Dr Kris Sonek lectures at Catholic Theological College, University of Divinity, and is Head of the Department of Biblical Studies.

He has taught units in Scripture, Biblical Interpretation, and Hebrew at a number of international institutions, including Ecole biblique in Jerusalem, Israel; Oxford University, UK; Dominican Theological College, Krakow, Poland; and Blackfriars Studium, Oxford, UK. Before coming to Melbourne, he was Associate Professor at the Ecole biblique, Jerusalem. He has presented papers at national and international conferences and has a successful record in obtaining grants to fund research. He has published articles, book chapters, and a book. His academic contributions were published by De Gruyter, Oxford University Press, and Brill. He is a member of the Society for Old Testament Study (SOTS), the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), the Fellowship for Biblical Studies (FBS), and the Australian Catholic Biblical Association (ACBA).

His current research is in the reception of the Abraham narratives in Jewish and Christian commentaries in late antiquity. Specifically, he is looking at the reception history of the Abraham narratives in Genesis Rabbah and in the works of John Chrysostom. His forthcoming book on the reception history of Genesis 12-25 discusses rabbinic and patristic interpretation and helps understand aspects of the parting of the ways between Judaism and Christianity in the fourth century CE. His recent publications include: “The Wisdom of Jonah: Biblical Interpretation in Late Antiquity,” in The Exegetical and the Ethical (Leiden: Brill, 2022); “The Abraham Narratives in Genesis 12-25,” Currents in Biblical Research 18 (2019); “Wrangling with Abraham: An Evaluation of Recent Studies on Genesis 12–25,” Australian Biblical Review 67 (2019).

Dr Sonek consistently receives highly positive feedback for the units he teaches. At present, he is involved in the delivery of various foundational scriptural units, The Pentateuch, Hebrew Reading, and supervised reading units.

Dr Sonek is also chaplain at St Christopher’s German Catholic Centre in Camberwell.

University Appointments

• 

  Head of Department of Biblical Studies, Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies
  Catholic Theological College

External Affiliations

• University of Divinity (Research Grants Panel member)