Louis Jonker

Professor Louis C. Jonker was born in 1962 in Riversdal, Western Cape province, South Africa.

After his secondary training at Point High School in Mossel Bay, he studied at the University of Stellenbosch where he received a BA (Hebrew and Greek) Cum Laude in 1982, an HonsBA (Semitic languages) Cum Laude 1983, a BTh Cum Laude 1986; and a Lic. in Theology Cum Laude in 1987; He completed his Masters studies on a Hebrew language-related topic, receiving a MA (Semitic Languages) Cum Laude 1986, with a thesis "'N Sintakties-semantiese studie na die partisipium aktief in I Konings". His interest in exegetical methodology and hermeneutics prompted him to enroll for a Doctorate in Old Testament studies. After doing research at the University of Tübingen (Germany) and the University of Leiden (The Netherlands), he completed his doctoral degree in 1993. His thesis "Exclusivity and variety : a typological study towards the integration of exegetical methodologies in Old Testament studies"was published in 1996 by Kok Pharos in The Netherlands as Exclusivity and variety : perspectives on multidimensional exegesis (ISBN 9789039001431).

From 1993-2002 he was a Minister in the Dutch Reformed Church Stellenbosch-Welgelegen, and then pursued an academic career. He has held successive appointments at the University of Stellenbosch: from 2003-2006: Senior Lecturer in Old Testament; from 2006 2010: Associate professor in Old Testament; from 2010–present: Professor in Old Testament.

He received a scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Bonn (2000, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011)