Academic Dean, Professor of New Testament and Historical Theology, Asia Lutheran Seminary (Hong Kong)
Visiting Professor of History, Wisconsin Lutheran College (Milwaukee, WI)
Dr. Thompson served as Professor of History at Wisconsin Lutheran College from 2002 to 2011 when he moved to Hong Kong to join the faculty of Asia Lutheran Seminary. After graduating from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary with an M.Div. degree in 1977, he spent six years in Lusaka, Zambia where he served as a pastoral advisor for numerous churches and a teacher at the Bible Institute and Seminary of the Lutheran Church of Central Africa. He moved with his family to New York City in 1983 when he enrolled at Columbia University. There he earned his M.A., M.Phil, and Ph.D. (1990) degrees in ancient history while starting and pastoring a Lutheran congregation in Manhattan. From 1992 to 1997 he served on the faculty of Michigan Lutheran Seminary (Saginaw, MI). He served as director of the Multi-Ethnic Pre-Seminary Program based at Martin Luther College (New Ulm, MN) from 1997-2002. He moved to Wisconsin Lutheran College (Milwaukee, WI) in 2002 where he and his students founded the www.fourthcentury.com website in 2007.
Education
- B.A., Northwestern College
- M.Div., Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary
- M.A., M. Phil. Ph.D., Columbia University
Current Academic Interests/Specialties
- The early Christian church, especially the early papacy
- Greek and Latin Paleography and textual criticism
- The Acts of the Apostles
- Christianity in Tang and Yuan Dynasty China
- Oral/Aural pedagogy of Koine Greek
- Early house churches
Professional Organizations
- Evangelical Theological Society (Chair of the Patristics Study Section, 1998-2008)
- Institute for Biblical Research
- North American Patristic Society
- Society of Biblical Literature
Recent Seminars
- 2010 — NEH Summer Seminar Award; American Academy in Rome: The Falls of Rome, National Endowent for the Humanities (Rome, Italy)
- 2008 — Summer Seminar on the Material Culture of the New Testament World, Crissler Library (Ephesos, Turkey)
Website
Recent and Forthcoming Publications
Evangelical Christianity and the Chinese Church (Hong Kong: Taosheng, forthcoming)
“The Route of Paul’s Second Journey in Asia Minor” (with Mark Wilson), Tyndale Bulletin (forthcoming 2017)
“Paul’s Walk to Assos: A Hodological Inquiry into its Geography, Archaeology, and Purpose” (with Mark Wilson), in Stones, Bones and the Sacred: Festschrift for Dennis Smith (SBL, 2016), 269-313
The Correspondence of Julius I: Critical Text, Translation, and Historical Commentary, Library of Early Christianity (Catholic University of America Press, 2015).
Bible Background: Geography, History, and Daily Life in Bible Times (in Chinese: Hong Kong: Taosheng Publishing, 2015)
“The Pax Constantiniana and the Roman Episcopate,” in Studies in the Early Papacy, G. Dunn, ed. (Burlington VT: Ashgate Publ., 2015), 17-36
“Bauer’s Early Christian Rome and the Development of ‘Orthodoxy’,” in Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christian Contexts, P. Hartog, ed., (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2015), 213-234
“From Sinner to Saint? Seeking a Consistent Constantine,” in Rethinking Constantine: History, Theology, and Legacy, E. Smithers, ed., (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2014), pp. 5-25
“Introduction,” in 《 (Justin Martyr, Collected Works), 翻译：石敏敏, (Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing, 2014), 1-16
“What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate: Paul and Barnabas at Lystra— Seen from Wauwatosa,” in Heritage and Hope: Essays in Honor of the 150th Anniversary of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, edited by Cherney, Kenneth A, (Milwaukee WI: Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Press, 2013), 105-134
“How the Jingjiao Became Nestorian.” In From the Oxus River to the Chinese Shores: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, Li Tang & Dietmar W. Winkler, eds. Orientalia-Patristica-Oecumenica 5 (Wien: LIT Verlag, 2013), 417-439
“Catacombs,” “Chinese Christianity,” “Eusebius of Caesarea,” “Konstantin von Tishendorf,” in The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization (London: Blackwells, 2011)
“Evangelicals and the Quest for the Historical Church: A Lutheran Response,” in The Contemporary Church and the Early Church, Paul Hartog, ed. (Wipf and Stock, 2010)
“Was Alopen a Missionary?,” in Hidden Treasures and Intercultural Encounters: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia; Dietmar Winkler and Li Tang, eds. (Wien: Lit Verlag, 2009), pp. 267-278
“Introduction,” in 《论道成肉身》, [古罗马]阿塔那修 著 (Athanasius, On the Incarnation), 翻译：石敏敏, (Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing, 2009), 1-14
Recent Papers and Presentations
The Structure of the Stele, 5th Salzburg International Conference on the Church of the East in China and Central Asia, Salzburg, Austria (2016)
The Epitaphium Liberii – Anatomy of a Debate, North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago (2016)
Ecclesia and Oikia: Revisiting the Pauline House Church, Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (Atlanta, GA) (2015)
Strange Teaching from a Strange Land: Foreignness, Heresy, and Our Understanding of the Jingjiao and Yelikewenjiao, International Conference on Jingjiao (Hong Kong University, 2015)
Journey to the East: Christianity in China in the Tang and Yuan Dynasties, University Museum and Art Gallery (Hong Kong University, 2015)
From Jerusalem to Luoyang: Did Christianity (or Judaism) Arrive in 1st-Century China?, Asia Society (Hong Kong) (2015)
Using the Aural/Oral Approach to Biblical Greek in Asia: A Case Study from Hong Kong, Society for Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (San Diego, CA) (2014)
Upgrading our Maps of Paul’s First Asia Minor Journey: Methodology, Practice, Conclusions, Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (San Diego, CA) (2014)
Localizing the Projected Route of Paul’s Second Journey in Anatolia (poster, together with Dr. Mark Wilson), Pathways of Communication: Roads and Routes in Anatolia from Prehistory to Seljuk Times, British Instiute in Ankara, Ankara, Turkey (2014)
Did Christianity Come to Han China? 4th Salzburg International Conference on the Church of the East in China and Central Asia, Salzburg, Austria (2013)
Did Jesus Have A Wife? Asia Lutheran Seminary, Honk Kong (2012)
Re-evaluating Constantine: Simul Iustus et Peccator, Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (Milwaukee, WI) (2012)
The Role of Rome in the Development of ‘Orthodoxy’, Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (San Francisco, CA) (2011)
The Pax Constantiniana and the Roman Episcopate, 14th International Conference of Patristics Studies (Oxford, UK) (2011)
Visualizing Early Roman Christianity, Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (Atlanta, GA) (2010)
Jingjiao: Die erste christliche Kirche in China, Staatsunabhängige Theologische Hochschule Basel (Basel, Switzerland) (2010)
How the Jingjiao Became Nestorian, Third International Conference on the Church of the East in China and Central Asia (Salzburg Austria) (2009)
Work in Progress
- Documenting and Mapping Roman Roads, Milestones and Bridges in Anatolia
- A website on the Jingjiao and Yelikewenjiao churches of China
- Evangelical Christianity and the Chinese Church
- The Correspondence of Liberius: A Critical Edition and Translation
- The Correspondence of Damasus: A Critical Edition and Translation
- Christianity in China Before Western Missionaries