Dr Stephen Ballentyne

Lecturer in Scriptural Languages and Early Christian Thought

Since his teenage years, when he commenced his A-level in Christian Theology, Dr Stephen Ballentyne has been fascinated by ancient texts, what they reveal about their time and how they continue to influence us today. He continued his explorations by reading Theology at the University of Oxford at Wycliffe Hall (1999–2002), and subsequently gained a PGCE (Distinction) at the University of Warwick (2005–2006) to teach Religious Education, Philosophy and Ethics in secondary schools.

After thirteen years back at school, his fortunes returned him to university, this time Nottingham, to begin a PhD. Initially, he planned to focus on Greek wordplays in Mark’s Gospel, whose meaning English translation obscures, but found this area to have been heavily treated by scholars. He therefore adjusted his focus to potential Hebrew prototypes for the text of Mark and the wordplays they produce, and was surprised at what he found.

Accordingly, he was awarded the Jeff Randall Scholarship for his efforts and asked to teach Biblical Hebrew at Nottingham during his final year. He gained his PhD in April 2024 and returned to Nottingham to teach Biblical Hebrew the following September. This time, he designed, taught, and assessed the entire module alone, and will be returning to continue teaching it this academic year.