Dr Logan Williams

Biography

After completing my undergraduate studies at Biola University (BA, 2011–2014), I moved to the UK to pursue postgraduate studies, first at St Andrews (MLitt, 2015–2016) and then at Durham (PhD, 2016–2020), where I wrote a thesis on christology and ethics in Paul's letter to the Galatians. I then became lecturer at University of Exeter (2022–2023) and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2023–2024). At Aberdeen I am currently the Kirby Laing Research Fellow in New Testament, a position generously funded by the Kirby Laing Foundation until January 2027, for which I am conducting a research project on ritual and transformation in ancient Judaism.

Research Overview

My current research project for this Kirby Laing fellowship explores the relationship between ritual and human transformation in select Jewish texts from antiquity (Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, the letters of Paul, and Hekhalot literature) and places them in dialogue with modern techno-scientific aspirations for radical human transformation (transhumanism) and the differential theo-ethical reactions to these aspirations. I am constructing an innovative interdisciplinary model which combines methods and concepts from ritual studies, theories of technology, and the history of science to facilitate a robust comparison between these ancient and modern discourses, while inquiring how these ancient Jewish texts might contribute to contemporary debates on transhumanism.

Alongside my Kirby Laing research, I have in recent years become fascinated with the reception of Jewish law in the New Testament. I have published an article in Journal for the Study of the New Testament on the messianic construal of the Jubilee legislation in 11QMelchizedek and Mark's gospel, and I have an article forthcoming in New Testament Studies on the dispute over handwashing in Mark 7.1–23 that offers a new interpretation of the phrase 'purifying all foods' in Mark 7.19. This research on Mark will eventuate in a book, provisionally entitled The Torah and the Traditions of Men: Jesus against Pharisaic Law in Mark 7.