Evangelist (John) Mark: A Neglected Clue to the Reception of Mark’s Gospel in Luke-Acts?” Neotestamentica 46.2 (2012): 244-259.
• “The True Covenant People: Ethnic Reasoning in the Epistle of Barnabas.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 40 (2011): 81-97.
• “Did the Ways Part? New Models in Judaean/Christian Relations.” Axis Mundi (2008-9): 1-24. Electronic Student Journal.

Book Reviews

• Dean Furlong, The John also Called Mark: Reception and Transformation in Christian Tradition. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 83.3 (2021): 516-517.
• Robert Gundry, Peter: False Disciple and Apostate according to Saint Matthew. Review of Biblical Literature (2021): n. p.
• Warren Carter, Telling Tales about Jesus: An Introduction to the New Testament Gospels. Australian Biblical Review 66 (2018): 80-82.
• Michael F. Bird, Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology. Biblical and Early Christian Studies (2017): n. p.
• Helen K. Bond and Larry W. Hurtado, eds., Peter in Early Christianity. Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception 6.2 (2017): 256-260.
• Sonya Shetty Cronin, Raymond Brown, ‘The Jews,’ and the Gospel of John: From Apologia to Apology. Biblical Theology Bulletin 46.3 (2016): 166-168.
• John G. Gager, Who Made Early Christianity? The Jewish Lives of the Apostle Paul. H-Judaic Reviews.
• Tony Burke, ed., Ancient Gospel or Modern Forgery? The Secret Gospel of Mark in Debate: Proceedings from the 2011 York University Christian Apocrypha Symposium. The Expository Times 126 (2015): 452-453.
• Vernon Robbins, Who Do People Say I Am? Rewriting Gospel in Emerging Christianity. Review of Biblical Literature.
• Review of C. Clifton Black, The Disciples According to Mark: Markan Redaction in Current Debate, Second Edition, Review of Biblical Literature.
• Review of J. Andrew Doole, What was Mark for Matthew? An Examination of Matthew’s Attitude and Relationship to his Primary Source, Marginalia Review of Books.
• Review of Thomas C. Oden, The African Memory of Mark: Reassessing Early Church Tradition, Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception 2.1 (2012): 218-222.

Online Articles

• “The Gospel of the Ebionites.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. February 2022. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/gospel-of-the-ebionites/
• “Cerinthus.” In Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements. Edited by James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart. 2021. www.cdamm.org/articles/cerinthus.
• “The Patristic Traditions about the Evangelist Matthew” Bible and Interpretation 2020.
• “Would the Real Elder John Please Stand Up?” Bible and Interpretation 2017.
• “Secret Gospel of Mark.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. June 2016. http://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/secret-gospel-of-mark/.
• “Critical Questions for the Early High Christology Club.” Bible and Interpretation 2015.
• “Why Did the Gospel of Mark Survive?” Bible and Interpretation 2015.

Conference Presentations:

• “A Lost Source Identifying Matthew as a Toll Collector” (Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Denver, November 2022)
• “The Gospel of the Ebionites and the Synoptic Gospels” (Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Denver, November 2022)
• “The Heresiological Portrayals of the Ebionites and the Nazoraeans and Their Reception of Paul” (Paul within Judaism Symposium, Ridley College, September 2021)
•  “Justin Martyr and the Fourfold Gospel” (Society of Biblical Literature, Online, December 2020)
• “The Literary Relationship between Luke and John: Luke 7:36-50 as a Test Case” (Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Diego, November 2019)
• “The Rule of the Davidic Messiah over the Sea in Mark 6:45-52” (The Future of Gospels & Acts Research: Discerning the Trends, Sydney College of Divinity, October 2019)
• “A Source and Redaction Critical Analysis of Luke 7:36-50” (Australian and New Zealand Association of Theological Schools Conference, Brisbane, July 2018)
• “Competing Authorial Traditions about John of Patmos and the Mixed Patristic Reception of the Book of Revelation” (The Bible and Critical Theory, Perth, February 2018)
• “The Patristic Reception of the ‘Elder John'” (SBL Annual Meeting, Boston, November 2017)
• “The Second Century Scribal Addition of a Secondary Ending to John’s Gospel” (Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Calgary, May 2016)
• “Adoptionist Interpretations of Mark’s Gospel among Ancient and Modern Readers” (SBL Annual Meeting, Atlanta, November 2015)
• “Why Did Mark’s Gospel Survive?” (Plenary speaker for the Philosophy and Religious Studies Colloquium Series, Concordia University, Edmonton, February 2015)
• “Does Mark Narrate the Pauline Kerygma of ‘Christ Crucified’? Challenging an Emerging Consensus on Mark as a Pauline Gospel” (SBL Regional, Calgary, May 2014).
• “Papias and Matthew’s Logia: A Reference to Canonical Matthew, Q or Another Lost Writing?” (SBL Annual, Baltimore, November 2013).
• “The Ambivalent Patristic Reception of Mark” (SBL International, St. Andrews, July 2013).
• “The Traditions on the Evangelist Mark in Clement of Alexandria” (EABS Graduate Symposium, Sheffield, March 2013).
• “The Reception of Mark in Irenaeus’s Adversus Haeresis” (Sheffield, Manchester, Durham Student Conference, March 2013).
• “Who is the True Israel? Christian Ethnocentrism in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho the Jew” (The Bible, Zionism and Palestine Conference, Sheffield, May 2012).
• “Papias and the Four Canonical Gospels” (Sheffield, Manchester, Durham Student Conference, April 2012).
• “A Contested Covenant: Constructing a Christian Ethnic Identity in the Epistle of Barnabas” (SBL Annual, San Francisco, Nov 2011).
• “The Flawed Evangelist (John) Mark: Reading Luke-Acts in Light of Papias” (SBL Annual, San Francisco, Nov 2011).
• “From Paul’s Fellow Worker to Peter’s Son: the Function of ‘Mark’ in the Pseudonymous Framework of 1 Peter” (SBL International, London, 2011).
• “The True Covenant People: Ethnic Reasoning in the Epistle of Barnabas” (Religious Studies Conference, University of Lethbridge, May 2010).
• “Ethnic Reasoning and Anti-Judaean Rhetoric in Early Christianity” (Graduate Seminar, University of Alberta, January 2010).

Awards:

• Faculty of Arts & Humanities Postgraduate Scholarship (University of Sheffield)
• ORSAS award (University of Sheffield)
• Alberta Advanced Education Scholarship (Gov’t of Alberta)
• Walter H. Johns Graduate Fellowship (Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Alberta)
• CGS – Masters Scholarship (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Gov’t of Canada)
• The Award in Sr. New Testament (Taylor University College)
• Jason Lang Scholarship (Taylor University College, renewable 2003-2007)
• President’s Entrance Scholarship (Taylor University College, renewable 2003-2007)
• Alexander Rutherford Scholarship (2001-2003)