heen

Education: BA Harvard College, 1973; MDiv Harvard Divinity School, 1982; MTh. Luther Theological Seminary, 1990; MPhil, Columbia University, 1993; PhD, Columbia University, 1997.

Dr. Erik Heen is interested in the role of Scripture in the contemporary church as well as what the New Testament can tell us about the origins of Christianity. Increasingly, the history of biblical interpretation has also been a focus of his research. Together with Phil Krey, President of LTSP, he edited the Epistle to Hebrews volume in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series (InterVarsity, 2005). He is currently researching the use of the Bible among Lutherans in North America in the 20th century. As part of his interpretation studies, he seeks to learn all he can about how the Bible is being actually read in parishes and homes in the United States today. He's always eager to hear about innovative approaches to parish-based Bible study, including those that explore "the Lutheran understanding" of Scripture. Dr. Heen was part of the development of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith initiative, and wrote the initiative's document Scriptural Theology and the ELCA: Challenges and Resources.

Dr. Heen's specific New Testament research interests include Paul, the Gospel of John, and the Book of Revelation. His 1997 dissertation, "Saturnalicius Princeps: The Enthronement of Jesus in Early Christian Discourse" (UMI Microfilm Number 9728216), investigated the motif of Jesus' enthronement in the New Testament as well as the manner in which it critiqued the local imperial cults in the cities of the Ancient Greek East.

Dr. Heen and faculty colleague the Rev. Dr. Robert Robinson reflected on the Bible and public theology in the Summer 2008 issue of the seminary magazine PS, available online. Dr. Heen's comments are collected in a series of video clips here. He was the distinguished presenter of the 2008 Quodlibit ("Any Question Whatever"), which you can watch online.

You can read more about Dr. Heen in a special Faculty Profile, along with viewing video and a slide show from the Chairing Ceremony on the occasion of his receiving the John H.P. Reumann Chair in Biblical Studies and the inagural Reumann Chair Lecture entitled The Antikythera Mechanism, the Bible and the Cross.