EP Sanders Professor Oxford

• The Historical Figure of Jesus
• Jesus and Judaism
• Judaism:  Practice and Belief 63 BCE – 66 CE
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZNijc_-4Lk
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKgVdj2qjHQ

Geza Vermes Professor Oxford

• Jesus the Jew
• Jesus:  Nativity – Passion – Resurrection

Helmut Koester Professor Harvard

• Ancient Christian Gospels:  Their History and Development

Simon Price Oxford University

• Religions of Rome
• The Birth of Classical Europe:  A History from Troy to Augustine
• Religions of the Ancient Greeks
• The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion (with Emily Kearns)

Emily Kearns Oxford

• The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion (with Simon Price)

Andrew Louth Professor Durham previously taught at Oxford

• Discerning the Mystery:  An Essay on the Nature of Theology

Michael D. Coogan Harvard

Martin Conway Oxford University

• Chapter in the Cambridge History of Christianity Volume 9

Martin Goodman Professor Oxford University

• Rome and Jerusalem:  The Clash of Ancient Civilisations

Christopher Pelling Professor Oxford University

Charlotte Fonrobert Stanford University

• The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature

Martin Jaffee Professor Washington wrote book with Charlotte Fonrobert

• The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature

John J. Collins Professor Yale

• King and Messiah as Son of God:  Divine, Human and Angelic Messianic Figures in Biblical and Related Literature
• A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible

Adela Yarbro Collins Professor Yale

• King and Messiah as Son of God:  Divine, Human and Angelic Messianic Figures in Biblical and Related Literature

Glen Bowersock Oxford University, Professor at both Harvard and Princeton

Daniel Boyarin Professor University of California at Berkley, Visiting Professor Yale and Harvard

• The Jewish Gospels

Jack Miles – wrote book with Daniel Boyarin

• The Jewish Gospels

Joel Marcus Professor Duke, and taught at Princeton

• Chapter in the Cambridge History of Christianity Volume 1

Judith Herrin Professor Princeton

• The Formation of Christendom

Peter Brown Professor Princeton

• Authority and the Sacred
• The Rise of Western Christendom

Mary Beard Professor Cambridge University

• Religions of Rome

Peter Heather, Professor King’s College London, Oxford, Yale

Robin Lane Fox, Oxford University

• Pagans and Christians
• The Unauthorised Version
• The Classical World:  An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian

John North Professor University College London (wrote book with Mary Beard and Simon Price)

• Religions of Rome

Sean Freyne Professor Trinity College Dublin visiting Professor Harvard

• Chapter in the Cambridge History of Christianity Volume 1

Bruce Chilton Professor Yale

• Contribution to The Cambridge Companion to Jesus ed Bockmuehl

Ninian Smart Professor University California at Santa Barbara Visiting Professor Princeton and Yale

• Dimensions of the Sacred

Keith Ward Professor Oxford

• Is Religion Rational?
• The Word of God?  The Bible After Modern Scholarship

Mark C. Taylor Professor Columbia

• After God – Religion and Postmodernism

Amy-Jill Levine Professor Vanderbilt, Affiliated Professor Cambridge University

• The Misunderstood Jew
• The Meaning of the Bible

Diarmaid MacCulloch Professor Oxford

• A History of Christianity:  The First Three Thousand Years

JM Roberts Oxford University

• The New Penguin History of the World
• The Penguin History of the Twentieth Century

Harold Attridge Professor Yale

• Chapter in the Cambridge History of Christianity Volume 1

Wayne A Meeks Professor Yale

• Chapter in the Cambridge History of Christianity Volume 1

Martin Gilbert Oxford University

• The Holocaust

John Ashton Oxford University

• Contribution to The Nature of New Testament Theology eds Rowland and Tuckett

Stephen Prothero Professor Boston, previously taught at Harvard

Jonathan Roberts Liverpool – wrote book with Christopher Rowland

• The Bible for Sinners

Elaine Pagels Professor Princeton

• Beyond Belief:  The Secret Gospel of Thomas

Allen Callahan Brown and Harvard

Paula Fredrikson Professor Boston (emerita) previously Princeton and Stanford

• From Jesus to Christ:  The Origins of the New Testament Images of Jesus
• Jesus of Nazareth:  King of the Jews

Eric M Meyers Professor Duke, Fellow Oxford, Visiting Fellow Princeton

Keith Hopkins Professor Cambridge

• A World Full of Gods

Shaye J.D. Cohen Professor Harvard and Brown

Graham Stanton Professor Cambridge

• The Gospels and Jesus
• Contribution to The Cambridge Companion to Jesus ed Bockmuehl

NT Wright Oxford

• Jesus and the Victory of God
• Simply Jesus
• Simply Christian

Luke Timothy Johnson Professor Candler, previously taught at Yale 

• Contribution to The Nature of New Testament Theology eds Rowland and Tuckett

Michael Wolter Professor Bonn, visiting Professor Oxford

• Contribution to The Nature of New Testament Theology eds Rowland and Tuckett

Gerd Theissen Professor Heidelberg, visiting lectures at Oxford and Cambridge

• The Historical Jesus:  A Comprehensive Guide
• Contribution to The Nature of New Testament Theology eds Rowland and Tuckett

Leander E. Keck Professor Yale

• Who is Jesus?
• Contribution to The Nature of New Testament Theology eds Rowland and Tuckett

Leslie Houlden Professor Kings College London previously Chaplain Fellow Oxford

• Jesus:  The Complete Guide

Morna Hooker Professor Cambridge

• Paul:  A Beginner’s Guide
• Contribution to The Nature of New Testament Theology eds Rowland and Tuckett

Daniel Jonah Goldhagen Harvard

• Hitler’s Willing Executioners

Heikki Raisanen Professor Helsinki visiting researcher Harvard and Cambridge

• Contribution to The Nature of New Testament Theology eds Rowland and Tuckett

John Bowker Professor Gresham, Fellow Cambridge (1984-93)

Henry Wansbrough Oxford

• Contribution to the Oxford Bible Commentary

Diego Gambetta Professor Oxford

• Making Sense of Suicide Missions

Karen L King Professor Harvard

• Reading Judas:  The Controversial Message of the Ancient Gospel of Judas

Robert Morgan Oxford  

• Contribution to the Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation (ed Barton)

Craig A. Evans Professor Acadia, visiting Professor Princeton

• Contribution to The Cambridge Companion to Jesus ed Bockmuehl

Lee Martin Macdonald Professor Acadia visiting professor Princeton

Richard Bauckham Professor St Andrews, Fellow Cambridge

• Contribution to The Cambridge Companion to Jesus ed Bockmuehl

Christopher A. Beeley Professor Yale

Gerbern Oegema Professor McGill previously scholar in residence Princeton

William Klassen Research Professor Ecole Biblique Jerusalem, previously Visiting Fellow Cambridge

Colin Thompson Oxford

• Contribution to Jesus:  The Complete Guide ed Houlden

Bryan R. Wilson Oxford

Richard Gombrich Professor Oxford

Alastair McGrath Professor Kings formerly Professor at Oxford

• Mere Theology
• Christian Theology:  An Introduction
• Contribution to Jesus:  The Complete Guide ed Houlden on “The Theology of the Cross”

Peter Thonemann Oxford

• The Birth of Classical Europe:  A History from Troy to Augustine

Veronique Mottier Professor Lausanne Fellow Cambridge

Richard Miles University of Sydney and Cambridge

• Ancient Worlds:  The Search for the Origins of Western Civilisation

Krister Stendahl Professor Harvard

Peggy Morgan Oxford

John Macquarrie Professor Oxford

• In Search of Humanity
• Mary for All Christians

Joseph Sanders Cambridge University

Geoffrey Lampe Professor Cambridge

R. Joseph Hoffman Professor Beijing formerly taught at Oxford

Kimberley C Patton Professor Harvard

• A Magic Still Dwells:  Comparative Religion in the Postmodern Age

Richard Elliott Friedman Professor Georgia previously visiting Professor at Oxford and Cambridge

• Who wrote the Bible?

Peter Clarke Professor Cambridge

• Mr Churchill’s Profession:  Statesman, Orator, Writer

Michael Satlow Brown University

• Creating Judaism:  History, Tradition, Practice

Susan Gillingham Oxford

• Psalms through the Centuries (Blackwell Bible Commentaries)

Rowan Williams Cambridge and formerly Professor Oxford

• Contribution to The Cambridge Companion to Jesus ed Bockmuehl
• Contribution to The Making of Orthodoxy: Essays in Honour of Henry Chadwick (ed Rowan Williams)

Christopher Macevitt Dartmouth

• The Crusades and the Christian World of the East

Sarah Iles Johnston Professor Ohio previously taught Princeton

• Ancient Religions

Robert Segal Professor Aberdeen previously taught at Stanford

Don Cupitt Cambridge

• Who was Jesus?

Peter Armstrong – wrote book wtih Don Cupitt

• Who was Jesus?

Robert Eisenman Professor California State, Visiting Senior Member Linacre College Oxford

• James the Brother of Jesus

Alexandra Walsham Professor Cambridge

• Charitable Hatred

Kathryn Tanner Professor Yale

• Jesus, Humanity and the Trinity:  A Brief Systematic Theology

Raj Nadella Columbia

• Dialogue not Dogma:  Many Voices in the Gospel of Luke

AJP Taylor Oxford

James H. Charlesworth Professor Princeton

• The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide

Jolyon Mitchell Professor Edinburgh visiting Professor Dartmouth visiting Fellow Cambridge

Steven Weitzman Professor Stanford

Linda Woodhead Professor Lancaster formerly Research Fellow Princeton and Wilde Lecturer University of Oxford

Annette Merz University Utrecht (wrote book with Gerd Theissen)

• The Historical Jesus:  A Comprehensive Guide

Luke Pitcher Oxford

• Writing Ancient History:  An Introduction to Ancient Historiography

Douglas A. Knight Professor Vanderbilt wrote book with Amy-Jill Levine

• The Meaning of the Bible

Geraldine Pinch Oxford

• Egyptian Mythology

Theodore J. Lewis Professor John Hopkins previously Harvard

• Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit

James Carleton Paget Cambridge

• Contribution to The Cambridge Companion to Jesus ed Bockmuehl

Bart D. Ehrman Professor University of North Carolina - wrote book with Bruce Metzger

• The Text of the New Testament:  Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration

Justin Meggitt Cambridge

• Paul, Poverty and Survival

Christina Kraus Professor Yale

David Brakke Professor Ohio State

David A. Jones Professor St Mary’s Twickenham Research Fellow Oxford

Lawrence M. Wills Professor Episcopal Divinity School previously Harvard

Robert Parker Professor Oxford

• On Greek Religion
• Polytheism and Society at Athens

Bruce Metzger Professor Princeton

• The Canon of the New Testament:  Its Origin, Development and Significance
• The Text of the New Testament:  Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration

A.J. Drodge Professor University of Toronto

Sarah Iles Johnston Professor Ohio formerly Princeton

• Ancient Religions

Denis Nineham Professor Cambridge, Professor Bristol and Warden Oxford

• Article in Jesus: The Complete Guide

Peggy Morgan Oxford

• Article in Jesus: The Complete Guide

Malise Ruthven Dartmouth

Carolyn J. Sharp Professor Yale

• Westling with the Word:  The Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Believer

Nicholas Lash Professor Cambridge

• The Beginning and the End of “Religion”

Michael Cook Professor Princeton

Kevin J. Madigan Professor Harvard

• Resurrection:  The Power of God for Christians and Jews

Eric H. Cline Professor George Washington University previously Teaching Fellowship Stanford and Univeristy Fellowship Yale

Jon Douglas Levenson Professor Harvard

• Resurrection:  The Power of God for Christians and Jews

Robert R. Wilson Profesor Yale

• Contribution to the Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation (ed Barton)

David Ford Professor Cambridge

Toby Wilkinson Cambridge

• The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

Helen Morales Professor University of California at Santa Barbara, previously Cambridge

Faramerz Dabhoiwala Oxford

• The Origins of Sex

Robert Alter Professor University of California at Berkley

• Contribution to the Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation (ed Barton)

Mark Edwards Oxford

•  Contribution to “The Early Christian World” ed Esler

James K. Aitken Cambridge

•  Contribution to “The Early Christian World” ed Esler

Maurice Wiles Professor Oxford

• Contribution to The Making of Orthodoxy: Essays in Honour of Henry Chadwick (ed Rowan Williams)

Lionel Wickham Cambridge

• Contribution to The Making of Orthodoxy: Essays in Honour of Henry Chadwick (ed Rowan Williams)

Euan Cameron Professor Union Theological Seminary, Quondam Fellow All Souls College Oxford

• The European Reformation

David Brown Professor St Andrews formerly Professor Durham and taught at Oxford

• Invitation to Theology

A.C. Grayling New College of the Humanities, Birkbeck, Oxford

John Arnold Birkbeck University of London

Richard Holloway formerly Bishop of Edinburgh (Scottish Episcopal Church)

Natalie Haynes author of “The Ancient Guide to Modern Life”

D.A. Carson Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

John Haldane Professor St Andrews previously Fellow at Oxford

Norman Solomon Oxford

John Riches Professor Glasgow

Giles Fraser Church of England priest and Oxford

• Christianity with Attitude

John Sweeney BBC

Jonathan D. Spence – Professor Yale

• The Search for Modern China

William Montgomery Watt – Professor Edinburgh

• Religious Truth for Our Time

Joseph Campbell Professor Sarah Lawrence College

Jonathan Sacks Chief Rabbi (United Kingdom)

Tim Whitmarsh – Professor Oxford

Carl Sagan Professor Cornell

Bruce Thornton – Professor California State, Hoover Fellow

Greg Woolf Professor St Andrews University

Johannes Haubold Professor Greek Durham University

J. Gordon Melton University of California, Santa Barbara

Christopher Partridge Professor Lancaster University

Bronislaw Szerszynski  Lancaster University

Margaret M. Mitchell – Professor Birmingham and Chicago

Professor Harry Gamble University of Virginia

Professor G.W. Clarke – University of Western Australia

Judith Lieu Professor Cambridge

Dominic Crossan – Professor University of Chicago

Marcus Borg – Professor Oregon State

Kate Cooper – Professor Manchester

James Dunn – Professor Durham

Paul Davies – Arizona State

John Gray – Professor London School of Economics

Simon Schama – Professor Columbia

Mark Goodacre – Professor Duke

J. P. Meier – Professor University of Notre Dame

Anthony Kenny – Professor Oxford

Jan Bremmer – Professor Groningen

C. Mondesert – Professor Institut des Sources Chretiennes

James Romm – Professor Bard

Barbara H. Geller Nathanson

Lester Grabbe – Professor Hull

Albert Henrichs – Professor Harvard

Dale Martin – Professor Yale

Ernst Badian – Professor Harvard

Ian Worthington – Professor Missouri

Brian Bosworth – Professor University of Western Australia

Polymnia Athanassiadi – Professor Athens

Michael Frede – Professor Oxford

Susan Handelman – Professor Bar-Ilan University

David Blumenthal – Professor Emory

T.J. Cornell – University College London

Robert Hayward – Professor Durham

Erich S. Gruen – Professor Berkley

Edward Kessler – Cambridge

Jon Mikalson – Professor University of Virginia

Simon Sebag Montefiore – Professor University of Buckingham

Guy Stroumsa – Professor Oxford

Schneid – College de France

Maria-Zoe Petropoulou

James Tabor – Professor University North Carolina

Peter Machinist – Harvard

Frank Moore Cross – Professor Harvard

Samuel Sandmel – Professor Hebrew Union College

Charles H. Talbert – Professor Baylor

George Foot Moore – Harvard

P. Alexander – Professor University of Manchester

E. R. Dodds – Professor Oxford

Alan F. Segal - Professor Columbia

André-Jean Festugière

Simon Gathercole – Cambridge

Joshua Garroway – Hebrew Union College

W.D. Davies – Professor Princeton and Duke

Peder Borgen – Professor Trondheim

Isaac Kalimi Spertus – Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago

Howard Abraham – Professor University Missouri

Joseph Skinner – Liverpool

Alan Ryan – Professor Oxford

Joachim Schoeps – Professor Uppsala

Katerina Kovaltchuk – Leuven

Paul Danove – Associate Professor Villanova University

Antony Le Donne – Professor Twickenham

Andrew Marr – BBC journalist and historian

Christoph Riedwig – Professor Zurich

Ian Worthington – Professor Missouri

Michael Peppard – Fordham

Brian Bosworth – Professor University Western Australia

Runar M. Thorsteinsson – University of Copenhagen

John Dillon – Trinity College Dublin

Ernst Badian – Professor Harvard

David Runia – Professor Leiden and Melbourne

(Please note that the universities listed here indicate that the academic listed has at one point taught at that institution, rather than indicating that this is necessarily currently the case).

Further reading

Let me recommend three books, two by authors who see themselves as Christians, the other by an author who does not:

• Graham Stanton – The Gospels and Jesus
• E.P. Sanders – The Historical Figure of Jesus
• James Charlesworth – The Historical Jesus:  An Essential Guide

If you don’t already know, then I’m not going to say which is which.  With a proper historian – one who is interested in exploring the historical issues, rather than pushing a particular theological agenda – I don’t think you should really be able to tell.

Or, in the words of Eric H. Cline:

Biblical archaeology is not about proving or disproving the Bible; its practitioners are concerned with investigating the material culture of the lands and eras in question and reconstructing the culture and history of the Holy Land for a period lasting more than two thousand years.