Of Sheep, Shepherds, and Temples: A Social Identity Reading of the Good Shepherd Paroemia on the Way to a Destroyed Temple

Dr. Christopher Porter, PhD (Ridley College, ACT) is a New Testament scholar working as postdoctoral research fellow at Trinity College University Theological School of Divinity. Originally trained in Psychology at the Australian National University, he brings a Social Identity (Tajfel & Turner, et al.) framework to the consideration of the biblical text and theology. His recent work has been in the identity formative function of the Fourth Gospel in the context of a post-Temple milieu and the particular environment of religious enmity in the first and twenty-first century.