Matthew’s doctoral work at the University of Cambridge, ‘Sarcasm in Paul’s Letters’ is trailblazing. To date, there has been no dedicated study on sarcasm in the New Testament. While there has been much excellent work done on irony and sarcasm in research across linguistics, literary theory and experimental psychology, most of these studies are confined to modern languages, especially English. Matthew’s work has, therefore, had to be thoroughly interdisciplinary, bringing together scholarship across linguistics, literary theory, classics and biblical studies in order to determine how ancient Greek speakers expressed sarcasm and what role it played within social interactions. This research also requires proficiency in ancient Greek, ancient Hebrew, and Latin, as well as an ability to interact with scholarship in German and French.
Being at the forefront of a developing field is challenging and exciting as it provides a lot of intellectual freedom. With so little secondary literature to interact with it can be difficult to find a methodological footing, but that also allows Matthew to define his own approach and build the field from scratch without having to correct outdated approaches. Matthew has already published some of his findings in HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, the Journal for the Study of the New Testament, and the Journal of Jewish Studies.
Matthew’s undergraduate experience took him from his hometown of Red Deer, Alberta to the University of Lethbridge. Somewhere in the middle of a Bachelor of Education, he stumbled onto an elective Hebrew course where he discovered a love of language and the ancient world. This sparked a shift toward the academy and to religious studies, as Matthew moved on to an MA in Religious Studies at McMaster University after leaving the University of Lethbridge with a double major in Religious Studies and English.
Matthew finds the college community incredible both socially and intellectually. Getting to interact on a daily basis with people from outside one’s field stimulates new ideas and is simply healthy. When not pursuing his own field Matthew studies modern languages; he is starting Italian in the autumn, for conversation rather than scholarship. He reads a lot of novels as well, including audiobooks that take up a significant portion of his disposable income. He also goes bouldering for a non-academic outlet.
After completing his PhD, Matthew plans to pursue a career in academia, continuing to conduct research on how different aspects of humour impact ancient religious life.
