Dr. David J. Trobisch

Short CV and pictu re

I was born in Ebolowa, Cameroon (West Africa). My parents, Walter and Ingrid Trobisch, were at the time missionaries for the American Lutheran Church. In 1964 the family moved to Austria. Born from a German father and an American mother I hold dual citizenship. I speak English, German, and French, and studied Latin, Hebrew, and Ancient Greek.

Education

1976-1982: After passing the university entrance exam in Austria I moved to Germany and studied Protestant Theology at Neuendettelsau (Bavaria), Tübingen and Heidelberg (Magister theol. 1982).

1976 Matura (University entrance exam) BEA Saalfelden, Austria.
1976 Graecum (Augustana Hochschule, Neuendettelsau, Germany).
1977 Hebraicum (University Heidelberg, Germany).
1982 Magister theol. (University Heidelberg, Germany).
1988 Dr. theol. (University Heidelberg, Germany). Advisor: Prof. Gerd Theißen.
1995 Dr. theol. habil. (University Heidelberg, Germany).

Employment

1982-1985 Editor, translator (English into German) for several German publishers. Software developer. Part time research and teaching assistant at the University of Heidelberg.
1985-1995 ‘Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter’ and since 1989 as ‘Hochschulassistent’ at the University of Heidelberg. Lehrstuhl Gerd Theißen.
1995-1996 Visiting scholar and adjunct faculty member at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.
1996-1997 Visiting Associate Professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School, New Haven.
1997- 2000 Associate Professor of New Testament at Bangor Theological Seminary.
2000- 2009 Throckmorton-Hayes Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Bangor Theological Seminary. (7/2008-6/2009: Visiting Professor)
2010- present. Independent scholar. Teacher, writer, consultant.

Public Lectures

2012

►2012/05/04-05; 05/10. Universität Landau, Germany. "Einführung in das Neue Testament". Blockseminar.
►2012/04/22-27. Misano, Italy. Nida School of Translation Studies. Intersemiotic Translation Seminar. "Exploring the New Testament through Performance: An inductive workshop and case study."
►2012/04/12-14. Universität Landau, Germany. "Theologisch-exegetisches Thema des NT: Paulus." Blockseminar.

2012/03/08-10. Greensboro, NC. "Interfaith Dialogues with Rabbi Harry Sky". Synagogue Beth David.
2012/02/27. New York, American Bible Society. Staff training: "How to speak about the Bible to the public".
2012/02/28. Springfield, MO. Rotary Club. "How is the Greek text of the New Testament determined?"

►2012/02/05-08: Rödental, Bayern. 5.-8. Februar. Bibelabende: "Der Apostel Paulus - Wegbereiter des christlichen Glaubens". Gemeindehaus der Christuskirche. Klosterhof 2, 96472 Rödental. Sonntag um 17 Uhr und dann jeweils um 19 Uhr Montag Dienstag und Mittwoch.
►2012/02/10-12: Baden-Baden, Germany. European Convocation of Anglican Churches Ministry Fair. Three presentations. "Paul's sickness", "Unity in diversity in 1Cor 15", "Innovative media in the history of the Christian movement: From Codex to print to multi-media".
2012/01/18: LÖRRACH, Deutschland. 19:30. Pastoral convention. "Paul und Jesus".
2012/01/19: FREIBURG, Deutschland. Evangelische Studentengemeinde: "Paulus. Ein Clown für Christus."
►2012/01/27: LINZ, Österreich. Katholische Universität. "War Paulus ein Heidenmissionar?"
2012/01/11-13: Dallas, TX. Amercian Bible Society. Presentation for the Board. "From text to translation".

2011

►2011/12/01. HANNOVER, Deutschland. Südstadt-Kirchengemeinde. Vortrag, 125 Jahre Jubiläum der Paulusgemeinde. „Offene Fragen der Paulusauslegung“.
2011/11/19-22: SAN FRANCISCO, CA. SBL annual conference. Panelist: Performing the Gospel of Mark.
2011/11/13: Tulsa, OK. All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. Midrash on Isaiah 6.
►2011/11/07: Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, Iowa. Tollefson lectures. 3:00 PM: What is the Number of the Beast? // 7.00 PM How did the first Christians read the Bible?
Reading the Gospel According to Mark: Sunday Lectures. 9:15-10:15. 10/30, 11/6, 11/13 2011. Community Christian Church of Springfield. Everyone is welcome.
Exploring the New Testament through Ancient Fiction. Springfield, MO. Private seminar. (10/20; 10/27; 11/3; 11/10)
►2011/10/13-14: NEW YORK, Union Theological Seminary. Workshop: The King James Version and the Development of Text Criticism. King James at 400. Union Days 2011.
►2011/09/19: ST. LOUIS, MO. Concordia Seminary, Day of Exegetical Reflection. Presentation: Translation and Oral Performance.
2011/08/31: Phillips Seminary, Tulsa, OK: Performance Criticism as an Exegetical Method.
2011/05/29-07/10: SPRINGFIELD, Missouri. Sunday lectures. Eight Presentations: How did the Bible come together? Sunday 9:15-10:15 AM. Community Christian Church of Springfield.
2011/07-08: Private Seminar: Introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls (3 classes, 3 hours each).
2011/06/29: Springfield, MO. Public discussion: The Gender of God. 7PM-8:30PM, The Front Porch, 310 South Ave.
2011/06/22: Springfield, MO. Public discussion: The Kinderhook Plates. When is Scripture inspired? 7PM-8:30PM, The Front Porch, 310 South Ave.
2011/06/08: Springfield, MO. Presenting. Public discussion: The birth of Jesus according to the Quran. 7PM-8:30PM, The Front Porch, 310 South Ave. // MORE
2011/05/19: GERMANY Kirchengemeinde Rödental Christuskirche. Gemeindeabend: Der Apostel Paulus.
2011/03/27-05/01: SPRINGFIELD, Missouri. Sunday 9:15-10:15 AM. Six Early Christian Gospels and what they say about Jesus. Community Christian Church of Springfield.
2011/04/17-23: ELLSWORTH, Kansas. Holy Week speaker . Five lectures and four sermons.
2011/03/19: JEWELL, Iowa. 10 AM - 3 PM. Paul about Women. And: The Formation of the Christian Bible. Jewell United Church of Christ, 537 Main St.
2011/03/20: TRIPOLI, Iowa. 10:00 AM Sermon. 4 PM Workshop: Paul's Revelation of Jesus Christ. Faith UCC, 408 Main Street in Tripoli.
2011/03/21: CLINTON, Iowa. Biblestudy: Paul's Revelation of Jesus Christ.
2011/03/22: MUSCATINE, Iowa. Was Paul Married? -- A New Approach to the Letters of Paul. Faith UCC.
►2011/03/7-10: MISANO, Italy. Seminar on inter-semiotic translation (IST). "Multi Media translation and performance criticism".
2011/03/02: BERLIN, Mittwoch, 2. März 2011 um19:00. 26 Wildpfad, 14193 Berlin/Grunewald. Autorenlesung: Ein Clown für Christus.
2011/02/20: SPRINGFIELD, MO. 9:15 AM. Community Christian Church of Springfield. The sayings of Jesus.

2010

►04/08/2010: NEW ORLEANS. Center for New Testament Textual Studies. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Three lectures.
2010/03/03-07: ST. LOUIS. Concordia Seminary. Workshop: Performance of the Lectionary.
2010/07/10-17: GENEVA POINT CENTER, New Hampshire. Winni Week: Biblical Story Telling. Speaker.
2010/7/25-29: TARTU, Estonia. SBL international meeting. "From Dresden to Timbuktu: Working with electronic editions of manuscripts."
2010/09/12+19+27 Community Christian Church of Springfield: Paul the Apostle -- An Exercise in Listening.
2010/10/15-16: ST. LOUIS. Thirty-Seventh Annual Saint Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies. Presentation: "The Early Manuscript Tradition of the New Testament in the Light of Book Publishing in Antiquity: Archetype, Redaction, Prices, Copyright, and Competition".
2010/11/14: SPRINGFIELD, MO. 9:15 AM. Community Christian Church of Springfield: How to read the Gospel According to Matthew. Introducing the lectionary cycle.
2010/11/29-23: ATLANTA, Georgia. SBL annual meeting. "The KJV and the Development of Text Criticism."
►2010/12/16: SALZBURG, Österreich. 14.15 Uhr Kath.-Theol. Fakultät, Universitätsplatz 1, Hörsaal 107 Fachbereich Bibewissenschaft und Kirchengeschichte. Vortrag: "War Paulus verheiratet und andere offene Fragen der Paulusexegese".

2009

►07/06/2009: LONDON. Codex Sinaiticus Conference. British Library Conference Centre. Presentation.
►09/28/2009: NEW YORK Presentation: The Multimedia Translation Project of the American Bible Society. Chatlos Bible Conference of 2009 at New York Theological Seminary.

2008

02/03+02/17/08 Immanuel Baptist Church, Portland,156 High St. 9:30-10:15 AM Sunday. Adult forum: "Who is Paul?"
05/08/08 Thursday 7:30 pm. Abschiedsvorlesung (Departure Lecture). "How to translate the word 'Gentile' from English into English." Portland Campus. Everyone is invited.
07/04-07/06/2008 Heidelberg, Germany. Gerd Theissen Symposium. Paper.
07/17/2008 Augsburg, Germany. Methodist congregation. Lecture and discussion: The Book of Acts.
07/19/2008 Salzburg, Austria. Midrash.
07/26/2008 Berlin, Germany. Sermon. St. George's Anglican Episcopal Church. 10:00; 18:00.
►08/03-05/2008 Muenster, Germany. Paper. Münster Colloquium on the Textual History of the Greek New Testament
►11/9-12/2008 Second International Conference on Religion and Media, Tehran and Qom, Iran. Paper.
10/10-12/2008 Muscatine, Iowa. Faith United Church of Christ. From Ancient Manuscripts to Modern English Translations: Challenges and Joys of Biblical Scholarship. All day Saturday workshop. Sermon on Sunday.
►10/20-21/2008 West Virginia - Western Maryland Synod. ELCA. Continuing Education Event, Will O’the Wisp, McHenry, MD. Storytelling and Preaching.
10/27/2008 Theologische Runde. Christusgemeinde, Wiesloch, Germany. Kindheitsevangelium des Jakobus.
►11/20/2008 Paul: From Tarsus to China. Public lecture sponsored by the American Bible Society. Boston. Union Club.
12/05-12/07/2008 Amherst, NY. The Jesus Project. Paper.

2007

►01/24-01/29/07: "Who published the Christian Bible?" (1/27/07 9:15 AM), Scripture and Skepticism: The Use of Doubt in Biblical and Qur'anic Studies, University of California at Davis, Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion.
03/20/2007. Tuesday, 20th of March 2007, 15-17h Utrecht, Netherlands, “Each Manuscript Has a Story to Tell”

►11/01-03/2007 "Editing the Bible," the Forty-Third converence on Editorial Problems, convened by John Kloppenborg, University of Toronto.
12/07-09/2007. "Identity and Identification: Translation, Identity and Heterogeneity". Hosted by the University of San Marcos, Lima, Peru. Paper.

2006

"60 years after the Holocaust". Rabbi Harry Sky and Dr. David Trobisch talk about their trip through Germany and Austria. PowerPoint presentation. Falmouth, ME (November 2006).
"Introducing the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Mary". Lecture University of Maine at Orono (January 2006).
"The Revelation of Paul". First & Calvary Presbyterian Church, Springfield, MO (February 2006).
"Gospel of Mary". Wrangell, Alaska (March 2006).
"In the Footsteps of Paul". UCC Franklin Association Annual meeting. Phillips, ME. PowerPoint presentation (May 2006).
"What is There in a Picture? An Introduction to Codex Washingtonianus W 032". Edinburgh, Scotland. International meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. (July 2006).
"Homosexuality and the Bible", UCC, North Waterford, ME (July 2006).
►Fall Theological Conference for rostered leaders and spouses of the Northeastern Minnesota Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge, Grand Rapids, MN (September 2006). Biblical story-telling workshop.
►11/17/06: 12:55 PM. Smithsonian, Freer Gallery of Art. Auditorium. Society of Biblical Literature, Annual Meeting, Washington, DC. SBL symposium. "Reading a Page of the Freer Gospels Codex".

2005

"Let the Context Interpret: A Narrative Critical Approach to the Letters of Paul" (SBL, San Antonio, November 2004)
Malta, the Island of the Goddess (Bangor, April 2005)
Religion and the Challenge of America: Judaism, Christianity and Islam (June 19-24, 2005) (organizer)
"Jesus was a Jew". Presentations and workshops with Rabbi Harry Sky in Augsburg, Bavaria and Wehingen, Baden-Württemberg (July 2005).

►Endowed lecture or special invitation.

Special Activities

Work with original manuscripts at Heidelberg (Papyrologisches Institut), Ann Arbor (University of Michigan), Vienna (Papyrussammlung der österreichischen Nationalbibliothek), New Haven (Beinecke Library), Cape Town (South African Library), Hartford, CT (Trinity College), New York (Library of American Bible Society), Paris (Bibliotheque Nationale), Dresden (Sächsische Landesbibliothek), St. Petersburg (Russian National Library), Cambridge, UK (Trinity College), Damascus (Greek Orthodox Patriarchate); with microfilms at Washington D.C. (Library of Congress), Münster (Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung).

I am the author of a children's book about growing up in Africa, Pimpelhubers Abenteuer (Wuppertal: Brockhaus Verlag, 1999; first edition 1968). English edition: The Adventures of Pumpelhoober (Bolivar: Quiet Waters Publications, 2000; first edition 1969).

1994-2000 Active member of the Multimedia Translation Project of the American Bible Society in New York .

September 2002 I organized and presided over an International Conference on the Study of the Septuagint in Bangor, ME, bringing together 12 North American and 10 German scholars.

From 2002 to 2009 chair of the SBL international text-criticism section "Working With Biblical Manuscripts".

2001-2005 Consultant to the translation subcommittee of the Board of the American Bible Society, New York.

Since 2006 Member of the Board of the American Bible Society.

Affiliations

Membership of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion. I participated in the SBL/AAR regional meetings 1993 in Kansas City, 1994 in St. Louis, 1997 Wheaton, 1998 and 1999 Andover-Newton, 2000 Rhode Island, 2002 Boston; the national meeting 1995 Philadelphia, 1996 New Orleans, 1997 San Francisco, 1998 Orlando, 1999 Boston, 2000 Nashville, 2001 Denver; 2002 Toronto, 2004 San Antonio, 2007 Boston, 2008 San Diego, 2009 New Orleans; the international meetings 1993 in Münster (Germany), 1994 Leuven (Belgium), 1995 Budapest (Hungary), 1999 Helsinki (Finland), 2000 Cape Town (South Africa), 2001 Rome (Italy), 2002 Berlin (Germany), 2003 Cambridge (UK), 2004 Groningen (Netherlands), 2006 Edinburgh (Scotland), 2010 Tartu (Estonia). I read papers or presided over sessions in St. Louis, Budapest, Philadelphia, Helsinki, Rhode Island, Boston, Cape Town, Rome, Berlin, Toronto, Cambridge, Groningen, San Antonio, Edinburgh, Tartu, Atlanta.

I am a founding member of Interfaith Maine, an initiative seeking peace and justice through deepening interfaith understanding and relationships.