NicklasTobias Nicklas, professor of exegesis and hermeneutics of the New Testament at the University of Regensburg, Germany will give the annual Clark Lectures April 8 and 9.

Nicklas will lecture on ancient Christian manuscripts and how they can be connected to different aspects of Christian history. His first lecture, “New Testament Manuscripts: Every Fragment Tells a Story” on April 8 at 12:20 p.m. will focus on small fragments of New Testament manuscripts and their use in liturgies, for private use, as amulets, and more. His 8:30 a.m. lecture on April 9, “Apocryphal Fragments and Our Images of Early Christianity,” will discuss some pieces of apocryphal literature and talk about what it means to work as a historian of early Christianity. Both lectures will take place in 0016 Westbrook in the Divinity School.

Nicklas' work helps to develop a new perspective on New Testament textual history, going beyond studying textual developments and their historical background to focusing on the concrete material remains of ancient Christian manuscripts, both canonical and apocryphal. His work shows how these fragments of ancient manuscripts can be connected to different aspects of the history of the Christian canon, social history, and the development of various Christian groups.

Nicklas is also an honorary research associate of the Universities of Pretoria and Bloemfontein, both in South Africa. He previously was professor of New Testament at Radboud University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He is involved as editor and co-editor in several international projects including Novum Testamentum Patristicum (a series of commentaries on ancient interpretations of the New Testament), the Commentaries on Apocryphal Literature, and the series Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament; and he serves on the editorial board of the journal New Testament Studies. He has authored and edited many books, including Gospel Fragments (Oxford, 2009) and Das Petrusevangelium und die Petrusapokalypse (Berlin, 2004). His book Jewish or Christian? Second-Century Perspectives on the 'Parting of the Ways' (Mohr Siebeck) will appear this summer. Together with Thomas J. Kraus, he has co-edited several books on New Testament textual history.

Established in 1984, the Kenneth Willis Clark Lectureship Fund honors the life and work of Professor Kenneth Willis Clark, a Divinity School faculty member for 36 years. Each year this fund enables the Divinity School to offer a distinguished program with special emphasis on New Testament studies and textual criticism.