Richard Bauckham

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Richard Bauckham, 2016

Richard John Bauckham (born September 22, 1946 in London ) is an Anglican theologian and professor of the New Testament . He believes that the gospels rely heavily on eyewitness accounts. His book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (2006; German: Jesus und die Augenzeugen ) won several prizes (see awards below ) and made a strong impression in the professional world.

Career

After attending school in London, Bauckham studied at Cambridge University , where he studied history at Clare College (1966–1972) and obtained a Ph.D. acquired, with his study of the Cambridge puritan William Fulke (1538–1589). Also in Cambridge he became a member of St. John's College (1972-1975). He then taught theology for a year at the University of Leeds and from 1977 to 1992 at the University of Manchester , where he was a lecturer and then a lecturer in the history of Christian thought . During this period, his research interests increasingly shifted towards the New Testament and its environment, particularly towards ancient Judaism and non-canonical early Christian literature .

In 1992 he accepted a professorship for New Testament Studies at the University of Saint Andrews . In 2007 he retired early - at the age of 61 - to concentrate on his research and its publication. The project for the publication of further Old Testament pseudepigraphs connects him with his former university . He was also the general editor of the Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series (1996–2002).

He is Senior Scholar at Ridley Hall College , Cambridge and Visiting Professor at Saint Mellitus College , London. Bauckham is an Anglican theologian, but not an ordained priest . For several years he was a member of the Doctrine Commission of the Church of England .

Research areas and teaching

Bauckham published mainly in the field of New Testament and early Christian research. A special focus is on Jewish Christianity . He researched the relationship of Jesus and dealt with a central christological question, how the early church , which initially consisted mainly of Jewish Christians, i.e. strict monotheists , came to call Jesus “Lord” . Bauckham described the women named in the Gospels. He examined the revelation of John , wrote a commentary on 2 Peter and Jude . In addition, Bauckham looked at the Bible thematically in terms of politics and ecology. Altogether, Bauckham published around 20 books as a sole author and more than 200 articles.

Gospels: based on eyewitness accounts

A focus of Bauckham's research concerns the historicity of the representation of Jesus in the Gospels . Some of his lectures ("The Gospels as History: Comparing Ancient and Modern Historiography") have been published in the Scottish Journal of Theology . He argues for the historiographical character of the Gospel of John . In doing so, he sheds light on the characteristics of Jewish biographical historiography. His identification of the favorite disciple in John's Gospel with the presbyter Johannes , whom Bauckham believes to be the author of this Gospel following Papias , is met with skepticism. Bauckham's book on the Gospels as Testimony of Eyewitnesses (2006) was particularly well received by conservative New Testament scholars. In it, Bauckham places the Gospels in the context of ancient historiography . Based on Papias, Bauckham believes that Markus wrote down Peter's memories while he was still alive. Peter passed on the tradition of the words and deeds of Jesus in the form of Chrien , that is, as short, deliberately formed individual pieces, such as those defined by Theon of Alexandria in his Progymnasmata . In John's Gospel, Bauckham sees the “we” form at the beginning ( Joh 1,14-16  EU ) and at the end ( Joh 21,24-25  EU ) as an expression of the claim to the highest witness authority. There are parallels to this in ancient historiography, e.g. B. Dionysius of Halicarnassus on the eloquence of Demosthenes .

Ecological theology: Bauckham's "green" interpretation of the Bible

Bauckham also considers the statements of the Bible to be important with regard to ecological questions. In theology, ecological ethics is about the relationship between humanity and the rest of creation. Bauckham sees the human task, which is recognizable in biblical texts, with regard to nature not as rule ("dominion"), but as administration ("stewardship"). He stressed in an article that deals with the influential essay by Lynn White about the historical roots of our ecological crisis ( The historical roots of our ecological crisis apart sets, 1967). Bauckham summarized this and other of his earlier articles on the subject in an anthology that appeared in 2012; the subtitle of the band speaks of a Green Exegesis ( green exegesis ).

In his 2010 published book The Bible and Ecology ( The Bible and Ecology ) he speaks of the "Community of Creation" ( community of creation ). Bauckham sees in the Bible, in addition to the commandment to rule people ( Gen 1.26 + 28  EU ), many other aspects on the subject of ecology. He follows a tradition that the people as comrades sees ( "fellow-creatures") of the other creatures of God. In this tradition z. B. Albert Schweitzer's “Reverence for Life” continues.

According to Bauckham, the Book of Job teaches humility before the mysteries of the Creator's universe. And the psalms of nature show the beauty of the extra-human creation and how much God rejoices in it. God's salvation concerns all creation; it is not just a matter of people being transferred to heaven. Platonism , which had long prevailed in Christianity , had superseded the Hebrew view that the physical world was good.

Bauckham's elaboration of the broad biblical basis for a community of creation was recognized. However, there was criticism that he neglected other biblical aspects in addition to this strong emphasis: the peculiarities of humans compared to animals, the evil in nature, or the primary connection of humans to God and other people (even more than to animals) .

Memberships

Awards

  • 2007: Christianity Today : Book Award in Biblical Studies for Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony
  • 2009: Michael Ramsey Prize for Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony
  • 2010: Franz Delitzsch Award for The Jewish World around the New Testament

Fonts (selection)

As editor

  • The Book of Acts in its First Century Setting. Vol. IV: The Book of Acts in its Palestinian Setting , Carlisle and Grand Rapids (Michigan) 1995.
  • The Gospels for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences , Eerdmans: Grand Rapids (Michigan) and T. & T. Clark: Edinburgh 1998.
  • God will be All in All: The Eschatology of Jürgen Moltmann , T. & T. Clark: Edinburgh 1999.
  • with Carl Mosser: The Gospel of John and Christian Theology , Eerdmans: Grand Rapids (Michigan) 2008.
  • with Daniel R. Driver, Trevor A. Hart and Nathan MacDonald: A Cloud of Witnesses: The Theology of Hebrews in its Ancient Context , T. & T. Clark (Continuum): London 2008.
  • with Daniel R. Driver, Trevor A. Hart and Nathan MacDonald: The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology , Eerdmans: Grand Rapids (Michigan) 2009.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The cambridge university calendar: for the year, 1973-74 . Cambridge University Press, [London] 1974, ISBN 0521203961 , p. 81, OCLC 650401611 .
  2. ↑ Bauckham's book is often quoted e.g. B. in the textbook by Martin Hengel , Anna Maria Schwemer: Jesus and Judaism (= history of early Christianity, vol. 1). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2007.
  3. ↑ His colleague James R. Davila describes the book as "a groundbreaking contribution" on Paleojudaica .
  4. ↑ So James R. Davila on the occasion of his departure in 2007 on Paloejudaica .
  5. ↑ More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha project .
  6. ↑ So his colleague James R. Davila on the occasion of his departure in 2007, on Paloejudaica .
  7. ^ Philipp Bartholomä: Testimony of the Beloved Disciple (2007). In: Yearbook for Evangelical Theology . 23, 2009, pp. 296-298 (review).
  8. ↑ Rainer Riesner presents some examples of Bauckham's assessments : The return of the eyewitnesses. A new development in gospel research. In: Theological Contributions . 38, 2007, pp. 342-347.
  9. ↑ The magazine Christianity Today gives an overview of the contents of this book in a review .
  10. ↑ The state of research up to the 1990s is summarized by Jürgen Moltmann in his article on ecology in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie Vol. 25, 1995, pp. 36–46.
  11. ↑ For example in a detailed book review (PDF file; 1.67 MB) of Bauckham's The Bible and Ecology (2010) William D. Bjoraker from William Carey International University in Pasadena (California) .
personal data
SURNAME Bauckham, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bauckham, Richard J.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Anglican theologian
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH London