Nathan A. Betz, Ph.D. — Scholar of Revelation & the New Jerusalem

The Scholar & His Work

Nathan Betz is a theologian and historian whose research explores ancient Christianity, Christian deification, and the history of one of the most powerful images in the Christian imagination: the New Jerusalem of John's Revelation. He currently has an DFG Eigene Stelle at the University of Regensburg (Germany), where he is expanding his work on the New Jerusalem into later periods and material, including Syriac literature and material culture.

Betz is the author of City of Gods: The New Jerusalem of Revelation in Early Christianity (Brill, 2025), a landmark study spanning over 500 pages that reconstructs how figures from Justin Martyr to Origen to Lactantius interpreted Revelation's holy city. He also co-edited Revelation's New Jerusalem in Late Antiquity (Mohr Siebeck, 2024), a collaborative volume bringing together leading scholars on the topic.

Before entering academia, Nathan spent nearly two decades in marketing and creative direction, working with agencies like AKQA and Wunderman on campaigns for brands including Verizon, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Sunrun. He brings a rare combination of scholarly depth, big thinking, and communicative clarity to everything he does.

Formation

2018–2022

Ph.D., History of Church and Theology

University of Leuven, Belgium

Dissertation: City of Gods: The New Jerusalem of John's Revelation in Early Christianity

2017–2018

M.Phil., Theology & Religious Studies

University of Leuven, Belgium

Summa cum laude. LECTIO/IKS Prize for best thesis — unanimous decision.

2016–2017

M.St., Patristic Theology

University of Oxford, UK

Thesis: Boundless Virtue: Participation in a Limitless God in Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Moses

2006–2009

M.A.L.A., History of Ideas

St. John's College, Annapolis

Magna cum laude. Focus: Ancient Greek thought.

1992–1997

B.A., German Language & Literature

College of William & Mary

Magna cum laude.

Current Research

DFG Eigene Stelle · 2024–2027

Revelation's New Jerusalem in the Age of Imperial Christianity

University of Regensburg, Germany

Building on his doctoral work, Nathan's current project — funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) — extends the story of the New Jerusalem's reception from the era of persecution into the age of imperial Christianity (ca. 313–ca. 600), when the relationship between the heavenly city and earthly power took on entirely new dimensions.

Research Interests

John's Revelation & Johannine Literature

Historical Biblical Exegesis

Early Christian Art History

Christian Mysticism & Deification

Martyrdom

Eschatology

“Jerusalem” as an Idea

Political Theology

Civilizational Investment

Late Antique Intellectual Networks

Chinese-American Christianity

Research Languages

Ancient

Greek · Latin · Syriac

Modern

English (native) · German (professional) · French · Dutch · Russian

Publications

Books

Forthcoming

The End of All Things: John's Eschatological Vision and Late Antique Christian Teleology

Provisional title. Publisher TBD.

2025

City of Gods: The New Jerusalem of Revelation in Early Christianity (through ca. 313)

Vigiliae Christianae Supplements 186. Brill. xiv + 540 pp.

Publisher →

2024

Revelation's New Jerusalem in Late Antiquity

With Anthony Dupont & Johan Leemans (eds.). History of Biblical Exegesis 6. Mohr Siebeck.

Publisher →

Edited Volumes (Forthcoming)

The Heavenly Jerusalem: The Origin and Reception of the Idea of a Heavenly City in Jewish and Christian Tradition

With Jens Schröter (eds.).

John's Revelation and Its Reception: Select Papers from the Revelation Reception Network Seminar (2023–2025)

With Ian Boxall & Cristian Cardozo Mindiola (eds.). BETL. Peeters.

Special themed issue of Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses

With Elisa Manzo (eds.). Late antique and medieval reception of Revelation.

Journal Articles & Book Chapters

Forthcoming

“Power Through the People! Receiving, Possessing, and Using Dynamis in Revelation and its Early Reception.”

Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia. Peeters.

Forthcoming

“Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: The Human Experience of Time and Space After the End in John's Apocalypse.”

AABNER.

Forthcoming

“Exegetical Influences on Early Syriac Revelation Commentaries.”

Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses.

Forthcoming

“Origen against Nepos: An Early Egyptian Skirmish over the Interpretation of Revelation.”

Brill.

2025

“D'ici à l'éternité: la communion dans le Nouveau Testament.”

Communio (French edition) no. 298, 50th anniversary issue (by invitation), 65–80.

2024

“Old Athens and the Alexandrian New Jerusalem: Plato's Influence on Origen's Understanding of Revelation's Holy City.”

In Origeniana Tertia Decima. BETL 338. Peeters.

2024

“Deification and the Eschatological City: Exegetical and Theological Connections in Early Christian Thought.”

In Transformed into the Same Image. InterVarsity Academic. 63–81.

2024

“Not Just Millennialists: Some Second-Century Greek Interpretations of Revelation's New Jerusalem.”

In Revelation's New Jerusalem in Late Antiquity. Mohr Siebeck. 9–33.

2023

“Reconstructing Melito of Sardis's Interpretation of Revelation's New Jerusalem.”

Vigiliae Christianae 77/5, 522–542.

2022

“'The city is the people': The New Jerusalem of Rev. 21–22 in Origen and His Predecessors.”

Annali di Storia dell'Esegesi 39/2, 313–346.

2020

“The New Jerusalem: A Metaphor for Deification in the Commentaries on Revelation by Oecumenius and Andrew of Caesarea.”

Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 96/1, 1–39.