Born 1965 in Hamburg, studied Protestant Theology in Hamburg, graduated as Magistra in 1993. 1994-1997 research assistant at the Institute for New Testament Studies at the University of Hamburg; 1998 doctorate; 1998/99 postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Würzburg in the graduate college “On the perception of gender difference in religious symbol systems”. 1999-2003 Assistant Professor at the Institute for New Testament Studies at the University of Hamburg, 2005 Habilitation in New Testament Studies, lectureships at the Universities of Gießen, Heidelberg, Marburg, Hamburg and Duisburg-Essen; summer semester 2009: professor for Biblical Exegesis and Early Jewish Religious History at the University of Hamburg; winter semester 2009/2010: professor for New Testament Studies at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel; since March 2011 Full Professor at the University of Hamburg.