James Frank McGrath is an American scholar of religion. He is the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

. He is known for his work on

Early Christianity Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christian ...

Mandaeism Mandaeism (Mandaic language, Classical Mandaic: ),https://qadaha.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/nhura-dictionary-mandaic-english-mandaic.pdf sometimes also known as Nasoraeanism or Sabianism, is a Gnosticism, Gnostic, Monotheism, ...

, criticism of the

Christ myth theory The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the fringe view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance. Alternatively, in terms given by ...

, and the analysis of religion in

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

Biography

James McGrath earned his diploma in

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

with distinction from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1993. He went on to receive his

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD, DB, or BDiv; ) is an academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies. ...

from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, in which he was awarded Second Class, First Degree honors in 1995. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

in 1998, under the supervision of

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 Dur ...

. He has served as assistant professor of New Testament at

Emmanuel University Emmanuel University is a private Christian college in Franklin Springs, Georgia, United States. It is affiliated with the International Pentecostal Holiness Church and enrolls more than 800 students. The college offers both associate and bachel ...

and the University of Oradea from 1998 to 2001, an adjunct professor at

Biblical Theological Seminary Missio Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The seminary was previously known as Biblical Theological Seminary but changed to its current name in 2018. It is located on the site of Fran ...

and

Alliance Theological Seminary Alliance Theological Seminary was an evangelical Christian seminary affiliated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, last located in Manhattan. It operated from 1882 to 2023. History The seminary had roots from the Missionary Training Inst ...

from 2001 to 2002, and professor of Religion at

from 2002 to present. In 2010, he was appointed the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair of New Testament Language and Literature. McGrath is also the creator of ''Canon: The Card Game''.

Academic publications

;Books authored * ''John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptizer'' (

Eerdmans William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company is a religious publishing house based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1911 by Dutch American William B. Eerdmans and still independently owned with William's daughter-in-law Anita Eerdmans as presid ...

, 2024) * ''Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist'' (

, 2024) * ''The A to Z of the New Testament'' (

, 2023) * ''What Jesus Learned from Women'' (Cascade, 2021) * '' The Black Archive #52: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos'' (

Obverse Books Obverse Books is a British publisher initially known for publishing books relating to the character Iris Wildthyme, and currently for the '' Black Archive'' series of critical books on ''Doctor Who,'' and two sister series - the Gold Archive, ...

, 2021) * ''The

Mandaean Book of John In Mandaeism, the Book of John () is a Mandaean holy book in Mandaic Aramaic which Mandaeans attribute to their prophet John the Baptist. The book contains accounts of John's life and miracles, as well as a number of polemical conversations w ...

: critical edition, translation, and commentary''. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020; with

Charles G. Häberl Charles G. Häberl (born June 22, 1976 in New Jersey, United States) is an American linguist, religious studies scholar, and professor. He is currently Professor of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures (AMESALL) and ...

) * ''Theology and Science Fiction'' (Cascade Companions; Eugene: Cascade, 2016) * ''The Burial of Jesus: What Does History Have To Do With Faith?'' (Patheos Press, 2012) * ''The Only True God: Monotheism in Early Judaism and Christianity'' (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009) * ''John’s Apologetic Christology: Legitimation and Development in Johannine Christology'' (SNTS Monograph Series, Cambridge University Press, 2001) ;Books edited * ''Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith: Religion and Doctor Who'' (co-edited with Andrew Crome; Darton, Longman, and Todd, 2013) * ''Religion and Science Fiction'' (Pickwick Press, 2011; Lutterworth Press, 2012) ;Articles and book chapters * "A God Needs Compassion, but Not a Starship: Star Trek's Humanist Theology," in ''The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy: The Search for Socrates'', ed. Kevin S. Decker and Jason T. Eberl. Malden: John Wiley & Sons, 2016, pp. 315–325. * "Foreword" to ''The Son of God: Three Views of the Identity of Jesus'', by Charles Lee Irons, Danny Andre Dixon, and Dustin R. Smith. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2015. * "Explicit and Implicit Religion in Doctor Who and Star Trek," ''Implicit Religion'' 18:4 (2015) 471-484. * "Polemic, Redaction, and History in the Mandaean Book of John: The Case of the Lightworld Visitors to Jerusalem," ''

ARAM Periodical The ''ARAM Periodical'' is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Aram Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies covering Ancient Near East studies with a particular focus on Aramaic studies, including archaeology, religious studi ...

'' 25 (2013) 375-382. * "Monotheism," in ''Vocabulary for the Study of Religion'' ed. Robert A. Segal and Kocku von Stuckrad (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2015). * "Mythicism and the Making of Mark" in ''The Bible and Interpretation'' August 2015 * "Religion’s Futures and the Future’s Religions through the Lens of Science Fiction" in ''The Changing World Religions Map'', ed. Stan Brunn (New York: Springer, 2015) 2893-2905. * "Monotheism," in ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Ethics'', ed. Robert L. Brawley (Oxford University Press, 2014) 57-64. * "Did Jesus Die in Outer Space? Evaluating a Key Claim in Richard Carrier’s On the Historicity of Jesus" in ''The Bible & Interpretation'' October 2014 * "

John 2 John 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It contains the famous stories of the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine and Jesus expelling the money changers from the Temple. The author of ...

:13-16," "The Three Johns," and "The Woman at the Well" - contributions to the Society of Biblical Literature Bible Odyssey website. * "Mythicism and the Mainstream: The Rhetoric and Realities of Academic Freedom" in ''The Bible and Interpretation'' March 2014. * "Epilogue" in ''Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith'' (see above). * "Revisiting the Mandaeans and the New Testament" in ''The Bible & Interpretation'' August 2013 * "Reading the Story of Miriai on Two Levels: Evidence from Mandaean Anti-Jewish Polemic about the Origins and Setting of Early Mandaeism," ''

'' (2010): 583–592.

Science fiction short stories

* "Biblical Literalism in the New Jerusalem," in ''Touching the Face of the Cosmos: On the Intersection of Space Travel and Religion'' edited by Paul Levinson and Michael Waltemathe, Fordham University Press, 2016, pp. 161–164.

References

External links

Selected Works at Butler University

Religion Prof: The Blog of James McGrath

Author Page on Facebook

Twitter Profile, @ReligionProf
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGrath, James F. Living people 21st-century American non-fiction writers American speculative fiction writers Butler University faculty American biblical scholars Religious studies scholars Science fiction academics Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of London American game designers New Testament scholars Scholars of Mandaeism Translators from Mandaic Alumni of Durham University Graduate Society 1972 births Historians of Christianity 21st-century Christian biblical scholars 21st-century biblical scholars