Craig S. Keener

Craig S. Keener (born July 4, 1960) is an American Bapticostal theologian, Biblical scholar and professor of the New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Biography Early life and education Keener was born on 4 July 1960. He studied at Central Bible College (now part of Evangel University) and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1982. He then studied theology at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (now also part of Evangel University), earning a Master's degree in 1982 and a Master of Divinity in 1987. He earned his Ph.D. in 1991 from Duke University in New Testament and Christian origins.

Career In 1991 he was ordained as a minister by the National Baptist Convention, USA. In 2001 he became an associate pastor at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia until 2011.

Keener became a professor at Hood Theological Seminary, then professor of New Testament at Palmer Theological Seminary at Eastern University for nearly 15 years. Since 2011, Keener has been (F. M. and Ada Thompson) professor of the New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Keener has taught in various countries, especially countries in Africa.

From 2014 to 2019, Keener was the editor of the Bulletin for Biblical Research. He has authored a number of commentaries on New Testament books as well as books and articles. His popular IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (1993) has sold over half a million copies.

In 2020, he served as the president of the Evangelical Theological Society.

Scholarly expertise and views Keener's expertise lies in New Testament background, the book of Acts, Jesus, miracles, the Gospels and ethnic/racial reconciliation.

Bruce Chilton lauded Keener's 2009 book The Historical Jesus of the Gospels, writing that it "marks a notable moment in the critical study of Jesus." He based this claim on the fact that Keener uses the study of Jesus' Jewish environment to argue for the authenticity of the Gospels. Keener has an Arminian theological standpoint on soteriology, supporting conditional preservation of the believer. Keener holds egalitarian and continuationist views.

Keener's book Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels argues that the Gospels should be considered ancient biography and analyzes their historical value in that light. Keener also interacts with the oral traditions behind the Gospels and memory theory. His work has been endorsed by Richard Bauckham, Markus Bockmuehl, James Charlesworth, and David Aune, among others. Richard Burridge, who was one of the key scholars who initially demonstrated that the Gospels were ancient biography, praised Keener's volume as well.

Awards The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, for which Keener authored most of the New Testament notes, won Bible of the Year in the 2017 Christian Book Awards, and also won Book of the Year in the Religion: Christianity category of the International Book Awards.

Personal life He is married to Médine Moussounga Keener, who holds a Ph.D. from University of Paris 7. He and his wife have two children, David and Keren.

Works Books

- based on the author's Ph.D. thesis

Articles and chapters (n.b. partial list)

Notes and references