Peter Thomas O'Brien | |
---|---|
Born | 6 November 1935 |
Nationality | Australian |
Occupation(s) | New Testament scholar and Biblical commentator |
Children | 4 |
Academic background | |
Education | Moore Theological College, University of Manchester |
Doctoral advisor | Professor F. F. Bruce |
Academic work | |
Era | Modern |
Discipline | New Testament studies |
Institutions | Union Biblical Seminary Moore Theological College |
Notable works | Joint editor with D. A. Carson and Mark A. Seifrid,Justification and Variegated Nomism:A Fresh Appraisal of Paul and Second Temple Judaism. 2 vols. WUNT 2:140,2:181;Tübingen/Grand Rapids:Mohr Siebeck/Baker,2001–2004. Christianity Today 2002 Book Award Winner. |
Peter Thomas O'Brien (born 6 November 1935 [1] ) is an Australian clergyman,missionary and New Testament scholar. [2] He has written commentaries on Ephesians,Philippians,Colossians,Philemon,and Hebrews as well as books and articles on aspects of the thought the apostle Paul.
O'Brien was converted at the age of nineteen, [3] and studied at Moore Theological College and the University of Manchester. He taught at Union Biblical Seminary in Yavatmal,India,before returning to Moore as a lecturer,later serving as Vice Principal. While teaching at Moore he was a Recognised Teacher in Divinity at the University of Sydney. [4] He is a priest in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. [5]
In 2000,a Festschrift was published in his honour,called A Gospel for the Nations:Perspectives on Paul's Mission:Essays Presented to Peter Thomas O’Brien on his Sixty-Fifth Birthday. Contributors included Paul Barnett,Don Carson,William Dumbrell,Graeme Goldsworthy,Peter Jensen,Andreas Köstenberger,Richard Longenecker,I. Howard Marshall,Ralph P. Martin,Donald Robinson,Moisés Silva,David Wenham,and Bruce Winter. In 2002 he received an honorary doctorate from the Australian College of Theology. [6] In 2014 he received an honorary doctorate from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. [7]
In early July 2016,allegations of plagiarism were made against O'Brien in regards to his commentary The Letter to the Hebrews in the Pillar New Testament Commentary series. On 15 August 2016 Eerdmans announced that after internal and external review that "what [they] found on the pages of this commentary runs afoul of commonly accepted standards with regard to the utilization and documentation of secondary sources. [They] agreed that the book could not be retained in print." As a result,they were ceasing sales of the commentary,along with two other works from O'Brien. [8] IVP issued a similar statement regarding two titles in their New Studies in Biblical Theology (NSBT) series. [9] By 4 November 2016 a similar statement was issued by the publishers Zondervan regarding O'Brien's Colossians –Philemon volume in the Word Biblical Commentary series. [10] Each statement contains expressions of regret and evidences considerable reluctance in taking these actions.
O'Brien stated,"In the New Testament commentaries that I have written,although I have never deliberately misused the work of others,nevertheless I now see that my work processes at times have been faulty and have generated clear-cut,but unintentional,plagiarism. For this I apologize without reservation." [11]
The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy, and addressed to the church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately 100 miles (160 km) from Ephesus in Asia Minor.
The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest extant Christian documents. They provide an insight into the beliefs and controversies of early Christianity. As part of the canon of the New Testament, they are foundational texts for both Christian theology and ethics.
Moisés Silva is a Cuban-born American biblical scholar and translator.
The Pauline epistles are the thirteen books in the New Testament traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle.
Frederick Fyvie Bruce was a Scottish evangelical scholar, author and educator who was Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester from 1959 until 1978 and one of the most influential evangelical scholars of the second half of the twentieth century. When the academic community looked down upon Evangelicals, Bruce demonstrated that a scholar holding evangelical views could do worthwhile academic work. He persuaded Evangelicals that they should not turn their backs on academic methods of Bible study, even if the results might differ from traditional evangelical views. As a result, he has been called the "Dean of Evangelical Scholarship".
James Douglas Grant Dunn, 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 Durham. He is best known for his work on the New Perspective on Paul, which is also the title of a book he published in 2007.
Donald Guthrie was a British New Testament scholar, best known for his New Testament Introduction (1962) and New Testament Theology (1981) which are recognized as significant books related to the New Testament.
Joseph Augustine Fitzmyer was an American Catholic priest and scholar who taught at several American and British universities. He was a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
Donald Arthur Carson is a Canadian evangelical theologian. He is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and president and co-founder of the Gospel Coalition. He has written or edited about sixty books and served as president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2022.
Douglas J. Moo is a Reformed New Testament scholar who, after teaching for more than twenty years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, served as Blanchard Professor of New Testament at the Wheaton College Graduate School from 2000 until his retirement in 2023. He received his Ph.D. at the University of St. Andrews, in St. Andrews, Scotland.
Leon Lamb Morris was an Australian New Testament scholar and theologian.
Gregory Kimball Beale is a biblical scholar, currently a Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He has made a number of contributions to conservative biblical hermeneutics, particularly in the area of the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament and is one of the most influential and prolific active New Testament scholars in the world. He served as the president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2004. In 2013, he was elected by Westminster Theological Seminary to be the first occupant of the J. Gresham Machen Chair of New Testament. At his inauguration he delivered an address titled The Cognitive Peripheral Vision of Biblical Writers.
David E. Garland served as the interim president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. His term began in June 2016 amid the Baylor sexual assault scandal and resignation of former president Ken Starr. Garland's term concluded on May 31, 2017.
Clinton E. Arnold is a New Testament scholar who was the dean at Talbot School of Theology until 2023 and 2011 president of the Evangelical Theological Society. Arnold's research interest is in the Pauline writings, the book of Acts, Graeco-Roman religions, the rise of Christianity in Asia Minor, and the theology of sanctification. He has authored six books, dozens of scholarly articles, and several entries in biblical dictionaries and study Bibles. In the past, he served as a regular columnist for Discipleship Journal, and is the general editor of the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Series.
William L. Lane was an American New Testament theologian and professor of biblical studies.
Ralph Philip Martin was a British New Testament scholar.
Markus Barth was a Swiss scholar of theology. He lived in Bern, Basel, Berlin, and Edinburgh and was the son of the seminal Protestant theologian Karl Barth. From 1940 to 1953 he was a Reformed Pastor in Bubendorf near Basel. In 1947 he received a doctorate in New Testament from the University of Göttingen. Between 1953 and 1972 he held professorships in New Testament at Dubuque Theological Seminary, University of Chicago Divinity School, and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. From 1973 to 1985 he was professor of New Testament at the University of Basel.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary is a series of commentaries in English on the New Testament. It is published by the William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Mark A. Seifrid is a scholar of the New Testament letters of Paul, currently working at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
David G. Peterson, is a scholar of the New Testament. He was senior research fellow and lecturer in New Testament at Moore Theological College in Sydney and is an ordained minister of the Anglican Church of Australia. He now lectures at the college part-time.