Institute for New Testament Studies

Team

Dr. Travis R. Niles

Postdoctoral Researcher

Institute for New Testament Studies

E-Mail
travis.niles@unibe.ch
Office
A413
Postal Address
Universität Bern
Institut für Neues Testament
Länggassstrasse 51
CH-3012 Bern
Consultation Hour
By appointment
C.V.
As of 08/2024
Assistant
Chair for New Testament and the History of Ancient Religion
Prof. Dr. Rainer Hirsch-Luipold
As of 10/2022
Postdoctoral Researcher (Habilitand) in the SNSF project, "Resonances through History: Biographically Grounded Construals of History in the Early Roman Imperial Era"
Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Rainer Hirsch-Luipold
https://www.resonances-through-history.ch/en/
10/2021–10/2022
Assistant
Chair for the Literature and Theology of the New Testament
Prof. Dr. Benjamin Schliesser
10/2020–06/2021 Assistant
Chair for New Testament and the History of Ancient Religion
Prof. Dr. Rainer Hirsch-Luipold
11/2021
Ph.D. in Theology, University of Bern
10/2020 – 11/2021
Doctoral Student
University of Bern
03/2018 – 09/2020 Graduate Assistant
Chair for New Testament
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Feldmeier
University of Göttingen
10/2017 – 09/2020 Doctoral Student
University of Göttingen
06/2015 – 05/2017 Youth Ministry Associate
Nassau Presbyterian Church
Princeton, New Jersey (USA)
05/2015 – 08/2015
Student Assistant
The Center for Barth Studies
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, New Jersey (USA)
09/2014 – 05/2017 Master of Divinity
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, New Jersey (USA)
 02/2012 – 12/2013 Intern
Gornau Parish
Evang.-Lutheran Church of Saxony
05/2010 – 05/2011
Research Assistant
Bruner-Welch Chair of Theology
Prof. Dr. James R. Edwards
Whitworth University
Spokane, Washington (USA)
 09/2007 – 05/2011 Bachelor of Arts in Theology
Whitworth University
Spokane, Washington (USA)
  • The Corpus Paulinum
  • Gospels Research
  • New Testament and Ancient Philosophy
  • Plutarch Studies
  • Biographically Grounded Literature of the Early Imperial Period
  • Religious and Philosophical History of the Hellenistic World

 

Mongraphs:

  • "For I Suppose There Was No Difference between His Life and His Tomb." The Search for Life in the Gospel of Luke, Philo’s De vita Mosis and Plutarch’s Vita Alexandri. Working title of a Habilitationsschrift (in progress).

  • The Image of the Invisible God: An Exegetical Study of Colossians 1:15–20, WUNT II/599 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023).

 

Articles:

  • "Alexander der Grosse und Anaxarchos der Sophist: Der Anfang vom Ende in Plutarchs Vita Alexandri." Accepted for publication in the journal Hermes: Zeitschrift für Klassische Philologie und Einzelschriften.

  • "'Such is Human Life' (Charon 19): Biographically Grounded Forms in Lucian." Contribution to the conference volume Biographically Grounded Literature in Hellenistic and Early Roman Imperial Times, eds. Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, Travis R. Niles, David Staub, and Stefano De Feo (to be published in 2025). The conference was organized by the Theological Faculty of the University of Bern from 24 to 26 June, 2024.

  • "Die Erkenntnis des unsichtbaren Gottes nach dem Kolosserbrief." Contribution to the conference volume Les racines de la théologie négative aux premiers siècles, eds. Anne Boiché and Beatrice Wyss (to be published in 2025). The conference was organized by the Theological Faculty of the University of Fribourg from 14 to 15 March, 2024.

  • "Das Ende der römischen Republik in den Augen Plutarchs." Contribution to the conference volume Κίνησις und Krise. Vom Grundmotiv antiker Geschichtsschreibung zum modernen Begriff, eds. Tobias Joho and Gunther Martin (to be published in 2024). The conference was organized by the Institut for Classics of the University of Bern from 29 June to 01 July, 2023.

  • "Resonances through History: Biographically Grounded Construals of Divine Involvement in History in the Early Roman Imperial Era," Early Christianity 15, no. 3 (2024), 387–397.

    • Coauthored with Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, David Staub, and Stefano De Feo.

  • "Does the Stoic Body Have a Head? On Stoicism as an Interpretive Background for Col 1:18a,” Novum Testamentum 63 (2021), 390–407.

 

Lexicon Articles:

  • "Palace: IV. Greco-Roman Antiquity," in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, vol. 22, Og (King of Bashan) – Papyrus, Papyri, eds. Constance M. Furey et al. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024), 1176–1177.

 

Reviews:

  • Peter-Ben Smit, Masculinity and the Bible: Survey, Models, and Perspectives (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2017), in: Internationale Kirchliche Zeitschrift 113/1 (2023), 59–60.

  • Simon Dürr, Paul on the Human Vocation: Reason Language in Romans and Ancient Philosophical Tradition, BZNW 226 (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2021), in: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Religions- und Kulturgeschichte / Revue suisse d'histoire religieuse et culturelle 116 (2022), 417–419.

  • Ludovica De Luca, Il Dio architetto di Filone di Alessandria. De opificio mundi 17–20, Temi metafisici e problemi del pensiero antico 147 (Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 2021), in: Judaica. Neue Digitale Folge, Vol. 5/1 (2024): https://judaica.ch/article/view/11255

 

Collaborations:

 

Translations:

  • Reinhard Feldmeier, The Spirit of God: Biblical Pneumatology in its Religious-Historical Context (Paderborn: Brill/Ferdinand Schöningh, 2021): https://brill.com/view/title/59259?language=en.

    • German Title: Gottes Geist. Die biblische Rede vom Geist im Kontext der antiken Welt (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020).

  • Reinhard Feldmeier, "Acts," in The New Oxford Bible Commentary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

  • Bruce McCormack, "Können wir noch von einer 'Rechtfertigung durch den Glauben' reden? Zum Gespräch mit apokalyptischen Paulusdeutungen," in Bruce McCormack, Überlegungen zur Menschlichkeit Gottes. Ausgewählte Aufsätze, eds. Justus Geilhufe und Matthias Gockel (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2024), 93–120.

    • English Title: "Can We Still Speak of 'Justification by Faith'? An In-House Debate with Apocalyptic Readings of Paul," in Galatians and Christian Theology: Justification, the Gospel, and Ethics in Paul's Letter, eds. Mark W. Elliot et al. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014), 159–184.

  • As Translation Fellow of the Karl Barth Translators’ Seminar, Princeton Theological Seminary:

    • Contributions to Karl Barth, Lectures and Shorter Works, 3 vols. (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press [as of 2023]).

Teaching Activity
Spring Term 2025
(announced)
Tutorial
Die apokryphen Evangelien
(The Apocryphal Gospels)
University of Bern
Fall Term 2024
Lecture
NT-Grundkurs I: Jesus und die Evangelien
(Introduction to the NT I: Jesus and the Gospels)
University of Bern
Fall Term 2023
Seminar

Die Bergpredigt
(The Sermon on the Mount)
University of Bern
Fall Term 2022
Seminar

Lust, Liebe, Leben. Ethische Perspektiven im Neuen Testament und drumherum
(Lust, Love, Life: Ethical Perspectives in the New Testament and its Environment)
Teaching Assistant to Prof. Dr. Rainer Hirsch-Luipold (Bern) and Prof. Dr. Markus Öhler (Vienna)
 Fall Term 2021 Seminar  "Eine neue Schöpfung"? Mann und Frau im Neuen Testament
("A New Creation"? Man and Woman in the New Testament)
University of Bern
 Summer Term 2021
 Lecture
 NT-Grundkurs II: Paulus und die paulinische Literatur
(Introduction to the NT II: Paul and Pauline Literature)
University of Bern
 Fall Term 2020 Tutorial  Basiswissen NT
(New Testament: The Basics)
University of Bern
Summer Term 2020
Tutorial
Christologie(n) im Corpus Paulinum
(‘Christology’ or ‘Christologies’ in the Corpus Paulinum?)
University of Göttingen
Winter Term 2019/20
Seminar The Holy Spirit  
Co-instructed with Prof. Dr. Reinhard Feldmeier und Dr. Michael Wandusim.
University of Göttingen
Summer Term 2019
Seminar Einführung in die Exegese des Neuen Testaments
(Introduction to New Testament Exegesis)
University of Göttingen
Winter Term 2018/19
Seminar The Bible in Intercultural Perspective
Co-instructed with Prof. Dr. Andreas Kunz-Lübcke (FIT-Hermannsburg).
University of Göttingen
  Tutorial The Image of the Invisible God: Jesus Christ in the Letter to the Colossians
University of Göttingen
Winter Term 2017/18
Seminar The Bible in Intercultural Perspective
Co-instructed with Prof. Dr. Andreas Kunz-Lübcke (FIT-Hermannsburg).
University of Göttingen