William (Bill) Petersen, born in Laredo, Texas, USA, in 1950. Ph.D. from Utrecht University. Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Pennsylvania State University. († 2006)
Fellow (1 September 1997 – 30 June 1998)
As a member of the Diatessaron theme group, and co-coordinator of the group, I participated in the team’s work on the Gospel of John. Most of the first five chapters of John have now been entered in computer readable form, and were examined by the group; construction of an apparatus has begun. I was responsible for the Old High German, Old Saxon, and Middle English, and assisted with the Greek and Syriac. This work will culminate in a two-volume set published in 2000, titled The Gospel of John, Chapters 1-5 in the Diatessaron. The team also produced another book, a special study of John 2:1-11; I contributed five chapters and two Appendices to this approximately 400-page book, which will go to press this autumn; it is titled “‘ The Wedding at Cana’ (John 2:1-11) in the Diatessaron”.
During the year I also wrote three articles which have been accepted for publication by refereed journals, two encyclopaedia entries, and three papers for conferences (presented in the U.S.A., Israel, and Denmark).