Professor Craig A. Evans - New Testament Scholar

WHO

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Dr. Craig A. Evans New Testament scholar, Craig Evans, is the Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College of Acadia University, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. A graduate of Claremont McKenna College, he received his M.Div. from Western Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Claremont Graduate University in southern California. He has also been awarded the D.Habil. by the Karoli Gaspard Reformed University in Budapest. A well-known evangelical scholar throughout the world, he is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies.

After teaching one year at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Evans taught at Trinity Western University in British Columbia for twenty-one years, where he directed the graduate program in Biblical Studies and founded the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute. He was also a Visiting Fellow at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey.

Author and editor of more than sixty books and hundreds of articles and reviews, Professor Evans has given lectures at Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, Yale and other universities, colleges, seminaries and museums, such as the Field Museum in Chicago, the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. He also regularly lectures and gives talks at popular conferences and retreats on the historical Jesus, Archaeology, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible.

Along with countless interviews on radio networks across Canada and the US, Evans has been seen on Dateline NBC, CBC, CTV, Day of Discovery, and many documentaries aired on BBC, The Discovery Channel, History Channel, History Television and others. He also has served as a consultant for the National Geographic Society and for The Bible miniseries, produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. (Click here for recent programs.)

Upcoming Events & Social Media:

Advisor for The Bible miniseries, by Mark Burnet and Roma Downey, airing Sundays, March 3–31, 2013 on History Channel and History Television.
April 12-13, 2013 – Christian Renaissance Conference (Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts), “The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christology”
June 9-13, 2013 – Israel College of the Bible, Netanya, Israel, one-week intensive.
October 3-5, 2013 – Chosen People Conference, New York City.
Jan 25, 2014 – BAS Seminar at Sea.

Latest Books:

The Bible and You: God’s Story of Love and Transformation

Our world today needs to hear the message of the bible more than ever. No book ever printed is better known or more often quoted than the Bible. In fact, the Bible has been on the "best seller" list for centuries! Yet, the Bible's message is misunderstood by millions and is completely unknown to many millions more. The Bible and You seeks to remedy this problem by providing a fresh understanding of this bestseller, as well as answering some probing questions many of us ask:

- Can the Bible be trusted?
- Is there archaeological evidence of the Bible’s reliability?
- Who really was Jesus? Was He actually raised from the dead? Does He live today?
- Does life have meaning? Is there a reason to have hope?

"Our world today needs to hear the message of the Bible more than ever. The Bible and You clearly and concisely presents the message of the Bible in a way that all readers will enjoy and benefit from. We recommend The Bible and You with enthusiasm!" -- Mark Burnett and Roma Downey

Purchase from the publisher: Crossroads

Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence

In this provocative work, world-renowned scholar Craig A. Evans presents the most important archaeological discoveries that shed light on the world of Jesus of Nazareth. Evans takes on many sensational claims that have been proposed in recent books and peddled in the media, and uses actual archaeological findings to uncover the truth about several key pieces of Jesus' world. For example, what was the village of Nazareth actually like in the time of Jesus? Did synagogues really exist, as the Gospels say? What does archaeology tell us about the ruling priests who condemned Jesus to death? Has the tomb of Jesus really been found, as has been claimed? Evans's engaging prose enables readers to understand and critique the latest theories--both the sober and the sensational--about who Jesus was and what he lived and died for.

Questions are included at the end of each chapter, making this book ideal for group or individual study

(Westminster John Knox, Mar 2012)
ISBN: 9780664234133

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Matthew: New Cambridge Bible Commentary

This book is a verse-by-verse analysis of the New Testament Gospel of Matthew. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the gospel, which describes the world of Jesus and his first followers. This commentary explores the historical, social, and religious contexts of Matthew and examines the customs, beliefs, and ideas that inform the text. Unfamiliar to many readers of the New Testament, this background will help readers fully understand the text of Matthew, which focuses on what Jesus taught and why the religious authorities in Jerusalem rejected his message and gave him up to the Roman governor for execution. This book will be an important tool for clergy, scholars, and other interested readers of Matthew.

View Frontmatter as PDF (188KB)

Buy from publisher, Cambridge University Press
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The World of Jesus and the Early Church
Edited by Craig A. Evans
Coming Fall 2011

Prominent scholars in the fields of Archaeology, New Testament Studies, and the Dead Sea Scrolls have come together in The World of Jesus and the Early Church to focus on early Jewish and Christian communities of faith and their impact on the collections of texts that were their scriptures (and would become, in due time, part of their various canons).

Professors, students, and pastors who are interested in how these communities lived—how they developed, what they believed, and how they regarded and preserved the written documents that were their scripture—will be interested in this comprehensive volume drawn from presentations made to key conferences on the subject. This book’s emphasis on a variety of communities of faith (not just Christian) and their early (and critical) influence on the development of religious canonical materials sets it apart from others on New Testament-period culture.

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Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened

What do history and archaeology have to say about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection? How were criminal trials and executions conducted during the time of Jesus? Was Jesus really raised from the dead? Together, Craig A. Evans and N. T. Wright address these important topics (in the UK: SPCK; in North America: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009).

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buy at Amazon.co.uk

Fabricating Jesus
How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels
By Craig A. Evans
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Fact: The Gospel of Thomas is late, not early; secondary, not authentic. Contrary to what a few scholars maintain, the Gospel of Thomas originated in Syria and probably no earlier than the end of the second century.

The Gospel of Peter, which describes a talking cross, is late and incredible. In fact, the fragmentary document that we have may not be the Gospel of Peter at all. The document that we have may date to the fourth or fifth century.

The "secret" version of the Gospel of Mark, allegedly found in the Mar Saba Monastery, is a modern hoax. Analysis of the hand-writing betrays the tell-tale signs of forgery.

The distinctive conclusions of the Jesus Seminar are rejected by most scholars in North America and Europe.

There is absolutely no credible evidence that Jesus had a wife or a child.

The evidence is compelling that the New Testament Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--are our best sources for understanding the historical Jesus. The New Testament Gospels are based on eyewitness testimony and truthfully and accurately describe the teaching, life, and death of Jesus.

Jesus was not a Cynic; in all probability he never encountered a Cynic. No killer monks (albino or otherwise) number among the membership of Opus Dei.

All descriptions of documents, literature, and archaeology in this book are accurate.