Scholars (72)
A position label describes how a scholar is read in the field. It is not a grade. Mythicism is a minority view, rejected by most specialists.
Bart D. Ehrman
mainstream-critical
New Testament textual criticism, historical Jesus, early Christian diversity, afterlife
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (emeritus per recent bios; verify)Affiliation unverified
Elaine Pagels
mainstream-critical
Nag Hammadi, Gnostic gospels, Revelation, early Christian politics
Princeton University
Paula Fredriksen
mainstream-critical
Paul, Jewish context, Augustine, early Christian origins
Boston University (emerita); Hebrew University
Dale Martin
mainstream-critical
New Testament, sexuality, Corinthian church
Yale University (emeritus)
John Dominic Crossan
mainstream-critical (Jesus Seminar co-founder)
Historical Jesus as Mediterranean Jewish peasant
DePaul University (emeritus)
James Tabor
mainstream-critical (some proposals contested)
James, Jesus' family, Ebionites, Paul, archaeology (Talpiot)
University of North Carolina at Charlotte (emeritus)
Mark Goodacre
mainstream-critical
Synoptic problem (Farrer hypothesis), Gospel of Thomas
Duke University
M. David Litwa
mainstream-critical
Greco-Roman context of early Christianity, Gnostic myth, Hermetica
Australian Catholic University (verify)Affiliation unverified
Dennis R. MacDonald
critical-minority (mimesis thesis contested)
Homeric mimesis in the gospels and Acts
Claremont School of Theology (emeritus)
Richard Carrier
mythicist-minority (rejected by most specialists)
Minority view. Most specialists reject mythicism.
Jesus mythicism, Bayesian historiography, Roman science
Independent scholar (PhD Columbia)
Robert M. Price
mythicist-minority (rejected by most specialists)
Minority view. Most specialists reject mythicism.
Christ myth theory, Westar Fellow, gospel criticism
Independent (formerly Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary)
Stephen J. Shoemaker
critical (some revisionist positions)
Early Islam, Marian apocrypha, Byzantine Christianity
University of Oregon
Robert G. Hoyland
mainstream-critical
Arabia in late antiquity, early Islam, non-Muslim sources
NYU Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
Sidney H. Griffith
mainstream-critical
Arabic Christianity, Christian-Muslim relations, Bible in Arabic
Catholic University of America (emeritus)
Gabriel Said Reynolds
mainstream-critical
Qur'an and Bible, Qur'anic studies
University of Notre Dame
Mun'im Sirry
mainstream-critical
Islamic origins, Qur'an exegesis, revisionism debates
University of Notre Dame
Candida Moss
mainstream-critical
Martyrdom, persecution, enslaved scribes
University of Birmingham
Helen K. Bond
mainstream-critical
Historical Jesus, Pilate, Mark
University of Edinburgh
Joan E. Taylor
mainstream-critical
Jesus' Jewish context, Essenes, women, archaeology
King's College London (emerita)
Dale C. Allison Jr.
mainstream-critical
Historical Jesus, resurrection, Matthew
Princeton Theological Seminary
Larry Hurtado
mainstream (d. 2019)
Early devotion to Jesus, manuscripts
University of Edinburgh (emeritus; died 2019)
Karen L. King
mainstream-critical
Gospel of Mary, Gnosticism as category, Gospel of Jesus' Wife episode
Harvard Divinity School
Peter Brown
mainstream
Late antiquity, Augustine, asceticism, wealth
Princeton University (emeritus)
Diarmaid MacCulloch
mainstream
History of Christianity, Reformation
University of Oxford (emeritus)
Robyn Faith Walsh
critical
Gospels as Greco-Roman literature, writers' networks
University of Miami
Nina E. Livesey
critical-minority (Marcion priority)
Paul, Marcion, 2nd-century composition hypotheses
University of Oklahoma (verify)Affiliation unverified
Markus Vinzent
critical-minority (Marcion priority)
Marcion, resurrection, patristics
King's College London; Max Weber Centre Erfurt
Nicolai Sinai
mainstream-critical
Historical-critical Qur'anic studies
University of Oxford
Fred Donner
mainstream-critical
Early Islam, 'Believers' movement hypothesis
University of Chicago
Jodi Magness
mainstream
Archaeology of Qumran, Masada, Galilee synagogues
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Amy-Jill Levine
mainstream
Jewish context of Jesus, parables
Hartford International University; Vanderbilt (emerita)
Daniel Boyarin
mainstream-critical
Talmud, Jewish-Christian partition
University of California, Berkeley
Justin Sledge
scholar-educator
Esotericism, Gnosticism, Jewish mysticism (Esoterica channel)
Independent (PhD philosophy)
Andrew Mark Henry
scholar-educator
Late antique religion, magic, material culture (ReligionForBreakfast)
Independent (PhD Boston University)
Dan McClellan
scholar-educator
Hebrew Bible, divine plurality, data-over-dogma public scholarship
Independent (PhD University of Exeter)
Sebastian Brock
mainstream
Syriac literature and church
University of Oxford (emeritus)
Philip Jenkins
mainstream
Global Christianity, lost churches of Asia and Africa
Baylor University
Kipp Davis
scholar-educator
Dead Sea Scrolls, forgeries
Independent (PhD Manchester)
Jennifer Knust
mainstream-critical
Sexuality in the Bible, textual traditions
Duke University
Lewis Ayres
mainstream-confessional
Nicene theology, Augustine
Durham University
Emran El-Badawi
mainstream-critical
Qur'an and Aramaic gospel traditions
University of Houston
Guillaume Dye
critical
Qur'an composition, early Islam
Université libre de Bruxelles
Patricia Crone
revisionist (d. 2015)
Early Islamic history, Hagarism
Institute for Advanced Study (died 2015)
N. T. Wright
confessional-scholarly
Paul, resurrection
University of Oxford (Wycliffe Hall); formerly St Andrews
Richard Bauckham
confessional-scholarly
Gospels and eyewitnesses, Jesus' family
University of St Andrews (emeritus)
Michael Licona
apologist-scholar
Resurrection historiography
Houston Christian University
Simon Gathercole
confessional-scholarly
Gospel of Thomas, Paul
University of Cambridge
Francesca Stavrakopoulou
mainstream-critical
Hebrew Bible, ancient Israelite religion
University of Exeter
Joel S. Baden
mainstream-critical
Pentateuch, Hebrew Bible
Yale Divinity School
Hugo Méndez
critical
Johannine literature, pseudepigraphy
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Robert R. Cargill
mainstream
Archaeology, Qumran, Biblical Archaeology Review
University of Iowa
Brent Nongbri
mainstream-critical
Papyrology, dating of manuscripts
MF Norwegian School of Theology
James F. McGrath
mainstream-critical
Historical Jesus, Mandaeans, John the Baptist
Butler University
Jack Tannous
mainstream
Syriac Christianity and early Islam
Princeton University
Michael Philip Penn
mainstream
Syriac sources on early Islam
Stanford University
Angelika Neuwirth
mainstream
Qur'an and late antiquity, Corpus Coranicum
Freie Universität Berlin (emerita)
Holger Zellentin
mainstream-critical
Qur'an's legal culture, late antique law
University of Tübingen
Gerd Lüdemann
critical (d. 2021; non-confessional resurrection thesis)
Resurrection as vision experience, earliest Christianity, heresy
University of Göttingen (died 2021)
Hector Avalos
freethought-critical (d. 2021)
Bible criticism, 'end of biblical studies' thesis, religion and violence
Iowa State University (died 2021)
Burton L. Mack
critical (Q/Cynic thesis contested)
Q, Mark as myth-making, social origins
Claremont School of Theology (emeritus)
Robert Eisenman
minority (James/Qumran thesis rejected by most specialists)
James the Just, Dead Sea Scrolls, Paul
California State University, Long Beach (emeritus)
Thomas L. Thompson
minimalist (minority)
Biblical minimalism, Messiah myth
University of Copenhagen (emeritus)
Raphael Lataster
mythicist-agnostic (minority)
Minority view. Most specialists reject mythicism.
Jesus historicity agnosticism, philosophy of religion
University of Sydney (formerly; verify)Affiliation unverified
David Fitzgerald
mythicist-popular (minority; not an academic specialist)
Minority view. Most specialists reject mythicism.
Popular Jesus-myth writing (Nailed)
Independent author
Hal Taussig
critical-progressive (Westar)
Early Christian meals, A New New Testament
Union Theological Seminary (visiting; verify)Affiliation unverified
Jason BeDuhn
critical
Manichaeism, Marcion's Gospel reconstruction, Bible translation
Northern Arizona University
Kyle Harper
mainstream
Late Roman environment, plague, slavery, sexuality
University of Oklahoma
Averil Cameron
mainstream
Late antiquity, Byzantium, Christian discourse
University of Oxford (emerita)
Christoph Markschies
mainstream
Gnosis, ancient Christian institutions, patristics
Humboldt University of Berlin
Judith Lieu
mainstream
Marcion, early Christian identity, Johannine letters
University of Cambridge (emerita)
Kate Cooper
mainstream
Early Christian women, late Roman household
Royal Holloway, University of London
Reza Aslan
popular-writer (contested by specialists)
Zealot Jesus, religion and politics
University of California, Riverside