Craig A Evans
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Craig Alan Evans (born January 21, 1952) is an American
biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 Fo ...
. He is a prolific writer with 70 books and over 600 journal articles and reviews to his name.


Career

He earned his
B.A Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in history and philosophy from
Claremont McKenna College Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It has a curricular emphasis on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and internat ...
, a Master of Divinity from Western Baptist Seminary in
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, and his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from
Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate (Pomona College, Claremont McKenna Co ...
in southern California. He is John Bisagno Distinguished Professor of Christian Origins at Houston Baptist University. 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 Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
, a visiting assistant professor of religious studies at McMaster University and a professor of biblical studies at Trinity Western University.Profile of Craig A. Evans
The Lost Gospel of Judas Project,
National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...
website. Retrieved March 10, 2008
Evans served as editor of the ''
Bulletin for Biblical Research The ''Bulletin for Biblical Research'' is the peer-reviewed journal of the Institute for Biblical Research. It was established in 1991, and is published by Eisenbrauns. ''BBR'' started as an annual journal, becoming a biannual journal in 2000 and a ...
'' from 1994 to 2005.


''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 Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. The book is critical of scholars such as
Bart D. Ehrman Bart Denton Ehrman (born 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, including t ...
, the
Jesus Seminar The Jesus Seminar was a group of about 50 critical biblical scholars and 100 laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk that originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute.''Making Sense of the New Testament'' by Craig Blomberg (Mar 1, 2004) ...
, 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 The Gospel of Peter ( grc, κατά Πέτρον ευαγγέλιον, kata Petron euangelion), or the Gospel according to Peter, is an ancient text concerning Jesus Christ, only partially known today. It is considered a non-canonical gospel and w ...
, Egerton Gospel, Gospel of Judas and Gospel of Mary) or even modern forgeries (
Secret Gospel of Mark The Secret Gospel of Mark or the Mystic Gospel of Mark ( grc-x-biblical, τοῦ Μάρκου τὸ μυστικὸν εὐαγγέλιον, tou Markou to mystikon euangelion), also the Longer Gospel of Mark, is a putative longer and secret or mys ...
). Another chapter of the book dismisses '' The Da Vinci Code'' of American novelist
Dan Brown Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author best known for his Thriller (genre), thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels ''Angels & Demons'' (2000), ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), ''The Lost Symbol'' (2009), ''In ...
, which Evans (and all biblical scholars, in fact) sees as nothing more than a sensationalist stunt. The book's "Advance Praise" section includes endorsements from several prominent scholars of the New Testament, such as James H. Charlesworth,
Gerd Theissen Gerd Theißen (or Theissen; born 24 April 1943) is a German Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar. He is Professor of New Testament Theology at the University of Heidelberg. Early life and education Theissen obtained his doctorate in th ...
,
John P. Meier John Paul Meier (August 8, 1942 – October 18, 2022) was an American biblical scholar and Roman Catholic priest. He was author of the series ''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'' (5 v.), six other books, and more than 70 articles ...
, Darrel L. Bock, Ben Witherington III and
James D.G. Dunn James Douglas Grant Dunn (21 October 1939 – 26 June 2020), also known as Jimmy Dunn, was a British New Testament scholar, who was for many years the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology at the University of Durha ...
.


Works


Books

Evans is the author or editor of over 50 books, some of which are listed below: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *——— (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


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Craig A. 1952 births 20th-century Christian biblical scholars 21st-century Christian biblical scholars Academic journal editors American evangelicals American biblical scholars American critics of Islam Claremont Graduate University alumni Claremont McKenna College alumni Critics of the Christ myth theory Christian critics of Islam Critics of Theosophy Living people McMaster University faculty New Testament scholars Trinity Western University faculty Western Seminary alumni