Mark Elliott

Professorial Fellow

Mark W. Elliott, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE), was schooled in Glasgow. For university he went to read Law at Oxford (St John’s), then he studied Divinity at Aberdeen and gained his PhD in Patristics at Cambridge University. After completing his education, he taught at the universities of Nottingham, Liverpool Hope and St Andrews from 2003-18, and then at Glasgow University from 2019 to 2022. Currently, he teaches half-time at the University of the Highland and Islands (Highland Theological College) where he is Professor, Biblical and Historical Theology, and Head of Research in Theology. Concurrently, he also holds a half-time position at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. His 18 months as a Humboldt scholar, spread over 3 visits to Heidelberg and Munich, was crucial for his research development

Dr. Elliot has taught classes in Modern Christology, the Doctrine of Providence, Biblical Hermeneutics, Historical Ecclesiology, the Church Fathers in the Reformation, Early Christian Ethics, Acts of the Apostles in the history of interpretation, Bible, Doctrine and Freedom of Interpretation in the modern era, select historical theologians (Origen, Augustine, Maximus, Thomas Aquinas, Melanchthon, Calvin) as well as the History of Scottish Theology. He supervises in the history of biblical interpretation, history of doctrine, spirituality and ethics.

He has also served as a co-chair of the History of Interpretation Section at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature (2015-21). He is also an editor of the Mohr Siebeck Series, History of Biblical Exegesis.

His recent projects include History of Scottish Theology (co-edited with David Fergusson, published by Oxford University Press, 2019), Providence: Biblical and Theological with Baker (2020), and Psalms 42-72 (ITC: Bloomsbury, 2024). He is currently working on Acts of the Apostles in the history of interpretation for a book and is interested in the history of Moral Theology/Christian Ethics.

Besides his academic endeavors, he also preaches regularly at a Scottish Episcopal Church and enjoys the Scottish Highlands.

Articles:

Maximus the Confessor, Hezekiah, the Chronicler and the Deuteronomist’, in Mark Elliott/Agnethe Siquans (ed.), From Moses to the Daughters of Zelophehad: Patristic Reception of Biblical Characters and Texts- Antike Schriftauslegung/Ancient Scriptural Interpretation, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 2024, 31-48.

'New Jerusalem as the “Flipside” to the Last Judgment in Primasius, Bede, and Beatus’, in Nathan Betz, Anthony Dupont, and Johan Leemans (eds.), Revelation’s New Jerusalem in Late Antiquity, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2024, 137-52.

‘Hermeneutics or Versions of  Biblical text interpretation: the Hermeneutics of A.C. Thiselton’, in Benyik György (szerk.), Hermeneutik oder Versionen der Biblischen Interpretation von Texten, I–II (Szeged: Szegedi Nemzetközi Biblikus Konferencia Alapítvány, 2023), 503-18.

‘Revelation's activating: The verbal as the expression of the personal impression’, in Matthieu Richelle , Camilla Recalcati and Martijn Beukenhorst (ed.), Do We Still Need Inspiration?: Scriptures and Theology, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2023,  83-100.

‘The theological art of scriptural interpretation: Lessons from von Balthasar’, in T. Bokedal (ed.), Scripture and Theology: Historical and Systematic Perspectives, de Gruyter, 2023, 415-43.

David Lincicum (with Mark W. Elliott and Michael Legaspi), ‘Does the Present Threaten the Past? Historiographical Reflections on the Problem of Teleology in Writing the History of Exegesis’, in Mark W. Elliott, Raleigh C. Heth, and Angela Zautcke (eds.), Studies in the History of Exegesis; (History of Biblical Exegesis /Studien zur Geschichte der Exegese 2] Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,  2022, 3-19.

‘Behind the Bible in the Reformation: Luther and Biblical Revelation’, in Mark W. Elliott, Raleigh C. Heth, and Angela Zautcke (eds.), Studies in the History of Exegesis; History of Biblical Exegesis 2 [Studien zur Geschichte der Exegese.] Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,  2022, 123-39.

*‘What it has meant and might mean to be “The Church of the Poor” after the early chapters of Acts’, in John Frederick and Ryan A. Brandt, eds., Theological Interpretation of Scripture for Spiritual Formation, Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2022, 100–119.

‘Barth (1919-1922) and The Power of the Gospel (Romans 1:16-17)’, in Christophe Chalamet, Andreas Dettwiler and Sarah Stewart-Kroeker (eds), Karl Barth’s Epistle to the Romans: Retrospect and Prospect, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022, 271-90.

*‘Congruence and Distinctiveness in Catholic and Protestant Ecclesiologies’, in Esther Brünenberg-Bußwolder, Christian Münch, Marcus Sigismund (Hrsg.), Neues Testament im Dialog (Gebundene Ausgabe).Festschrift für Thomas Söding zum 65. Geburtstag, Freiburg: Herder, 2021, 257-75.

‘The Character of the Biblical God’, in Don Collett, Mark Elliott, Mark Gignilliat, and Ephraim Radner (eds.), The Identity of Israel’s God in Christian Scripture. Essays in Honor of Christopher R. Seitz, Atlanta: SBL Press, 2020, 47-64.

Elliott, M. W. (2020) Jesuit exegesis, Jacobean theology, and the Scottish Church in the first two decades of the seventeenth century. Journal of Jesuit Studies, 7(1), pp. 67-82. (doi: 10.1163/22141332-00701005)

Elliott, M. W. (2018) Acta Apostolorum mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Auslegungsgeschichte von Apg 1 & 15 in der Reformationszeit. Biblische Notizen, 177, pp. 123-139.

Books:

Elliott, M. W. (2020) Providence: a Biblical, Historical, and Theological Account. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. ISBN 9781540960405

Elliott, M. W. (2015) Providence Perceived: Divine Action from a Human Point of View. Series: Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte (124). De Gruyter: Berlin, Germany. ISBN 9783110310566 (doi: 10.1515/9783110310641)

Elliott, M. W. (2012) The Heart of Biblical Theology: Providence Experienced. Ashgate: Farnham, Surrey, England ; Burlington, VT. ISBN 9781409440437

Elliott, M. W. (2011) Engaging Leviticus: Reading Leviticus Theologically With its Past Interpreters. Cascade Books: Eugene, Oregon. ISBN 9781610974110

Elliott, M. W. (2008) The Reality of Biblical Theology. Series: Religions and discourse (39). Peter Lang: Oxford ; New York. ISBN 9783039113569

Elliott, M. W. (2000) The Song of Songs and Christology in the Early Church, 381-451. Series: Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and texts in antiquity and Christianity, 7. Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen. ISBN 9783161473944 (doi: 10.1628/978-3-16-158651-4)

Elliott, M. W. (1998) Postmodernism and Theology. Series: RTSF Monographs. Religious and Theological Students Fellowship: Leicester. ISBN 9781870137256