American biblical scholar
Craig Alan Evans (born January 21, 1952) is an American
biblical scholar . He is a prolific writer with 70 books and over 600 journal articles and reviews to his name.
[1]
Career
He earned his
B.A in history and philosophy from
Claremont McKenna College , a Master of Divinity from
Western Baptist Seminary in
Portland, Oregon , and his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from
Claremont Graduate University in southern California.
He is John Bisagno Distinguished Professor of Christian Origins at
Houston Baptist University .
[2] Prior to Houston Baptist, he was Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament and director of the graduate program at
Acadia Divinity College in
Wolfville ,
Nova Scotia ,
[3] a visiting assistant professor of religious studies at
McMaster University and a professor of biblical studies at
Trinity Western University .
[4]
Evans served as editor of the
Bulletin for Biblical Research from 1994 to 2005.
[5]
Fabricating Jesus
Evans published the book Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels in 2008. In it, he criticizes current scholarship on the
historical Jesus , accusing it of distorting the historical figure of Jesus, creating completely unhistorical images of
Jesus of Nazareth . The book is critical of scholars such as
Bart D. Ehrman , the
Jesus Seminar ,
Robert Eisenman ,
Morton Smith ,
James Tabor ,
Michael Baigent and
Elaine Pagels , while also arguing against the use of
New Testament apocrypha , which Evans considers late works with no historical value (
Gospel of Thomas ,
Gospel of Peter ,
Egerton Gospel ,
Gospel of Judas and
Gospel of Mary ) or even modern forgeries (
Secret Gospel of Mark ). Another chapter of the book dismisses
The Da Vinci Code of American novelist
Dan Brown , which Evans (and all biblical scholars, in fact) sees as nothing more than a sensationalist stunt.
[6]
[7]
The book's "Advance Praise" section includes endorsements from several prominent scholars of the New Testament, such as
James H. Charlesworth ,
Gerd Theissen ,
John P. Meier ,
Darrel L. Bock ,
Ben Witherington III and
James D.G. Dunn .
[8]
Works
Books
Evans is the author or editor of over 50 books, some of which are listed below:
[4]
Evans, Craig A. (1992).
Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. p. 304.
ISBN
978-0-943575-95-7 .
———;
Hagner, Donald A. , eds. (1993). Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity: issues of polemic and faith . Fortress Press. p. 304.
ISBN
978-0-8006-2748-5 .
———;
Flint, Peter (1997). Eschatology, Messianism, and the Dead Sea . Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young. p. 167.
ISBN
0-8028-4230-5 .
———;
Sanders, James A. (1998). The Function of Scripture in Early Jewish and Christian Tradition . Continuum International. p. 504.
ISBN
1-85075-830-1 .
———;
Porter, Stanley E. , eds. (2000).
Dictionary of New Testament Background . Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. pp.
1328 .
ISBN
978-0-8308-1780-1 .
——— (2000). The Interpretation of Scripture in Early Judaism . Continuum International.
ISBN
1-84127-076-8 .
———;
Copan, Paul , eds. (2001). Who Was Jesus?: A Jewish-Christian Dialogue . Louisville, KT: Westminster, John Knox Press. p. 272.
ISBN
0-664-22462-8 .
——— (2003).
Jesus and the Ossuaries . Waco, TX: Baylor University Press. pp.
168 .
ISBN
0-918954-88-6 .
——— (2005).
Ancient Texts For New Testament Studies: A Guide To The Background Literature . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. pp.
539 .
ISBN
978-1-56563-409-1 .
———;
Collins, John J. , eds. (2006).
Christian Beginnings and the Dead Sea Scrolls . Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. pp.
144 .
ISBN
978-0-8010-2837-3 .
——— (2006). Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels . Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. p. 290.
ISBN
0-8308-3318-8 .
———;
Wright, N. T. (2009).
Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened . Louisville, KT: Westminster, John Knox Press. pp.
116 .
ISBN
978-0664233594 .
——— (2012). Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence . Louisville, KT: Westminster, John Knox Press. p. 192.
ISBN
978-0664234133 .
——— (2014). From Jesus to the Church: The First Christian Generation . Louisville, KT: Westminster, John Knox Press. p. 188.
ISBN
978-0664239053 .
———;
Beverley, James A. (2015). Getting Jesus Right: How Muslims get Jesus and Islam Wrong . Pickering, ON, Canada: Castle Quay Books. p. 352.
ISBN
978-1927355459 .
——— (2015). God Speaks: What He Says, What He Means . Franklin, TN: Worthy Publishing. p. 272.
ISBN
978-1617954818 .
———;
Johnston, Jeremiah (2015). Jesus and the Jihadis: Confronting the Rage of Isis: the Theology Driving the Ideology . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. p. 160.
ISBN
978-0768408997 .
——— (2015). Jesus and the Remains of His Day: Studies in Jesus and the Evidence of Material Culture . Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers. p. 400.
ISBN
978-1619707054 .
——— (2020). Jesus and the Manuscripts: What We Can Learn from the Oldest Texts. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. p. 575. ISBN 978-1-68307-360-4
Articles
References
^
"Dr. Craig Evans" . hbu.edu . Retrieved May 28, 2017 .
^
"Professor Craig A. Evans" . Archived from
the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2016 .
^
"Baptist Press - Workshop on Christianity & Dead Sea Scrolls draws crowd - News with a Christian Perspective" . Archived from
the original on May 18, 2011. Retrieved February 1, 2008 .
^
a
b
Profile of Craig A. Evans , The Lost Gospel of Judas Project,
National Geographic Society website. Retrieved March 10, 2008
^
"A Brief History of IBR" .
Institute for Biblical Research . Archived from
the original on November 21, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2015 .
^
"Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels | Denver Seminary" . denverseminary.edu . December 2006. Retrieved June 20, 2021 .
^ Evans, Craig A. (September 26, 2008).
Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels . InterVarsity Press.
ISBN
978-0-8308-3355-9 .
^ Evans, Craig A. (September 26, 2008). Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels . InterVarsity Press.
ISBN
978-0830833559 .
External links
International National Academics Other