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Faculty of Divinity

 

Biography

Prof. Gathercole's first degree was in Classics and Theology in Cambridge, after which he pursued doctoral research under the supervision of James D.G. Dunn in Durham. He also studied for short periods at the University of Tübingen and the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York. He previously taught in the University of Aberdeen (2000-2007). He was editor of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament for a number of years and is now a co-editor of the journal Early Christianity.

Research Interests:

Dr Gathercole's main academic interest is the interpretation of the New Testament. Having begun as a classicist and also worked in the field of early Judaism, he is particularly fascinated by the connections between the New Testament and the literature contemporaneous with it. His principal theological interests are christology, and the doctrine of the atonement. He is currently writing a book on the way in which canonical and apocryphal Gospels treat the early Christian kerygma.

Dr Gathercole would be particularly interested in supervising doctoral research in Pauline studies, the christology of the Gospels, and extra-canonical Gospels.

Key Recent Publications:

Books

Articles and essays

For a complete list of articles, see academia.edu where the full text of some of the articles is also available.

  • 'The Gospel of Jesus' Wife: Constructing a Context', New Testament Studies 61 (2015), pp. 292-313.
  • ‘The Titles of the Gospels in the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts’, Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 104.1 (2013), pp. 33-76.
  • ‘Deutsche Erwiderungen auf die „New Perspective“: Eine anglophone Sicht’ in J. Frey & B. Schliessler, eds. Die Theologie des Paulus in der Diskussion (Neukirchen: Neukirchener Verlag, 2013), pp. 115-153.
  • Introduction, Translation and Notes, Coptic Fragments of ‘Life of Adam and Eve’, in R.J. Bauckham & J.R. Davila, eds. More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), pp. 22-27.
  • ‘Named Testimonia to the Gospel of Thomas: An Expanded Inventory and Analysis’, Harvard Theological Review 105.1 (2012), pp. 53-89.
  •  ‘Pauline Christology’, in S. Westerholm, ed. The Blackell Companion to Paul (Oxford: Blackwell, 2011), pp. 172-187
  • ‘What Did Paul Really Mean?’, Christianity Today (Aug. 2007), pp. 22-28.

This video-lecture by Dr Gathercole, about the Gospel of Judas, is one of a series made by the Faculty. It aims to illustrate the kind of lecture which will be shown in the undergraduate admissions process.

Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity
Director of Studies in Theology, Fitzwilliam College
Fellow, Fitzwilliam College
New Testament Subject Specialist
Director of Postgraduate Admissions
Professor Simon  Gathercole

Contact Details

Email address: 
01223 763008
Takes PhD students
Not available for consultancy