James R. Edwards

{{Short description|American theologian and New Testament scholar}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix = | name = James R. Edwards | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = James R Edwards.jpg | alt = Head-and-shoulders portrait of James R. Edwards | caption = Theologian James Edwards | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1945}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | region = | period = | occupation = Theologian and New Testament scholar | title = Professor Emeritus of Theology | boards =  | known_for = | spouse = | children = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | era = | language = | discipline = [[Biblical studies]] | sub_discipline = NT studies | movement =

| education = [[Whitworth University]], [[Princeton Theological Seminary]], [[University of Zürich]], [[University of Tübingen]] | alma_mater = Fuller Theological Seminary (PhD) | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | notable_students =  | main_interests = | workplaces = [[Whitworth University]] | notable_works = ''The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition'' (2009) | notable_ideas = | influences =  | influenced =  | awards = Templeton Grant in Science and Religion (1996); recipient of Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst Award (1993) | website = | footnotes = }} '''James R. Edwards''' (born 1945) is an American theologian and New Testament scholar.<ref name="EerdmansAuthor">{{cite web |title=James R. Edwards |url=https://www.eerdmans.com/author/james-r-edwards/ |website=Eerdmans Publishing Co. |access-date=2026-04-14}}</ref> His primary research interests include [[Biblical studies]] and the history of the [[History of Christianity#Early Christianity (c. 27 – fourth century)|early church]], with secondary interests in the [[Reformation]] and history of the twentieth-century German Church struggle. After earning degrees from [[Whitworth University]], [[Princeton Theological Seminary]], and [[Fuller Theological Seminary]], and pursuing additional study at the [[University of Zürich]] and the [[University of Tübingen]], Edwards taught at [[Jamestown College]] for nearly 20 years. He joined Whitworth's faculty in 1997, later holding the Bruner-Welch Endowed Chair of Theology. He continues to serve as professor emeritus of Theology.<ref>{{cite web |title=Whitworth professor of theology releases groundbreaking new book about the gospels |url=https://news.whitworth.edu/2010/04/whitworth-professor-of-theology.html |website=Whitworth University News |publisher=[[Whitworth University]] |access-date=15 April 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Emeriti Faculty |url=https://www.whitworth.edu/cms/academics/emeriti-faculty/ |website=[[Whitworth University]] |access-date=15 April 2026}}</ref>

==The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition== In 2009, Edwards advanced a controversial theory that the [[synoptic Gospels]] are partly dependent on the "Hebrew Gospel", which includes the [[Gospel of the Hebrews]], a syncretistic Jewish–Christian text believed by most scholars to have been composed in [[Koine Greek]], the [[Hebrew Gospel hypothesis]] of Lessing and others, and traditions of a writing of Matthew's supposed to have been written by him “in the [[Hebrew language]]” (Papias) and [[Hebrew Gospel of Matthew]], 1385, a rabbinical translation of Matthew's gospel.{{clarify|date=October 2020}}<ref>The Whitworthian Monday, November 23, 2009 "Professor's book 'controversial' - News "Edwards said the Hebrew Gospel has remained largely unstudied in the theological world and, in his opinion, has been scandalously overlooked. "Most scholars don't know much about the Hebrew gospel and many deny that it existed," he said. Throughout history, Edwards said, Christians have been hesitant to accept a Hebrew ancestor to the gospels. The theory of the Hebrew Gospel is still unpopular with many in the theological world. Though no copies of the Hebrew Gospel are known to exist, Edwards' research and study of ancient manuscripts has convinced him to believe unwaveringly that it once did. "We know [the Hebrew Gospel] did exist because it was referred to about 100 times in the first nine centuries of Christianity," he said."</ref><ref>The Whitworthian FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2010 [http://news.whitworth.edu/2010/04/whitworth-professor-of-theology.html Whitworth professor of theology releases groundbreaking new book about the gospels - James Edwards challenges long-held "Q hypothesis," asserts existence of a Hebrew gospel]</ref><ref>[http://www.dts.edu/reviews/james-r-edwards-the-hebrew-gospel-and-the-development-of-the Dallas Theological Seminary review]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Edwards argues that patristic citations from "the Hebrew Gospel" correlate more distinctly and repeatedly with sections called "Special Luke" in the [[Gospel of Luke]] than with either the [[Gospel of Matthew]] or the [[Gospel of Mark]].<ref>James R. Edwards - The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition 2009 "In Chapters Two and Three I attempt to show that when the fathers actually quote from the Hebrew Gospel the quotations correlate more distinctly and repeatedly with Special Luke than with either Matthew or Mark. The fourth chapter shifts from a survey of the patristic tradition to a detailed discussion of Lukan Semitisms in which the above thesis is argued on the dual basis of philological evidence in Luke and the testimony of the prologue."</ref>

Two separate reviews were published by the [[Society of Biblical Literature]] in which the reviewers were not convinced of Edwards' thesis.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Friedrichsen |first=Timothy A. |title=Book review: The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition |journal=Review of Biblical Literature |date=2010 |url=https://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/7382_8043.pdf |access-date=2020-08-12 |archive-date=2015-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923193749/http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/7382_8043.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Sweeney |first=James P. |title=Book review: The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition |journal=Review of Biblical Literature |date=2010 |url=http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/7382_8044.pdf |access-date=2014-02-21 |archive-date=2020-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027050954/https://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/7382_8044.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[John S. Kloppenborg]] also reviewed Edwards' thesis negatively.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kloppenborg|first=John S.|date=2011-04-14|title=The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition (review)|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/422277|journal=Toronto Journal of Theology|language=en|volume=27|issue=1|pages=109–111|doi=10.1353/tjt.2011.0000|s2cid=144873030|issn=1918-6371|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Edwards also rejects the modern division, by [[Schneemelcher]] and others, of the [[Jewish-Christian Gospels]]' fragments into three or more separate lost Gospels.

==Works== ===Commentaries=== *{{cite book |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |title=Romans |series=NIBC |volume=6 |location=Peabody, MA |publisher=Hendrickson |date=1992 |isbn=978-0-943-57534-6 |oclc=24546901 }} *{{cite book |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=The Gospel According to Mark |series=[[PNTC]] |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans|date=2001 |isbn=978-0-8028-3734-9 }} *{{cite book |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=Romans |series=New Interpreter's Study Bible |publisher=Abingdon |date=2003}} *{{cite book |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=Hebrews |series=Renovare Study Bible |publisher=Harper |date=2005 }} *{{cite book |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=The Gospel According to Luke |series=[[PNTC]] |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans |date=2015 |isbn=978-0-8028-3735-6 }} *{{cite book |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=Romans |series=Understanding the Bible |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Baker Books |date=2012 |isbn=978-0801046155 |edition=Reissue of the 1992 Hendrickson title}}

===Other books=== *{{cite book |editor1-last=Edwards |editor1-first=James R. |editor1-mask=3 |editor2-last=Knight |editor2-first=George W. |editor2-link=George W. Knight |title=The Layman's Overview of the Bible |location=Nashville, TN |publisher=Thomas Nelson Publishers |date=1987 |isbn=978-0-840-77560-3 |oclc=15164774 |url=https://archive.org/details/laymansoverviewo00knig }} *{{cite book |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=A response to A theological understanding of the relationship between Christians and Jews |location=Colorado Springs, CO |publisher=First Presbyterian Church |date=1989 |isbn=9780802862341 |oclc=892924623 }} *{{cite book |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=The Divine Intruder |location=Colorado Springs, CO |publisher=NavPress |date=2000 |isbn=978-1-576-83201-1 |oclc=43296776 }} *{{cite book |editor1-last=Edwards |editor1-first=James R. |editor1-mask=3 |editor2-last=Knight |editor2-first=George W. |editor2-link=George W. Knight |title=Compact Bible Handbook |series=Nelson's Compact Series |location=Nashville, TN |publisher=Thomas Nelson Publishers |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-785-25246-7 |oclc=276406036 |url=https://archive.org/details/nelsonscompactse00geor }} *{{cite book |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=Is Jesus the Only Savior? |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-802-80981-0 |oclc=57531370 }} *{{cite book |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-802-86234-1 |oclc=368048433 }} * ——— (2019). ''Between the Swastika and the Sickle: The Life, Disappearance, and Execution of Ernst Lohmeyer''. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. {{ISBN|978-0802876188}}. * ——— (2021). ''From Christ to Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the Church in Less than a Generation''. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. {{ISBN|978-1540961686}}. * ——— (2026). ''In the Beginning''. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. {{ISBN|978-0802879394}}.

===Articles=== *{{cite journal |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=The Authority of Jesus in The Gospel of Mark |journal=[[Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society]] |volume=37 |issue=2 |date=1994 |pages=217–233 }} *{{cite journal |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=The Servant of the Lord and the Gospel of Mark |journal=[[Southern Baptist Journal of Theology]] |volume=8 |issue=3 |date=Autumn 2004 |pages=36–49 }} *{{cite journal |author1-last=Edwards |author1-first=James R. |author1-mask=3 |title=Galatians 5:12: circumcision, the Mother Goddess, and the scandal of the cross |journal=[[Novum Testamentum]] |volume=53 |issue=4 |date=2011 |pages=319–337 |doi=10.1163/156853611X578275 }}

==References== {{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, James R.}} [[Category:1945 births]] [[Category:20th-century American male writers]] [[Category:20th-century American Presbyterian ministers]] [[Category:20th-century American writers]] [[Category:20th-century Christian biblical scholars]] [[Category:21st-century American male writers]] [[Category:21st-century American Presbyterian ministers]] [[Category:21st-century American writers]] [[Category:21st-century Christian biblical scholars]] [[Category:Fuller Theological Seminary alumni]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:New Testament scholars]] [[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:Princeton Theological Seminary alumni]] [[Category:Presbyterian Church (USA) teaching elders]] [[Category:University of Zurich alumni]] [[Category:University of Tübingen alumni]] [[Category:Whitworth University alumni]] [[Category:Whitworth University faculty]] [[Category:21st-century American biblical scholars]] [[Category:20th-century American biblical scholars]]