Ed Parish Sanders (born 18 April 1937) is a New Testament scholar, and is one of the principal proponents of the New Perspective on Paul. He has been Arts and Sciences Professor of Religion at Duke University, North Carolina, since 1990. He retired in 2005.

Sanders is a Fellow of the British Academy. In 1966 he received a Th.D. from Union Seminary in NYC. In 1990 he received a D. Litt. from the University of Oxford and a Th.D. from the University of Helsinki. He has authored, co-authored or edited 13 books and numerous articles. He has received a number of prizes, including the Grawemeyer Award for the best book on religion published in the 1980s for Jesus and Judaism. In that book (p. xii), he mentions "the unflagging support and friendship" of four teachers: David Daube—"one of the two most remarkable people I have ever known"^[1]—W.D. Davies, W.R. Farmer, and J. Louis Martyn.

Biography[link]

Sanders was born and grew up in Grand Prairie, Texas. He attended Wesleyan College, Fort Worth (1955-1959) and Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, Dallas (1959-1962). He spent a year (1962-1963) studying at Göttingen, the University of Oxford and in Jerusalem.

Between September 1963 and May 1966 Sanders studied at Union Theological Seminary, New York for his Th.D. His thesis was entitled The Tendencies of the Synoptic Tradition (published in 1969), which used form criticism to examine whether the Gospel tradition changed in consistent ways. The thesis was supervised by W.D. Davies.

He taught at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) from 1966 to 1984. In 1968 he won a fellowship from the Canada Council and spent a year in Israel, studying Rabbinical Judaism.

In 1984 he became Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Queen's College, positions he kept until his move to Duke University in 1990. He has also held visiting professorships and lectureships at Trinity College, Dublin, and the University of Cambridge. Sanders identifies himself as a "liberal, modern, secularized Protestant" in his book "Jesus and Judaism;" fellow scholar John P. Meier calls him a postliberal Protestant. In any case, he is wary of Albert Schweitzer's indictment of liberal theology's attempt to make Jesus in its own image, and seeks to keep his religious convictions out of his scholarship.

Thought and writings[link]

Ed Parish Sanders is known for his “breakthrough in New Testament scholarship.”^[2] His “field of special interest is Judaism and Christianity in the Greco-Roman world.”^[2]

Sanders' first major book was Paul and Palestinian Judaism, which was published in 1977. He had written the book by 1975, but had difficulty in having it published due to its controversial nature.

Sanders argued that the traditional Christian interpretation that Paul was condemning Rabbinic legalism was a misunderstanding of both Judaism and Paul's thought, especially since it assumed a level of individualism in these doctrines that was not present, and disregarded notions of group benefit or collective privilege. Rather, Sanders argued, the key difference between pre-Christian Judaism and Pauline teaching was to be found in ideas of how a person becomes one of the People of God. Sanders termed the Jewish belief "covenantal nomism": one was a member of the people by virtue of God's covenant with Abraham, and one stayed in it by keeping the Law.

Sanders claimed that Paul's belief was one of participationist eschatology: the only way to become one of the People of God was through faith in Christ ("dying with Christ") and the Old Covenant was no longer sufficient. But, once inside, appropriate behavior was required of the Christian, behavior based on the Jewish Scriptures, but not embracing all aspects of it. Both patterns required the grace of God for election (admission), and the behavior of the individual, supported by God's grace. The dividing line, therefore, was Paul's insistence on faith in Christ as the only way to election. However, Sanders stressed that Paul also “loved good deeds” ^[3] and that when his words are taken in context, it emerges that Paul advocates good works in addition to faith in Christ. ^[3]

Sanders' next major book was Jesus and Judaism, published in 1985. In this work he argued that Jesus began as a follower of John the Baptist and was a prophet of the restoration of Israel. Sanders saw Jesus as creating an eschatological Jewish movement through his appointment of the Apostles and through his preaching and actions. After his execution (the trigger for which was Jesus overthrowing the tables in the temple court of Herod's Temple, thereby antagonizing the political authorities) his followers continued the movement, expecting his return to restore Israel. One consequence of this return would involve Gentiles worshiping the God of Israel. Sanders could find no substantial points of opposition between Jesus and the Pharisees, and he viewed Jesus as abiding by Jewish law and the disciples as continuing to keep it (cf. e.g., Acts 3.1; 21.23-26, for their worship in the Temple). Sanders also argues that Jesus' sayings did not entirely determine Early Christian behavior and attitudes, as is shown by Paul's discussion of divorce (1 Cor. 7.10-16) where the latter quotes Jesus' sayings and then gives his own independent ruling. In one interview, Sanders stated that Paul felt that "he was the model to his churches."^[3]

Judaism: Practice and Belief was published in 1992 and tested Sanders' thesis in the light of concrete Jewish practices. Sanders argued that there was a "Common Judaism", that is, beliefs and practices common to all Jews, regardless of which religious party they belonged to. After the reign of Salome Alexandra, the Pharisees were a small but very respected party which had a varying amount of influence within Judaism. The main source of power, however, was with the rulers and especially the aristocratic priesthood (Sadducees). Sanders argues that the evidence indicates that the Pharisees did not dictate policy to any of these groups or individuals.

In general, Sanders stressed the importance of historical context for a proper understanding of first century religion. He attempted to approach "Judaism on its own terms, not in the context of the Protestant-Catholic debates of the sixteenth century"^[2] in order to redefine views on Judaism, Paul, and Christianity as a whole. As Sanders said, he reads Paul in his context, which is "Palestine in the first century and especially first century Judaism."^[3] In this spirit, one of Sanders’ articles is titled "Jesus in Historical Context."^[4]

Sanders also argues that more comparative studies are needed, with wider examinations conducted between New Testament texts and the other available historical sources of the period. Speaking at a conference organized in his honor, he described the attractiveness of these types of comparative studies: "They are not all that easy, but they are an awful lot of fun."

Books and articles[link]

These are some of the published works of Sanders:

• The Tendencies of the Synoptic Tradition 1969 Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-07318-9
• Paul and Palestinian Judaism 1977 SCM Press ISBN 0-8006-1899-8
• Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People 1983 Augsburg Fortress Publishers ISBN 0-8006-1878-5. Русский перевод: "Павел, Закон и еврейский народ", в кн.: "Христос или Закон? Апостол Павел глазами новозаветной науки". М., РОССПЭН, 2006.
• Jesus and Judaism 1985 SCM Press ISBN 0-334-02091-3
• With Margaret Davies, Studying the Synoptic Gospels 1989 SCM Press ISBN 0-334-02342-4
• Jewish Law from Jesus to the Mishnah 1990 SCM Press ISBN 0-334-02102-2
• Paul 1991 Oxford Paperbacks ISBN 0-19-287679-1
• Judaism: Practice and Belief 1992 SCM Press ISBN 0-334-02470-6
• The Historical Figure of Jesus 1993 Penguin Books Ltd ISBN 0-14-014499-4
• Paul: A Very Short Introduction 2001 Oxford Paperbacks ISBN 0-19-285451-8

• "Jesus’ Galilee," Fair Play: Diversity and Conflicts in Early Christianity. In, Essays in Honor of Heikki Räisänen, eds. Ismo Dunderberg, Kari Syreeni, Christopher Tuckett (Leiden: Brill 2001), pp. 3-41.
• "Jesus’ Relation to Sepphoris," Sepphoris in Galilee. In, Crosscurrents of Culture, eds. Rebecca Martin Nagy, Eric M. Meyers, Carol L. Meyers, and Zeev Weiss (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1996), pp. 75–9.

References[link]

External links[link]

• E. P. Sanders, "Intellectual Autobiography"
• E. P. Sanders, "Jesus in Historical Context"
• E. P. Sanders, "The Question of Uniqueness in the Teaching of Jesus"
• The New Perspective on Paul

v t e Dean Ireland's Professors of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture Edward Hawkins (1847)  · Robert Scott (1861)  · Henry Liddon (1870)  · William Sanday (1882)  · Walter Lock (1895)  · Cuthbert Turner (1920)  · Burnett Hillman Streeter (1932)  · Robert Lightfoot (1934)  · George Kilpatrick (1949)  · G. B. Caird (1977)  · E. P. Sanders (1984)  · Christopher Rowland (1991) University of Oxford portal

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2007)

E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. In 1986, the company was acquired by Penguin Group and split into two imprints: Dutton and Dutton Children's Books.

History[link]

Edward Payson Dutton founded a book-selling firm in Boston, in 1852, as E. P. Dutton, but it wasn't until 1864 when a branch office was set up in New York, that the company began to publish books. Its original focus was on religious titles, and its first bestseller was the two-volume Life of Christ by Frederic Farrar, published in 1874.

In 1885, John Macrae began working at Dutton as an office boy; he would spend fifty-nine years with the company (to 1944), rising through the ranks. He became president in 1923, and in 1928 he bought the publishing house along with his two sons.

E. P. Dutton ceased to exist as an independent company in 1985, when New American Library brought the company, which in turn acquired by Viking Penguin (now Penguin Group USA) a year later, splitting into two imprints: Dutton and Dutton Children's Books. Dutton Children's Books is the US publisher of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

Publications[link]

Books published by E.P. Dutton, prior to its reorganization in 1986, include:

• The Book of Sand, Jorge Luis Borges (1975)
• Black Robe, Brian Moore (1985)
• The World According to Garp, John Irving (1978)
• Passages, Gail Sheehy
• I, the Jury, Mickey Spillane (1947)
• Silverlock, John Myers Myers (1949)
• Nigger, Dick Gregory (1964)
• Bonjour Tristesse, Francoise Sagan

External links[link]

• Dutton imprint page at Penguin USA
• Dutton Children's Book imprint page at Penguin USA

v t e Pearson PLC Financial Times Group The Banker Business Day (50%) The Economist Group (50%) fDi Financial Adviser Financial Mail (50%) Financial Times FT Mandate FTSE Group (50%) Investment Adviser Investors Chronicle Mergermarket Money Management PWM Vedomosti (33%) Pearson Education Pearson School Addison-Wesley AGS Globe BBC Active Causeway Press Celebration Press DDC Dominie Press Dorling Kindersley Family Education Network FunBrain Infoplease Poptropica Ginn Heinemann (outside US) Interstate Modern Curriculum Press Payne-Gallway Prentice Hall Rigby (outside US) Scott Foresman Silver Burdett York Notes Pearson Higher Education Addison-Wesley Allyn & Bacon Benjamin Cummings Longman Merrill Education Prentice Hall Pearson Professional Addison-Wesley Professional Adobe Press Apple Certified Allyn & Bacon Professional Cisco Press FT Press IBM Press InformIT Merrill Professional New Riders New York Institute of Finance Peachpit Pearson Assessment & Information Prentice Hall Professional Que Safari Books Online (50%) SAMS Publishing Pearson VUE Wharton Other Edexcel Pearson Language Tests Wall Street Institute Penguin Group United Kingdom Allen Lane BBC Children's Books Dorling Kindersley Hamish Hamilton Ladybird Michael Joseph Penguin Penguin Classics Puffin Rough Guides Viking Warne United States Ace Alpha Avery Berkley Blue Rider Press BradyGames Current Dial Young Readers Dutton Dutton Children's Books Firebird Gotham Putnam Grosset & Dunlap HPBooks Hudson Street Jove New American Library Penguin The Penguin Press Perigee Philomel Plume Portfolio Prentice Hall Press Price Stern Sloan Puffin Razorbill Riverhead Sentinel Speak Tarcher Viking Category

The Rt Revd  Tom Wright  MA(Oxon) DD
Professor at St Andrews
Wright speaking at a conference in December 2007
In Office	1 September 2010–present
Other posts	Bishop of Durham (2003–10) Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey (2000–03) Dean of Lichfield (1994–99)
Orders
Ordination	1975
Consecration	2003
Personal details
Birth name	Nicholas Thomas Wright
Born	(1948-12-01) 1 December 1948 (age 63) Morpeth, Northumberland
Nationality	British
Denomination	Anglican
Residence	Auckland Castle, County Durham (2003–2010)
Spouse	Maggie[1]
Children	Four children[1]
Alma mater	Exeter College, Oxford

Nicholas Thomas Wright (born 1 December 1948) is an Anglican bishop and a leading New Testament scholar. He is published as N. T. Wright when writing academic work, or Tom Wright when writing for a more popular readership. His books include What St Paul Really Said and Simply Christian. Wright was the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England from 2003 until his retirement in 2010.

Among modern New Testament scholars, Wright is an important representative of more conservative Christian views compared to more liberal Christians such as his friend Marcus Borg.^[2] In particular, he is associated with the Open Evangelical position, the New Perspective on Paul and the historical Jesus. He has promoted more traditional views about Jesus' bodily resurrection^{[2][page needed]} and second coming^[3] as well as on homosexuality.^[4]

Early life and credentials[link]

Wright was born in Morpeth, Northumberland. In a 2003 interview he said that he could never remember a time when he was not aware of the presence and love of God and recalled an occasion when he was four or five when "sitting by myself at Morpeth and being completely overcome, coming to tears, by the fact that God loved me so much he died for me. Everything that has happened to me since has produced wave upon wave of the same."^[5]

In addition to his Doctor of Divinity degree from Oxford University^[6] he also has been awarded several honorary doctoral degrees,^[7] including from Durham University in July 2007,^[8] the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in April 2008,^[9] the University of St Andrews in 2009^[10] and Heythrop College, University of London, in 2010.

Career[link]

Educated at Sedbergh School, then in Yorkshire, Wright specialised in classics.

From 1968 to 1971, he studied literae humaniores (or "classics", i.e. classical literature, philosophy and history) at Exeter College, Oxford, receiving his BA with first class honours in 1971. During that time he was president of the undergraduate Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union. In 1973 he received a BA in theology with first class honours from Exeter.

From 1971 to 1975 he studied for the Anglican ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, receiving his (Oxford) MA at the end of this period.

In 1975 he became a junior research fellow at Merton College, Oxford and later also junior chaplain. From 1978 to 1981 he was a fellow and chaplain at Downing College, Cambridge. In 1981 he received his DPhil from Merton College, Oxford, his thesis topic being "The Messiah and the People of God: A Study in Pauline Theology with Particular Reference to the Argument of the Epistle to the Romans".

After this, he served as assistant professor of New Testament studies at McGill University, Montreal (1981–86), then as chaplain, fellow and tutor at Worcester College and lecturer in New Testament in the University of Oxford (1986–93).

He moved from Oxford to be Dean of Lichfield Cathedral (1994–99) and then returned briefly to Oxford as Visiting Fellow of Merton College, before taking up his appointment as Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey in 2000.

In 2003, he became the Bishop of Durham.

On 4 August 2006 he was appointed to the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved for a period of five years.^[11]

On 27 April 2010 it was announced that he would retire from the See of Durham on 31 August 2010 to take up a new appointment as Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary's College, University of St Andrews in Scotland, which will enable him to concentrate on his academic and broadcasting work.^[12][13]

Views[link]

New Testament doctrine[link]

Wright's doctrinal perspectives, with reference to the New Testament, are expressed throughout his writings. In his popular-level book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, he teaches a position referred to as "Christian mortalism". He also advocates a reunion of soteriology and ecclesiology, commenting that such a connection is often neglected in Protestantism. In addition, he is critical of various popular theological ideas, such as the dispensationalist doctrine of the rapture.^[14]

Scholarly work[link]

Wright is considered an important representative of the open evangelical perspective^{[citation needed]} and is associated with the Third Quest for the Historical Jesus and the New Perspective on Paul, a complex movement with many unique^{[citation needed]} positions (originating from the works of James Dunn and E.P. Sanders). He argues that the current understanding of Jesus must be connected with what is known to be true about him from the historical perspective of first-century Judaism and Christianity.

Wright's work has been praised by many scholars of varying views, including James D.G. Dunn, Gordon Fee, Richard B. Hays and Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Critics of his work are also found across the broad range of theological camps. Some Reformed theologians such as John Piper have sought to question Wright's theology, particularly over whether or not he denies the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone. Although Piper considers Wright's presentation confusing, he does not dismiss Wright's view as false. In response, Wright has stated he wishes Piper would "exegete Paul differently" and that his book "isn’t always a critique of what I’m actually saying." However, Wright did express how he has warmed to Piper and considers him a "good, beloved brother in Christ, doing a good job, building people up in the faith, teaching them how to live."^[15] In 2009, Wright has since addressed the issue in his book Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2009). He has sought to clarify his position further in an interview with InterVarsity Press.^[15] Many conservative evangelicals have also questioned whether Wright denies penal substitution, but Wright has stated that he denies only its caricature but affirms this doctrine, especially within the overall framework of the Christus Victor model of atonement.^[16] Despite criticism of some of his work by Reformed theologians, other Reformed leaders have embraced his contribution in other areas, such as Tim Keller who praised Wright's work on the resurrection.^[17]

Secular utopianism[link]

In 2008, Wright criticized "…secular utopianism," accusing it of advocating "the right to kill unborn children and surplus old people..."^[18] Times columnist David Aaronovitch challenged Wright specifically to substantiate his claim that any secular group does indeed advocate the killing of elderly people, leading to an ongoing exchange in which Wright held to his main point.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Historical Jesus[link]

Regarding the Historical Jesus, Wright stands broadly in the tradition of Albert Schweitzer (thoroughgoing eschatology), against what he sees as the thoroughgoing skepticism of William Wrede (famous for his thesis on the Messianic Secret in the Gospel of Mark as an apologetic and ahistorical device) and the Jesus Seminar, Wrede's modern-day counterparts.^{[23][page needed]} He tends to agree with and laud such scholars as E.P. Sanders and the lesser-known Ben F. Meyer (whom Wright calls "the unsung hero" of New Testament studies),^[24] although he thinks Sanders and others go too far in their use of form criticism. He also thinks it is a mistake to say that Jesus expected the imminence of the end of history, as Schweitzer thought,^{[23][page needed]} but rather thinks that Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God as something both present and future. He has also defended a literal belief in the Second Coming and the resurrection of the dead as central to Christianity.^[3]

Wright has also received heavy criticism in some decidedly more liberal theological circles, e.g. by Robert J. Miller. In contrast, the Jesus Seminar's Marcus Borg, with whom Wright shares mutual admiration and respect, has co-authored with Wright the book The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions.^[2] In 2005, at the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum, Wright also conversed with Jesus Seminar co-founder John Dominic Crossan as to the historicity of Jesus' resurrection. Wright and Crossan, who also hold mutual admiration for one another, hold very different opinions on this foundational Christian doctrine. For Crossan, the resurrection of Jesus is a theological interpretation of events by the writers of the New Testament. For Wright, however, the resurrection is a historical event—coherent with the worldview of Second Temple Judaism—fundamental to the New Testament.^[25]

Homosexuality in the Anglican Communion[link]

Wright was the senior member from the Church of England of the Lambeth Commission set up to deal with controversies that emerged following Episcopal Church in the United States of America's ordination of a practising homosexual as bishop.^[26] In 2009 the Episcopal Church authorized consecration to the clergy of individuals in committed same-sex relationships. Wright described the action as a "clear break with the rest of the Anglican Communion" in a Times opinion piece.^[4]

Wright attracted media attention in December 2005 when he announced to the press, on the day that the first civil partnership ceremonies took place in England, that he would likely take disciplinary action against any clergy registering as civil partners or any clergy blessing such partnerships.^[27]

He has argued that "Justice never means 'treating everybody the same way', but 'treating people appropriately'".^[4] In August 2009, he issued a statement saying:

...someone, sooner or later, needs to spell out further (wearisome though it will be) the difference between (a) the "human dignity and civil liberty" of those with homosexual and similar instincts and (b) their "rights", as practising let alone ordained Christians, to give physical expression to those instincts. As the Pope has pointed out, the language of "human rights" has now been downgraded in public discourse to the special pleading of every interest-group.^[28]

Selected works[link]

• The Climax of the Covenant: Christ and the Law in Pauline Theology. Fortress Press, 1991.
• Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997 / SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge), 1994
• What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997.
• The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is. Downers Grove, Illinois, 2000.
• The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N.T. Wright in Dialogue. Ed. Robert B. Stewart. Paperback ed. Augsburg Fortress, Pub., 2005 / SPCK 2006 (co-authored with John D. Crossan).
• Paul: Fresh Perspective. Fortress Press, 2005 co-edition SPCK, 2005.
• The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture. Harper SanFrancisco, 2005.
• Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. Hardcover ed. SPCK, 2006 co-edition HarperCollins Pub., 2006.
• Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity?. SPCK 2006 / Baker Books, 2006.
• Evil and the Justice of God. SPCK, 2006 / Intervarsity Press, 2006.
• "The Reasons for Christ's Crucifixion," Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ (ed. by Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin), 2007.
• Wright, Marcus J (2007), The Meaning of Jesus: Two visions, New York: HarperCollins .
• Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. SPCK, HarperOne, 2008.
• Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened. SPCK, 2008 / Westminster John Knox, 2009. (co-authored with Craig A. Evans) Ed. Troy A. Miller.
• Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision. SPCK, 2009.
• Virtue Reborn. SPCK, 2010. Published as After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters through HarperOne in North America, 2010.
• Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters. HarperOne, 2011.
• How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels. HarperOne, 2012.

Christian Origins and the Question of God series[link]

Six volumes expected:

• The New Testament and the People of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, Volume 1. Augsburg Fortress, 1992.
• Jesus and the Victory of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, Volume 2. Augsburg Fortress, 1996.
• The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, Volume 3. Augsburg Fortress, 2003.
• Paul and the Faithfulness of God. A full-dress study of Paul, currently in progress; forthcoming in 2013.
• The Gospels and the Story of God. The four gospel writers as theologians in their own right.
• The Early Christians and the Purpose of God. The practical, hermeneutical and theological implications of all of the above.

For Everyone series[link]

The For Everyone series, a commentary on the New Testament, was completed in 2011:

• Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05301-8
• Matthew for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 16-28. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05487-9
• Mark for Everyone. 2nd ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05299-9
• Luke for Everyone. 2nd ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05300-1
• John for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-10. Paperback ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05302-2
• John for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 11-21. 2nd ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05520-3
• Acts for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-12. SPCK, 2008. ISBN 978-0-281-05308-7
• Acts for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 13-28. SPCK, 2008. ISBN 978-0-281-05546-3
• Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part 1: Chapters 1-8. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05736-8
• Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part 2: Chapters 9-16. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05737-5
• Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05305-6
• Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05306-3
• Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05304-9
• Paul for Everyone, the Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philipians, Colossians and Philemon. 2nd ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05303-0
• Paul for Everyone: the Pastoral Letters. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05310-3
• Hebrews for Everyone. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05307-3
• Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah. SPCK, 2011. ISBN 978-0-281-06465-6
• Revelation for Everyone. SPCK, 2011. ISBN 978-0-281-06463-2

See also[link]

	Christianity portal
	Anglicanism portal
	Biography portal

• Critical realism

References[link]

External links[link]

• N. T. Wright Page, a collection writings
• N.T. Wright In-depth Interview on "Beyond Evangelical"

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since June 2011. It relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Tagged since June 2011. It may contain original research. Tagged since October 2007. It may contain previously unpublished synthesis of published material that conveys ideas not attributable to the original sources. Tagged since October 2007.

John Dominic Crossan

John Dominic Crossan (born 1934) is an Irish-American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, and former Catholic priest known for co-chairing the Jesus Seminar. Crossan is a major figure in the fields of anthropology of the Ancient Mediterranean and New Testament Studies, particularly in the application of postmodern hermeneutical approaches for the avant-garde Biblical studies journal Semeia.^{[citation needed]} He is also a lecturer who has appeared in television documentaries about Jesus and the Bible. He is a key figure in research into the historical Jesus.^[1]

Life[link]

Crossan was born in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, Ireland.Though his father was a banker, Crossan was steeped in the rural Irish life, which he experienced through frequent visits to the home of his paternal grandparents. On graduation from St. Eunan's College, a boarding high school, in 1950, Crossan joined the Servites, a Catholic religious order, and moved to the United States. He was trained at Stonebridge Seminary, Lake Bluff, Illinois, then ordained a priest in 1957. Crossan returned to Ireland, where he earned his Doctor of Divinity in 1959 at St. Patrick's College Maynooth, the Irish national seminary. He then completed two more years of study in biblical languages at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. Thus equipped, he returned to the seminary where he had trained, and through four years of teaching he "first began to learn something about the Bible" as he puts it.^{[citation needed]} In 1965 Crossan embarked on two additional years of study, this time in archaeology based at the Ecole Biblique in Jordanian East Jerusalem. His work led him to journey through many Middle-Eastern countries before escaping just days prior to the outbreak of the Six Day War of 1967.^[2]

After a year at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, and a year at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Crossan chose to resign his priesthood. He cited as reasons both a desire for more academic freedom, and the freedom to be bound in matrimony.^{[citation needed]} He married Margaret Dagenais, a professor at Loyola University (Chicago) in the summer of 1969, and joined the faculty of DePaul University that fall, where he taught undergraduates Comparative Religion for twenty-five years until retiring in 1995. His first wife died of a heart attack in 1983. Crossan married Sarah Sexton, a social worker with two grown children, in 1986. Since his academic retirement, Crossan has lived in the Orlando, Florida, area, remaining active in research, writing, and teaching seminars.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Crossan writes books for both academic and popular audiences. His two lengthiest books are The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant (1991) and The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened Immediately after the Execution of Jesus (1998).

Two of Crossan's briefer popular books are Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (1994) and Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus (1995).

Crossan has also co-authored a book about Jesus and another about Paul with archaeologist Jonathan L. Reed (2001, 2004), which provide contextualization of the lives and times of these two men.

In 1985, Crossan and Robert Funk founded the Jesus Seminar, a group of academics studying a historical Jesus. Crossan served as co-chair of the Jesus Seminar for its first decade. He is also a member of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), serving as the President of the Society in 2012.^[3] He is also featured in a number of Living the Questions programs, including "Eclipsing Empire"^[4] and "First Light."^[5]

Views and methodology[link]

Crossan suggests Jesus was an illiterate "Jewish Cynic" from a landless peasant background, initially a follower of John the Baptist.^{[citation needed]} Jesus was a healer and man of great wisdom and courage who taught a message of inclusiveness, tolerance, and liberation. "His strategy . . . was the combination of free healing and common eating . . . that negated the hierarchical and patronal normalcies of Jewish religion and Roman power . . . He was neither broker nor mediator but . . . the announcer that neither should exist between humanity and divinity or humanity and itself."^[6]

Out of his study of cross-attestation and strata of the ancient texts, Crossan asserts that many of the gospel stories of Jesus are not factual, including his "nature miracles", the virgin birth, and the raising of Lazarus.^{[citation needed]} While pointing out the meager attestation and apparent belatedness of the miracles' appearance in the trajectory of the canon, Crossan takes the opposite view, that Jesus was known during earliest Christianity as a powerful magician, which was "a very problematic and controversial phenomenon not only for his enemies but even for his friends," who began washing miracles out of the tradition early on.^{[citation needed]}

Crossan maintains the Gospels were never intended to be taken literally by their authors.^{[citation needed]} He argues that the meaning of the story is the real issue, not whether a particular story about Jesus is history or parable.^{[citation needed]} He proposes that it is historically probable that, like all but one known victim of crucifixion, Jesus' body was scavenged by animals rather than being placed in a tomb.^[7] Crossan believes in vision hypothesis "resurrection" by faith but holds that bodily resuscitation was never contemplated by early Christians.^{[citation needed]} He believes that the rapture is based on a misreading of I Thessalonians.^{[citation needed]}

Central to Crossan's methodology is the dating of texts. This is laid out more or less fully in The Historical Jesus in one of the appendices. He dates part of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas to the 50s CE, as well as the first layer of the hypothetical Q Document (in this he is heavily dependent on the work of John Kloppenborg). He also assigns a portion of the Gospel of Peter, which he calls the "Cross Gospel," to a date preceding the synoptic gospels, the reasoning of which is laid out more fully in The Cross that Spoke: The Origin of the Passion Narratives. He believes the "Cross Gospel" was the forerunner to the passion narratives in the canonical gospels. He does not date the synoptics until the mid to late 70s CE, starting with the Gospel of Mark and ending with Luke in the 90s. As for the Gospel of John, he believes part was constructed at the beginning of the 2nd century CE and another part closer to the middle of the century. Following Rudolf Bultmann, he believes there is an earlier "Signs Source" for John as well. His dating methods and conclusions are quite controversial, particularly regarding the dating of Thomas and the "Cross Gospel."^{[citation needed]} The very early dating of these non-canonical sources has not been accepted by many biblical scholars.^[8]

In God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now (2007), Crossan starts with the presumption of reader familiarity with key points from his earlier work on the nonviolent revolutionary Jesus, his Kingdom movement, and the surrounding matrix of the Roman imperial theological system of religion, war, victory, peace, but discusses them in the broader context of the escalating violence in world politics and popular culture of today. Within that matrix, he points out, early in the book, that "(t)here was a human being in the first century who was called 'Divine,' 'Son of God,' 'God,' and 'God from God,' whose titles were 'Lord,' 'Redeemer,' 'Liberator,' and 'Saviour of the World.'" "(M)ost Christians probably think that those titles were originally created and uniquely applied to Christ. But before Jesus ever existed, all those terms belonged to Caesar Augustus."^[9] Crossan cites the adoption of them by the early Christians to apply to Jesus as denying them of Caesar the Augustus. "They were taking the identity of the Roman emperor and giving it to a Jewish peasant. Either that was a peculiar joke and a very low lampoon, or it was what the Romans called majestas and we call high treason." ^[9] He ends the book asking the question "Is Bible-fed Christian violence supporting or even instigating our imperial violence as the New Roman Empire?"^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography[link]

• Scanning the Sunday Gospel,1966
• The Gospel of Eternal Life, 1967
• In Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus, 1973, reprinted 1992, ISBN 0-06-061606-7
• The Dark Interval: Towards a Theology of Story, 1975, reprinted 1988, ISBN 0-944344-06-2
• Raid on the Articulate: Comic Eschatology in Jesus and Borges, 1976, ISBN 0-06-061607-5
• Finding Is the First Act: Trove Folktales and Jesus' Treasure Parable, 1979 ISBN 0-8006-1509-3
• Cliffs of Fall: Paradox and Polyvalence in the Parables of Jesus, 1980, ISBN 0-8164-0113-6
• A Fragile Craft: The Work of Amos Niven Wilder, 1981, ISBN 0-89130-424-X
• In Fragments: The Aphorisms of Jesus, 1983, ISBN 0-06-061608-3
• Four Other Gospels: Shadows on the Contours of Canon, 1985, reprinted 1992, ISBN 0-86683-959-3
• Sayings Parallels: A Workbook for the Jesus Tradition, 1986, ISBN 0-80062109-3
• The Cross that Spoke: The Origins of the Passion Narrative, 1988, ISBN 0-06-254843-3
• The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, 1991, ISBN 0-06-061629-6
• The Essential Jesus: Original Sayings and Earliest Images, 1994, reprinted 1998, ISBN 0-7858-0901-5
• Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, 1994, ISBN 0-06-061662-8
• Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus, 1995, ISBN 0-06-061480-3
• Who Is Jesus? Answers to Your Questions about the Historical Jesus, edited with Richard Watts, 1996, ISBN 0-664-25842-5
• The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus, 1998, ISBN 0-06-061660-1
• Will the Real Jesus Please Stand up?: A Debate between William Lane Craig and John Dominic Crossan, 1999, ISBN 0-8010-2175-8
• The Jesus Controversy: Perspectives in Conflict (Rockwell Lecture Series), with Luke Timothy Johnson, Werner H. Kelber, 1999, ISBN 1-56338-289-X
• A Long Way from Tipperary: A Memoir, 2000, ISBN 0-06-069974-4
• Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts, with Jonathan L. Reed, 2001, ISBN 0-06-061634-2
• In Search of Paul: How Jesus's Apostle Opposed Rome's Empire with God's Kingdom, with Jonathan L. Reed, 2004, ISBN 0-06-051457-4
• The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Account of Jesus's Final Week in Jerusalem with Marcus J. Borg, HarperSanFrancisco (February 28, 2006) ISBN 978-0-06-084539-1
• God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now, HarperSanFrancisco, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-084323-6
• The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church's Conservative Icon, co-authored with Marcus Borg, 2009; ISBN 0-06-143072-2
• "The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of The Lord's Prayer", 2010; ISBN 978-0-06-187567-0

Notes[link]

1. ^ "John Dominic Crossan." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 06 Apr. 2010 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/144216/John-Dominic-Crossan>.
2. ^ A Long Way from Tipperary: A Memoir (2000)
3. ^ http://www.sbl-site.org/SBLcommittees_Council.aspx
4. ^ http://www.livingthequestions.com/xcart/home.php?cat=376
5. ^ http://www.livingthequestions.com/xcart/home.php?cat=410
6. ^ The Historical Jesus, p 421-22
7. ^ Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (1994)
8. ^ Theissen, Gerd; Merz, Annette (1998). The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-3122-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=3ZU97DQMH6UC&pg=PA24&#v=onepage&q=&f=false.  footnote
9. ^ ^{a b} Crossan, John Dominic, God and Empire, 2007, p. 28

External links[link]

• Crossan's website (Promotional)

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (September 2010)

Tamara Lackey is a professional photographer, author, workshop teacher^[1] and international speaker. Her work has been published in numerous lifestyle magazines including Vogue, O – The Oprah Magazine, Town & Country, Parenting Magazine, Food & Wine, The Knot Men's Journal,; in trade outlets such as Professional Photographer, Professional ImageMaker and Rangefinder; and on national television programs including NBC’s The Martha Stewart Show and ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.^[2]

In 2008, Lackey released her educational book The Art of Children’s Portrait Photography, which got favorable reviews,^[3][4] and praise from a writer at shootsmarter.com^[5] and aspiring photographers.

Lackey then teamed with Rex Ballard to produce Inside Contemporary Children's Photography, a 90-minute video released in January 2010.^[6]

In 2010 Lackey also worked with Kubota Image Tools to develop a "Kubota Artist Series Style Book & DVD Tutorial", The Tamara Lackey Style Book, to instruct viewers on improving their own portrait and children’s photography using "Kubota Actions" (proprietary Photoshop plugins).^[7]

Lackey once again paired with Rex Ballard to develop a guide to help “everyday photographers” capture more from their life moments. Tamara Lackey's Capturing Life Through (Better) Photography teaches simple tips and tricks to transform point-and-shoot images into little works of art.^[8] It includes a 100-page book and 90-minute full-feature DVD sold individually or as a bundle with included quick reference guide.

Lackey has also presented internationally ^[9] at industry workshops and events, which include serving as a keynote speaker at the National Association of Professional Child Photographers’ Retreat^[10] and participating as a panel judge for the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) International Print Competition.^{[citation needed]}

Combining artistry with spontaneous authenticity, Lackey’s new web series, the reDefine Show, examines the inspiring stories of top-tier creative artists who make it work. Lackey’s interview style showcases her abiding interest in real conversations that share practical tips, innovative methods, and previews of the newest and most useful technologies on the market.

Notes[link]

1. ^ "Children's Portrait Photography with Tamara Lackey", creativelive.com. Accessed 17 November 2010.
2. ^ "Credits". Photography. http://ll.abc.go.com/shows/extreme-makeover-home-edition/as-featured-on/creasey-family/373755. 
3. ^ Marianne Drenthe, review in Professional Photography, reproduced here in Lackey's website. Accessed 17 November 2010.
4. ^ Auey Santos, review, San Francisco Book Review, 15 December 2009. Accessed 17 November 2010.
5. ^ Nick Coury, in a piece reproduced here in Lackey's website. Accessed 17 November 2010.
6. ^ Scottbaby, "A Mini Review of Tamara Lackey’s Contemporary Children’s Photography Instructional DVD", photofocus.com, 18 May 2010. Accessed 17 November 2010.
7. ^ This is the product page of The Tamara Lackey Style Book at kubotaimagetools.com.
8. ^ Capturinglifebetter.com is its website.
9. ^ "Imaging USA 2010". speaking engagements. http://tamaralackey.com/imaging-usa-2010/. 
10. ^ Tanya Alexis, "NAPCP retreat 2010: A full recap", National Association of Profession Child Photographers, 7 July 2010. Accessed 17 November 2010.

External links[link]

• Tamara Lackey
• reDefine Show
• Capturing Life Through (Better) Photography
• Technorati Interview, Tamara Lackey Talks Photographing the Famous
• Interview, Posing Images: Family Fun Fair 2011
• Kubota Click Interview, Meet Photography Dynamo and Classy Superstar, Tamara Lackey!
• CreativeLive Interview
• The Photography Parlour Interview
• The Dedicated Photographer Interview
• Go4ProPhotos Interview
• Interview by Crash Taylor