Professor Richard Bauckham

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Professor Richard Bauckham

Senior Scholar

Richard Bauckham is a biblical scholar and theologian. Until 2007 he was Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He retired early in order to concentrate on research and writing, and moved to Cambridge.

As Senior Scholar at Ridley, Richard currently contributes some teaching to an MA course and co-leads an informal theological discussion group for students with previous theological degrees.

Research interests

Research interests

Richard’s academic work and publications have ranged over many areas of biblical studies and theology, including:

  • the theology of Jürgen Moltmann
  • Christology (both New Testament and systematic)
  • Eschatology
  • the New Testament books of Revelation, James, 2 Peter and Jude
  • Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature
  • the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
  • the New Testament Apocrypha
  • the relatives of Jesus
  • the early Jerusalem church
  • the Bible and contemporary issues
  • biblical and theological approaches to environmental issues

In recent years much of his work has focused on Jesus and the Gospels.

Publications

Publications

Probably Richard’s best-known books are:

  • Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (2006)
  • God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament (1998)
  • The Theology of the Book of Revelation (1993) and Bible and Ecology (2010)

As well as technical scholarship and writing aimed at students and those with some theological background, he has also written accessible books for a wider readership, of which the best known is At the Cross: Meditations on People Who Were There (1999), co-authored with Trevor Hart.

A recent book is Jesus: A Very Short Introduction (2011), published in Oxford University Press's Very Short Introduction series, and providing a historical account of Jesus for the general reader.

Various of Richard’s books have appeared in translation in Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Farsi.

For a complete list of his past and forthcoming publications, visit Richard’s website at www.richardbauckham.co.uk.

Personal background

Personal background

Richard Bauckham was until 2007 Professor of New Testament Studies and Bishop Wardlaw Professor in the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and is now Professor Emeritus at St Andrews.

He was born in London in 1946, and educated at Downhills and Merryhills primary schools and Enfield Grammar School. He then studied at Cambridge, where he read history at Clare College (gaining a B.A. Honours degree, first class, and a Ph.D.), and was a Fellow of St John's College for three years.

After teaching theology for one year at the University of Leeds, he taught historical and contemporary theology for fifteen years at the University of Manchester, before moving to St Andrews in 1992.

He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is also a Visiting Professor at St Mellitus College, London. From 1996 to 2002 he was General Editor of the Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series.

He is an Anglican (but not ordained), and was a member of the Doctrine Commission of the Church of England for some years. In 2009 he was awarded the Michael Ramsey prize for his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, and in 2010 the Franz-Delitzsch-Award for a volume of collected essays, The Jewish World around the New Testament.

He has travelled widely giving lectures and conference papers. Though his permanent home is now in Cambridge, he returns to St Andrews frequently. When he can find the time, he writes poetry, and has also written two children’s story books about the MacBears of Bearloch (published on his website).