Bruce Longenecker, Ph.D.
Professor of Christian Origins and W. W. Melton Chair of Religion
Education
- Ph.D. in Theology; University of Durham, England (1986-90).
- M.Rel. in New Testament Studies; Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (1983-86)
- B.A. in Biblical and Religious Studies; Wheaton College, Illinois, U.S.A. (1979-83)
Biography
Dr. Longenecker joined the Baylor faculty in August 2009, having taught previously at St Andrews University (Scotland, 1999-2009), Cambridge University (England, 1995-1999) and Durham University (England, 1991-1995). He is married to Fiona Bond, the current director of Creative Waco. They have two sons who joyously distract them from their work.Academic Interests and Research
Dr. Longenecker specializes in the origins of Christianity, including the following emphases: Early Christianity in its Greco-Roman context; Pauline theology and chronology; women in early Christianity and the Greco-Roman world.
Professional Awards and Activities
Treasurer, Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (2003-2008)Member of Editorial Board, Journal for the Study of the New Testament (2002-2015)
Member of Editorial Board, Journal of Biblical Literature (2016-present)
Member of Editorial Board, New Testament Studies (2002-present)
Member, Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (1998-present)
Books
2020 In Stone and Story: Early Christianity in the Roman World. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
2020 The New Cambridge Companion to Paul. Edited by Bruce W. Longenecker. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2016 Early Christianity in Pompeian Light: People, Texts, Situations. Edited by Bruce W. Longenecker. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
2016 The Crosses of Pompeii: Jesus-Devotion in a Vesuvian Town. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Pp. 358.
2016 Pompeii in a Day: The Site Guide for the Truly Curious. Kindle Direct Publishing. Pp. 148.
2016 First Corinthians: A Handbook on the Greek Text. Volume 1. Co-authored with Tim Brookins. Waco: Baylor University Press.
2016 First Corinthians: A Handbook on the Greek Text. Volume 2. Co-authored with Tim Brookins. Waco: Baylor University Press.
2016 Philippians and Philemon. Co-authored with James W. Thompson. Paideia Commentary Series; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
2016 The Lost Letters of Pergamum: A Story from the New Testament World. Second Edition; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. Pp. 204.
Audiobook: The Lost Letters of Pergamum: A Story from the New Testament World. Read by Troy Duran; Amazon Audible Audio, July 2015.
2015 The Cross before Constantine: The Early Life of a Christian Symbol. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Pp. xi + 232.
2014 Hitler, Jesus, and Our Common Humanity: A Jewish Survivor Interprets Life, History, and The Gospels. Eugene, OR: Cascade.
2014 Thinking Through Paul: A Survey of His Life, Letters, and Theology. Co-authored with Todd Still. Zondervan Academic.
2014 Beyond Bultmann: Reckoning a New Testament Theology. Edited by Bruce Longenecker and Mikeal Parsons. Baylor University Press.
2014 Interpretation and the Claim of the Text: Resourcing New Testament Theology. Edited by Jason Whitlark, Bruce Longenecker, Lidija Novakovich and Mikeal Parsons. Baylor University Press.
2012 Hearing the Silence: Jesus on the Edge and God in the Gaps - Luke 4 in Narrative Perspective. Eugene: Cascade.
2010 Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty, and The Greco-Roman World. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
2009 Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception. Bruce W. Longenecker and Kelly Liebengood, eds. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans).
2005 Rhetoric at the Boundaries: The Art and Theology of New Testament Chain-Link Transitions. Waco: Baylor University Press.
2004 The Holy Spirit and Christian Origins: Festschrift in Honor of James D.G. Dunn. Graham W. Stanton, Bruce W. Longenecker, and Stephen C. Barton, eds.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
2003 The Lost Letters of Pergamum: A Story from the New Testament World. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
2002 Narrative Dynamics in Paul: A Critical Assessment. Bruce W. Longenecker, ed.; Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
2002 Luke, Paul, and the Graeco-Roman World: Essays in Honour of Alexander J.M. Wedderburn. Alf Christopherson, Carsten Clausen, Jörg Frey, and Bruce W. Longenecker, eds.; London: Sheffield Academic Press.
1998 The Triumph of Abraham’s God: The Transformation of Identity in Galatians. Edinburgh: T&T Clark; Nashville: Abingdon.
1995 2 Esdras. Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
1991 Eschatology and the Covenant: A Comparison of 4 Ezra and Romans 1-11. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. Reprint: 2015.
Selected Articles since 2002
2020 "How Can We Begin to Study Paul?” Pages 3–22 in Bruce W. Longenecker (ed.), The New Cambridge Companion to Paul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2020 “What Did Paul Think was Wrong in God’s World?” Pages 171–186 in Bruce W. Longenecker (ed.), The New Cambridge Companion to Paul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2020 “Cross Symbol” (with Chris Keith). Pages 235–249 in Chris Keith (ed.), The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, Volume 3. New York: T&T Clark Bloomsbury.
2019 “Pauline Letters.” Pages 415–419 in Loren T. Stuckenbruck and Daniel M. Gurtner (eds.), T&T Clark Companion to Second Temple Judaism, Volume 2. New York: Bloomsbury.
2019 “Covenantal Nomism.” Pages 174–175 in Loren T. Stuckenbruck and Daniel M. Gurtner (eds.), T&T Clark Companion to Second Temple Judaism, Volume 1. New York: Bloomsbury.
2019 “Pompeian Artifacts and Jesus-Devotion: The Contours of the Issue in the Early Twenty-First Century.” Vigiliae Christianae 79: 271-296.
2018 “Paul, Poverty, and the Powers: The Eschatological Body of Christ in the Present Evil Age.” Pages 363-387 in John Anthony Dunne and Eric Lewellen (eds.), One God, One People, One Future: Essays in Honor of N.T. Wright. London: SPCK.
2018 “Slave and Free: Ideal Ideologies in Vesuvian Villas and in Galatians 3:28.” Pages 85–102 in Mikeal C. Parsons and Walsh (eds.), A Temple not Made with Hands: Essays in Honor of Naymond H. Keathley (Eugene: Wipf & Stock).
2016 "The Empress, The Goddess, and the Earthquake: Atmospheric Conditions Permitting Public Displays of Jesus-Devotion in Pompeii." Forthcoming [November 2016] in Bruce W. Longenecker (ed.), Pompeii and Early Christianity: People, Texts, Interpretation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
2016 “Peace, Security, and Prosperity: Advertisement and Reality in the Early Roman Empire.” Forthcoming [October 2016] in Adam Winn (ed.), An Introduction to Empire in the New Testament. Atlanta: SBL.
2016 “Mark’s Gospel for the Second Church of the Late First Century.” Forthcoming [September 2016] in Daniel M. Gurtner, Grant Macaskill, and Jonathan T. Pennington (eds.), The Fullness of Time: Essays on Christology, Creation and Eschatology in Honour of…. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
2016 “Faith, Works, and Worship: Torah Observance in Paul’s Theological Perspective.” Pages 47-70 in Scot McKnight and Joe Modica (eds.), The Apostle Paul and the Christian Life: Ethical and Missional Implications of the New Perspective. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
2016 “Presenting the Pauline Voice: An Appreciation of the Letter to the Laodiceans,” co-authored with Scott Ryan. New Testament Studies 62: 136-148.
2014 “Editors’ Preface.” In Bruce W. Longenecker and Mikeal C. Parsons (eds.), Beyond Bultmann: Reckoning a New Testament Theology. Waco: Baylor University Press.
2014 “The Love of God (Romans 5:5): Expansive Syntax and Theological Polyvalence.” Pp. 145-158 (and 246-248) in Interpretation and the Claim of the Text: Resourcing New Testament Theology. Eds. Jason Whitlark, Bruce Longenecker, Lidija Novakovich and Mikeal Parsons. Waco: Baylor University Press.
2012 “Did Tertullian Succeed? Reflections on Tertullian’s Appropriation of Paul in His Response to Marcion.” Pp. 247-258 in David Wilhite and Todd Still (eds.), Tertullian and Paul. Vol. 1 in the series Paul among the Fathers (New York: T&T Clark International).
2012 “The Challenge of a Hopeless God: Negotiating José Saramago’s Novel The Gospel According to Jesus Christ.” Pp. 129-148 in Trevor Hart et al. (eds.), Art, Imagination, and Christian Hope: Patterns of Promise (Aldershot: Ashgate).
2012 “Salvation History in Galatians: The Making of a Pauline Discourse.” Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters 2.2: 65-87.
2012 “Poverty and Paul’s Gospel.” Ex Auditu 27: 26-44.
2011 “Paul’s Assessment of Christian Freedom.” Pp. 119-27 in the Freedom volume of Christian Reflection: A Series of Faith and Ethics.
2010 “Dating the Origin of Paul’s Collection for the Saints in Judaea: The Corinthian Contribution.” Pp. 263-277 in Saint Paul and Corinth: International Scholarly Conference Proceedings. C.J. Belezos (ed.); Athens: Psichogios Publications.
2009 “Socio-Economic Profiling of the First Urban Christians.” In Todd Still and David Horrell (eds.), After The First Urban Christians: The Socio-Historical Study of Pauline Christianity Twenty-Five Years Later. London/New York: Continuum.
2009 “The ‘poor’ of Galatians 2:10: The Interpretative Paradigm of the First Centuries.” Pp. 205-221 in Bruce W. Longenecker and Kelly Liebengood (eds.), Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
2009 “The Story of the Samaritan and the Inn-Keeper (Luke 10:30-35): A Study in Character Rehabilitation.” Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches 17.4: 422-47.
2009 “Exposing the Economic Middle: A Revised Economy Scale for the Study of Early Urban Christianity.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 31: 243-78.
2008 “A Humorous Jesus? Orality, Structure and Characterisation in Luke 14:15-24, and Beyond.” Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches 16: 179-204.
2007 “Good News to the Poor: Jesus, Paul and Jerusalem.” Pp. 37-65 in Todd Still (ed.), Jesus and Paul Reconnected: Fresh Pathways to an Old Debate. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
2007 “On Israel’s God and God’s Israel: Assessing Supersessionism in Paul.” Journal of Theological Studies 58: 26-44.
2005 “On Critiquing the ‘New Perspective’ on Paul: A Case Study,” ZNW 96: 263-71. 2004 “Rome’s Victory and God’s Honour: The Spirit and the Temple in Lukan Theodicy.” Pp. 90-102 in G.N. Stanton, B.W. Longenecker, and S. C. Barton (eds), The Holy Spirit and Christian Origins. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
2004 “Rome, Provincial Cities and the Seven Churches of Revelation 2-3.” Pp. 281-291 in P. Williams et al. (eds.), The New Testament in Its First Century Setting: Essays on Context and Background. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
2004 “Lukan Aversion to Humps and Hollows: The Case of Acts 11.27-12.25,” New Testament Studies 50: 185-204.
2003 “Evil at Odds with Itself (Matt. 12:22-29): Demonising Rhetoric and Deconstructive Potential in the Matthean Narrative.” Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches 3 & 4 (double issue): 503-14.
2002 “The Narrative Approach to Paul: An Early Retrospective.” Currents in Biblical Research 1: 88-111. 2002 “Narrative Interest in the Study of Paul: Retrospective and Prospective.” Pp. 3-16 in Bruce W. Longenecker (ed.), Narrative Dynamics in Paul: A Critical Assessment. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
2002 “Sharing in Their Spiritual Blessings? The Story of Israel in Galatians and Romans.” Pp. 58-84 in Bruce W. Longenecker (ed.), Narrative Dynamics in Paul: A Critical Assessment. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
Courses Taught at Baylor
- Moral Vision of the New Testament
- Paul's Life and Letters
- Jesus and the Gospels
- Graduate seminar on Contemporary Issues in New Testament Study
- Graduate seminar on Johannine Literature
- Graduate seminar on Paul
- Graduate seminar on New Testament Theology
- Graduate seminar on the First Urban Christians
