Peter Frick

Professor

My academic interest is – broadly defined – in the intersection of biblical studies, theology and philosophy. Current research interests include: Pauline theology, hermeneutics and exegesis, theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, systematic and philosophical theologies. I am also very interested in cultural, political and philosophical assumptions underlying (university) education and its blatant failure in solving the climate crisis.

The starting point of my educational journey, at least in its formal aspects, started here in Waterloo in Religious Studies, in the early 1980s. Following my BA, I studied theology for three years at the University of Tübingen and completed a Ph.D. on Philo of Alexandria at McMaster University. My research and writing projects are as wide as my intellectual curiosity. Usually, I have a variety of writings I work on at the same time. I am working away at a new book that delineates my understanding of the Christian faith in contemporary perspectives, tentatively entitled: From Void to Eros: Recovering Christian Life.

The ultimate responsible question is … how the coming generation is to go on living

Bonhoeffer, 1942

Books

  • Understanding Paul. The Existential Perspective. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023.
  • Understanding Bonhoeffer. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017. Also published by Baylor University Press 2017.
  • (Editor). Paul in the Grip of the Philosophers. The Apostle and Contemporary  Continental Philosophy. Paul in Critical Contexts Series. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013.
  • (Editor). Bonhoeffer and Interpretive Theory. Essays on Methods and Understanding. International Bonhoeffer Interpretations 6, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2013.
  • (Editor). Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Meditation and Prayer. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2010.
  • A Dialogue with Bonhoeffer. Collected Essays. Taipei: Chuan Yung Christian University, 2009.
  • (Editor). Bonhoeffer’s Intellectual Formation. Theology and Philosophy in His Thought.  Religion in Philosophy and Theology 29. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008.
  • A Handbook of New Testament Greek Grammar. Montreal: Laodamia Press, 2007.
  • Divine Providence in Philo of Alexandria. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 77. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1999.

Refereed articles/chapters in books

  •  “Bonhoeffer and the Hermeneutics of Hope: The Quest for Existence and Meaning,” in Robert
  • Vosloo, Teddy Sakupapa, Karola Radler & Ashwin Thyssen (eds),Bonhoeffer and the Responsibility for a Coming Generation: Doing Theology in a Time Out of Joint, New Studies in Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Ethics. New York: T&T Clark, forthcoming.
  • “Bonhoeffers philosophische Gesprächspartner,” in Christiane Tietz (ed), Bonhoeffer Handbuch. Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2021, 57-71.
  • “The Art of Tolerance: Insights from Bonhoeffer and Levinas,” in Mattias Grebe (ed), Polyphonie der Theologie. Verantwortung und Widerstand in Kirche und Politik. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2019, 161-174.
  • “Bonhoeffer the Academic Theologian,” in Philip Ziegler and Michael Mawson (eds), Oxford Handbook on Bonhoeffer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019, 39-51.
  • “What does Hiroshima have to do with Berlin? Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Theology, Peace and Social Responsibility,” in Frick, Understanding Bonhoeffer, 250-264.
  •   “Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Gerhard Ebeling: an Encounter of Theological Minds,” in Matthew Kirkpatrick (ed), Engaging Bonhoeffer: The Impact and Influence of Bonhoeffer's Life and Thought. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016, 239-258.
  • “The Way of Bonhoeffer: Fragmentary Wholeness,” in Darrol Bryant (ed), Ways of the Spirit. Celebrating Dialogue, Diversity and Spirituality. Kitchener: Pandora Press, 2015, vol. 3, 234-242.
  • “Bonhoeffer on The Social-Political Dimension of Grace,” in Kirsten Busch Nielsen, Ralf K. Wüstenberg, Jens Zimmermann (eds). Dem Rad in die Speichen fallen. A Spoke in the Wheel. Das Politische in der Theologie Dietrich Bonhoeffers. The Political in the Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2013. 

Cont.

  • “Nietzsche: The Archetype of Pauline Deconstruction,” in Paul in the Grip of the Philosophers. The Apostle and Contemporary Continental Philosophy, 15-37.
  • “Paul in the Grip of Continental Philosophers: What is at Stake?” in Paul in the Grip of the Philosophers. The Apostle and Contemporary Continental Philosophy, 1-13.
  • “Monotheism and Philosophy: Notes on the Concept of God in Philo and Paul (Romans 1:18-23),” in Andrew Pitts and Stanley Porter (eds), Christian Origins and Hellenistic Judaism: Literary and Social Contexts for the New Testament. Early Christianity in its Hellenistic Context, vol. 2. Leiden: Brill, 2013, 237-58.
  • “Understanding Bonhoeffer: from Default to Hermeneutic Reading,” in: Bonhoeffer and Interpretive Theory. Essays on Methods and Understanding, 9-26.
  • “Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Engaging Intellect – Legendary Life,” in Religion Compass 6/6 (2012), 309-322.
  • “Interpretatio quaerens intellectum – ‘Translation Seeking Understanding’: The Hermeneutics of Translating Bonhoeffer,” in Theology 115 (2012), 330-338.
  • “Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Economic Humanism: An Exploration in Interdisciplinary Sociality,” in Brian Gregor and Jens Zimmerman (eds). Being Human, Becoming Human: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Social Thought. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2010, 49-68.
  • “Bonhoeffer the Preacher: Philosophy and Theology in the Service of the Sermon,” in Toronto Journal of Theology 25 (2009), 77-94.
  • “Nietzsche’s Übermensch and Bonhoeffer’s mündiger Mensch: Are They of Any Use for a Contemporary Christian Anthropology?,” in Sino-Christian Studies. An International Journal of Bible, Theology and Philosophy 7 (2009), 9-42.
  • “Bonhoeffer, Theology and Religion: What Use are They for a South-North Dialogue,” in Ciências da Religião - História e Sociedade 7 (2009), 169-91.
  • “The Imitatio Christi of Thomas à Kempis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” in: Frick (ed), Bonhoeffer’s Intellectual Formation. Theology and Philosophy in His Thought, 31-52.
  • “Friedrich Nietzsche’s Aphorisms and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Theology,” in: Frick (ed), Bonhoeffer’s Intellectual Formation. Theology and Philosophy in His Thought, 175-199.
  • “Rudolf Bultmann, Paul Tillich and Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” in: Frick (ed), Bonhoeffer’s Intellectual Formation. Theology and Philosophy in His Thought, 225-244.
  • “Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Theological Anthropology: The Case of Racism,” in Creed and Conscience. Essays in Honour of A. James Reimer, edited by Jeremy M. Bergen, Karl Koop and Paul Doerksen. Kitchener: Pandora Press, 2007, 135-151.
  • “Johannine Soteriology and Aristotelian Philosophy: A Hermeneutical Suggestion on Reading John 3:16 and 1 John 4:9,” in Biblica 88 (2007), 415-421.
  • “The Means and Mode of Salvation: A Proposal for Clarifying Pauline Soteriology,” in Horizons in Biblical Theology 29 (2007), 203-222.
  • “A Syntactical Note on the Dative τῷ κόσμῳ in James 2:5,” in: Filología Neotestamentaria 17 (2004), 99-103.