Richard Bauckham (1946- )

Until 2007, Richard Bauckham was Professor of New Testament Studies and Bishop Wardlaw Professor at the University of St Andrews. He has since retired in order to concentrate on research and writing, and is a senior scholar at Ridley Hall in Cambridge, and a visiting professor at St Mellitus College in London.
Bauckham was born in London and studied at the University of Cambridge, where he read history at Clare College (1966–72) and was a fellow of St John’s College (1972–75). He taught theology for one year at the University of Leeds and for fifteen years at the University of Manchester (1977–1992), where he was the Lecturer in the History of Christian Thought before moving to St Andrews in 1992. He is a fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Bauckham has been published in a variety of fields in New Testament studies and early Christianity. He has also published on the theology of the German theologian Jürgen Moltmann. His current research interests include Jesus and the Gospels, New Testament Christology, and the relevance of the Bible to ecological issues. —adapted from Wikipedia
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony
By Richard Bauckham / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Challenging prevailing views, Bauckham asserts that the accounts of Jesus’ life were transmitted in the name of original eyewitnesses, not as “anonymous community traditions.” Effecively rebutting form critics, he taps into internal literary evidence, recent developments in the understanding of oral tradition, and cognitive psychology to highlight the “Jesus of testimony” as presented by the Gospels.

The Theology of the Book of Revelation
By Richard Bauckham / Cambridge University Press

In this book, Bauckham explains how the book’s imagery conveyed meaning in its original context and how the book’s theology is inseparable from its literary structure and composition. Revelation is seen to offer a theocentric vision of the coming of God’s universal kingdom, in the context of the late first-century world dominated by Roman power and ideology. It calls on Christians to confront the political idolatries of the time and to participate in God’s purpose of gathering all the nations into his kingdom. Once Revelation is properly grounded in its original context it is seen to transcend that context and speak to the contemporary church. This study concludes by highlighting Revelation’s continuing relevance for today.

Gospel of Glory: Major Themes in Johannine Theology
By Richard Bauckham / Baker Academic

The Gospel of John’s distinctive way of presenting Christ’s life, works, teachings, and death has historically set it apart from the other accounts of Jesus. In Gospel of Glory, Bauckham analyzes key passages and illuminates themes of divine and human community, God’s glory, the cross and resurrection, and the sacraments. Ideal as a supplemental text for professors and students.

Jude-2 Peter: Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 50 [WBC] (Revised)
By Richard Bauckham / Zondervan

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.

Overview of Commentary Organization:

• Introduction – covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology.
• Pericope Bibliography – a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope.
• Translation – the author’s own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English.
• Notes – the author’s notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation.
• Form/Structure/Setting – a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here.
• Comment – verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research.
• Explanation – brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues.
• General Bibliography – occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliography contains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume 1: More Noncanonical Scriptures
By Richard Bauckham, James Davila & Alex Panayotov, eds. / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
The first volume of a highly significant resource for biblical studies
This work stands among the most important publications in biblical studies over the past twenty-five years. Bauckham, James Davila, and Alexander Panayotov’s new two-volume collection of Old Testament pseudepigrapha contains many previously unpublished and newly translated texts, complementing James Charlesworth’s Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and other earlier collections.

Including virtually all known surviving pseudepigrapha written before the rise of Islam, this volume, among other things, presents the sacred legends and spiritual reflections of numerous long-dead authors whose works were lost, neglected, or suppressed for many centuries. Excellent English translations along with authoritative yet accessible introductions bring those ancient documents to life for readers today.

The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple
By Richard Bauckham / Baker Academic

How do historical and literary details contribute to a coherent theological witness to Jesus in the Gospel of John? Bauckham answers that question with studies on themes from messianism to monotheism, symbolic actions from foot-washing to fish-catching, literary contexts from Qumran to the Hellenistic historians, and figures from Nicodemus to ‘the beloved disciple’ to Papias. Originally published in various journals and collections, these essays are now available for the first time in one affordable volume with a substantial new introduction that ties them all together.

The Gospels for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences
Edited by Richard Bauckham / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
The aim of this book is to challenge and to refute the current consensus in Gospels scholarship which assumes that each of the Gospels was written for a specific church or group of churches. Nearly all scholars writing about the Gospels now treat it as virtually self-evident that each evangelist addressed the specific context and concerns of his own community, and a large and increasingly sophisticated edifice of scholarly reconstruction has been erected on this basic assumption. However, this book supports another possibility, that the Gospels were written with the intention that they should circulate around all the churches (and thence even outside the churches).

The Book of Acts in Its Palestinian Setting
By Richard Bauckham / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
The Book of Acts in Its Palestinian Setting is devoted to a series of studies of those parts of the narrative of Acts that are specifically set in Palestine. The geographical, political, cultural, social, and religious aspects of first-century Jewish Palestine are all explored in order to throw light on Luke’s account of the Palestinian origins of early Christianity . Here are fresh assessments of the historical significance of key features, persons, and events in Luke’s narrative.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, 2nd edition
By Richard Bauckham / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Jesus
By Richard Bauckham / Oxford University Press

Bauckham here explores the historical figure of Jesus, evaluating the sources and showing that they provide us with good historical evidence for his life and teaching. To place Jesus in his proper historical context, as a Jew from Galilee in the early first century of our era, Bauckham looks at Jewish religion and society in the land of Israel under Roman rule. He explores Jesus’ symbolic practices as well as his teachings, looks at his public career and emphasizes how his actions, such as healing and his association with notorious sinners, were just as important as his words. Bauckham writes that Jesus was devoted to the God of Israel, with a special focus on God’s fatherly love and compassion, and like every Jewish teacher he expounded the Torah, but did so in his own distinctive way. After a discussion about the way Jesus understood himself and what finally led to his death on a Roman cross, Bauckham concludes by considering the significance Jesus has come to have for Christian faith worldwide.

Living with Other Creatures: Green Exegesis and Theology
By Richard Bauckham / Baylor University Press

The Bible and Christian tradition have, at best, offered an ambiguous word in response to Earth’s environmental difficulties. At worst, a complex, often one-sided history of interpretation has left the Bible’s voice silent. Aiming to bridge these gaps, Richard Bauckham mines scripture and theology, discovering a firm command for Christians to care for all of God’s creation and then discusses the generations of theologians who have sought to live out this biblical mandate. Going beyond Old Testament human dominion, Living with Other Creatures consults scripture in its entirety and includes Jesus’ perspectives on creation, novel approaches to reading the gospels, and some of the most well known “ecologists” throughout Christian history. The result is an innovative and enriching treatise that reminds readers of God’s whole creation–and humanity’s place within it.

The Bible and Ecology: Rediscovering the Community of Creation
By Richard Bauckham / Baylor University Press
With his characteristic rigor and perceptiveness, Bauckham embarks on a Biblical investigation into the relationship of human beings to the rest of creation. Bauckham argues that there is much more to the Bible’s understanding of this relationship than the mandate of human dominion given in Genesis 1 which, he writes, has too often been used as a justification for domination and exploitation of the earth’s resources.
Instead, Bauckham considers the ecological perspectives found in the book of Job, the Psalms and the Gospels, all of which, he determines, require a re-evaluation of the biblical tradition of “dominion.” Bauckham discovers a tradition of a “community of creation” where human beings are fellow members with God’s other creatures, and in which true reconciliation to God involves the entire creation. Short, reliable, and engaging, The Bible and Ecology is essential reading for anyone looking for a biblically grounded approach to ecology.

Jesus and the God of Israel
By Richard Bauckham / Authentic
Jesus and the God of Israel
By Richard Bauckham / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

* How did monotheistic Jews of the early church come to see Jesus as a part of the unique identity of Israel’s God? Offering an alternative to “functional” and “ontic” Christology, Bauckham convincingly argues that the divine identity—who God truly is—can be witnessed in Jesus’ humiliation, suffering, death, and resurrection. (Updated edition of God Crucified.) 336 pages, softcover from Eerdmans.

God Will Be All in All
By Richard Bauckham / Bloomsbury Academic
Moltmann’s groundbreaking Theology of Hope and The Coming of God provoked major rethinking of Christian eschatology. Discussing the strengths and weaknesses of his views, Moltmann and four other theologian grapple with issues such as hell, biblical hope, the postmodern situation, and more. Must-reading for students of modern theology.

Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church
By Richard Bauckham / Bloomsbury Academic
An original and important contribution to the study of the earliest Palestinian Jewish Christianity.
Bible and Mission
By Richard Bauckham / Baker Books
This engaging study provides a new way of looking at scripture -one that takes seriously the biblical idea of mission. Bauckham shows how God identifies himself with particular individuals or people in human history in order to be known by all. He is God of Abraham, Israel, And David and, finally, the one who acts through Jesus Christ.

Bauckham applies these insights to the contemporary scene, encouraging those involved in mission to be sensitive to postmodern concerns about globalization while at the same time emphasizing the uniqueness of Christian faith.
In doing so, he demonstrates the diversity of Christian faith around the world. This book will be rewarding reading for pastors, lay leaders, and students of Scripture, mission, and postmodernism. Paperback, 160 pages.

Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels
By Richard Bauckham / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
There have been many studies of the women in the Gospels, but this is a new kind of book on the subject. Rather than offering a general overview of the Gospel women or focusing on a single theme, Bauckham studies in great depth both the individual women who appear in the Gospels and the specific passages in which they appear.
This unique approach reveals that there is much more to be known about such women than previous studies have assumed. Employing historical and literary readings of the biblical texts, Bauckham successfully captures the particularity of each woman he studies.
An opening look at the Old Testament book of Ruth introduces the possibilities of reading Scripture from a woman’s perspective. Other studies examine the women found in Matthew’s genealogies, the prophet Anna, Mary of Clopas, Joanna, Salome, and the women featured in the Gospel resurrection narrative. A number of these women have never been the subject of deep theological enquiry.
Unlike most recent books, Bauckham’s work is not dominated by a feminist agenda. It does not presume in advance that the Gospel texts support patriarchal oppression, but it does venture some of the new and surprising possibilities that arise when the texts are read from the perspective of their female characters.
God and the Crisis of Freedom: Biblical and Contemporary Perspectives
By Richard Bauckham / Westminster John Knox Press
This book outlines a biblical understanding of freedom and the particular ways in which Christians choose to exercise that freedom in response to major issues confronting the world today. Specifically, Bauckham constructs a Christian understanding of freedom, explores the authority of Scripture in modern and postmodern contexts, and also examines themes of tradition, ethics, oppression, and ecology as they relate to issues of freedom and authority.
James
By Richard Bauckham / Routledge
Bauckham explores the historical and literary contexts of the Epistle of James, discussing the significance of James as the brother of Jesus and leader of the early Jerusalem church. He gives special attention to the aphorisms which encapsulate James’ wisdom, and to the way that James’ teaching closely resembles that of Jesus.

The Climax Of Prophecy: Studies on the Book of Revelation
By Richard Bauckham / Bloomsbury Academic
The Apocalypse of John is a work of immense importance and learning. Yet among the major works of early Christianity included in the New Testament it has received relatively little scholarly attention. This work is a significant contribution to remedying this neglect. The author examines the meticulous literary artistry, creative imagination, radical political critique and profound theology of the Apocalypse of John. It is a sustained enterprise to understand both the form and the message of the Apocalypse in its literary and historical contexts.
The Bible in Politics
By Richard Bauckham / Westminster John Knox Press
Bauckham maintains that for Christians to act in the political arena, the Bible must be read politically. In this insightful book, he explains how to practice interpretation and gives examples of how specific biblical passages relate to a wide range of issues. You’ll trace one theme throughout the Bible and study two texts that parallel today’s situations. 166 pages, softcover from Westminster/John Knox.

The Jewish World Around the New Testament: Collected Essays
By Richard Bauckham / Baker Academic
Renowned biblical scholar Bauckham believes that the New Testament texts cannot be adequately understood without careful attention to their Judaic and Second Temple roots.
This book, The Jewish World Around the NT contains twenty-four studies (formerly published as journal articles) that shed essential light on the religious and biblical-interpretive matrix in which early Christianity emerged. Bauckham discusses the “parting of the ways” between early Judaism and early Christianity and the relevance of early Jewish literature for the study of the New Testament.
He also explores specific aspects or texts of early Christianity by relating them to their early Jewish context. Originally published by Mohr Siebeck, this book is now available as an affordable North American paperback edition. It is a corecipient of the Franz-Delitzsch Award for 2010, offered by the Institute for Israel Studies in Giessen, Germany.