D. A. Carson

Donald Alan (D. A.) Carson is a prominent scholar of the evangelical movement. He is currently a research professor of the New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, which is based in Deerfield, Illinois, United States.

Carson's academic qualifications include a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from McGill University and a Doctor of Philosophy in the New Testament from the University of Cambridge.

Don Carson is also a speaker at many Christian conferences.

Books written or edited by Don Carson

Carson has written or edited more than 45 books. These include major commentaries on Matthew and John, commentaries on parts of the Bible, such as Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14, and works on the Sermon on the Mount [1], (chapters 5-7 of the Gospel of Matthew) and the Gospel of John [2]. He has also written books on prayer, and suffering. He has written books on free will and predestination from a generally compatibilist and Calvinist perspective.

His book, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism (Zondervan 1996), won the 1997 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Gold Medallion Book Award in the category "theology and doctrine."

Other books by Don Carson include:

• The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians, 1993 - an exegesis of 1 Corinthians focusing on leadership
• How Long, O Lord?, 2006 - Biblical guide on suffering
• Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church - a critique of the Emerging Church
• Telling the Truth - This thoughtful book provides cultural analysis, probes some of the most important turning-points of biblical theology, describes the experiences of those who are proving fruitful in contemporary evangelism, and exposes readers to those who are thinking hard both strategically and practically about reaching the postmodern world.

• The King James Version Debate: A Plea for Realism, 1979
• Exegetical Fallacies
• 'The Inclusive Language Debate: a plea for realism
• The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God
• For the Love of God (A 2 volume devotional commentary, based on Robert Murray M'Cheyne's system for reading the bible through in one year)
• Justification And Variegated Nomism: The Paradoxes Of Paul (Carson edited this text, which deals with the New Perspective on Paul issues that have arisen in recent years from people such as N. T. Wright)
• Christ and Culture Revisited

Carson's Adage

In connection with reading the Sermon on the Mount, Don Carson advises: "Start with the structure of the sermon, and thus how it fits together. My father used to tell me that a text without a context becomes a pretext for a proof text, so when I was still quite young I learned to look at the context." ("One Way (Matthew 7:13-27)", in Richard D. Phillips, editor, Only One Way?: Reaffirming the Exclusive Truth Claims of Christianity, Crossway Books, 2007, pp. 127-142, at pp. 133-134.) In Biblical criticism, a proof text is the scriptural text that proves, or is claimed to prove, a particular doctrine. As a result of frequent overuse and occasional abuse of proof texts, the term has acquired a negative and sometimes even pejorative connotation.

Carson has quoted this adage in his lectures for several decades, before it gained popularity as a result of being quoted out of context by Jesse Jackson: "Text, without context, is pretext." (Sheldon R. Gawiser & G. Evans Witt, A Journalist's Guide to Public Opinion Polls, Praeger, 1994, p. 111.)

External links

• Detailed biography on D.A. Carson-- written by Andreas Kostenberger, a former student and colleague (PDF file)
• Trinity's page on Dr. Don Carson
• D. A. Carson (Theopedia)
• Online sermons and lectures by D. A. Carson on MP3 (compiled by Andy Naselli)
• Christway Media -- includes sermons, articles and Don Carson's itinerary.
• Sermons in MP3. This web site includes Don Carson's itinerary.
• Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals Dr. Carson is a member of the Alliance's Council.
• Free sermons and lectures (MP3s) of D. A. Carson (compiled by PJ Tibayan).