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Douglas Campbell

Professor of New Testament
Divinity School
03 New Divinity Bldg, Durham, NC

Selected Publications


The future of new testament theology, or, what should devout modern bible scholarship look like?

Journal Article Religions · December 1, 2021 Consideration of the nature of New Testament Theology (NTT) necessitates an account of theology or “God-talk”. Karl Barth grasped that all valid God-talk begins with God’s self-disclosure through Jesus and the Spirit, which people acknowledge and reflect o ... Full text Cite

The Provenance of Philippians: A Response to the Analyses of Michael Flexsenhar, Heike Omerzu, Angela Standhartinger and Cédric Brélaz

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · June 1, 2021 A critical synthesis of the arguments made by Flexsenhar, Omerzu, Standhartinger and Brélaz, concerning the provenance of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, suggests: (1) ‘the whole of the praetorium’ referenced in 1.13 is a group of people working in an of ... Full text Cite

Philippians and Philemon

Chapter · July 2, 2020 Cite

Mass incarceration: Pauline problems and pauline solutions

Journal Article Interpretation (United Kingdom) · July 1, 2018 The growing realization that the United States today is characterized by mass incarceration has begun to influence the interpretation of the Bible. This essay will focus on the influence of Paul’s letters on the court and penal system in the United States, ... Full text Cite

Paul An Apostle's Journey

Book · January 18, 2018 Enter with Campbell into Paul’s world, relive the story of Paul’s action-packed ministry, and follow the development of Paul’s thought throughout both his physical and his spiritual travels. ... Cite

A participationist eschatological account of justification: Further reflections

Journal Article Revue Biblique · January 1, 2018 This essay first affirms Tatum's account of the center of Paul's Gospel interms of participationist eschatology. It then briefly assesses Paul's "justification" motifs in the light of this center, suggesting liberational translations, principally of dikaio ... Full text Cite

Panoramic Lutheranism and apocalyptic ambivalence: An appreciative critique of N. T. Wright's Paul and the Faithfulness of God

Journal Article Scottish Journal of Theology · November 1, 2016 The basic agenda and resulting architecture of N. T. Wright's reconstruction of Paul's theology in Paul and the Faithfulness of God are a dramatic and brilliant break with most previous analyses and an important step forward. But closer analysis suggests t ... Full text Cite

Paul’s Apocalyptic Politics.”

Journal Article Pro Ecclesia · 2013 Cite

Beyond justification in Paul: the thesis of the deliverance of God

Journal Article Scottish Journal of Theology · January 1, 2012 Link to item Cite

Galatians 5.11: Evidence of an Early Law-observant Mission by Paul?

Journal Article New Testament Studies · 2011 Galatians 5.11. refers to Paul 'proclaiming circumcision'-a proposition that he is concerned to refute because he constructs two compact but powerful inferences designed to falsify it. One argues from present persecution, the other from the cross. Followin ... Full text Link to item Cite

The future of new testament theology, or, what should devout modern bible scholarship look like?

Journal Article Religions · December 1, 2021 Consideration of the nature of New Testament Theology (NTT) necessitates an account of theology or “God-talk”. Karl Barth grasped that all valid God-talk begins with God’s self-disclosure through Jesus and the Spirit, which people acknowledge and reflect o ... Full text Cite

The Provenance of Philippians: A Response to the Analyses of Michael Flexsenhar, Heike Omerzu, Angela Standhartinger and Cédric Brélaz

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · June 1, 2021 A critical synthesis of the arguments made by Flexsenhar, Omerzu, Standhartinger and Brélaz, concerning the provenance of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, suggests: (1) ‘the whole of the praetorium’ referenced in 1.13 is a group of people working in an of ... Full text Cite

Philippians and Philemon

Chapter · July 2, 2020 Cite

Mass incarceration: Pauline problems and pauline solutions

Journal Article Interpretation (United Kingdom) · July 1, 2018 The growing realization that the United States today is characterized by mass incarceration has begun to influence the interpretation of the Bible. This essay will focus on the influence of Paul’s letters on the court and penal system in the United States, ... Full text Cite

Paul An Apostle's Journey

Book · January 18, 2018 Enter with Campbell into Paul’s world, relive the story of Paul’s action-packed ministry, and follow the development of Paul’s thought throughout both his physical and his spiritual travels. ... Cite

A participationist eschatological account of justification: Further reflections

Journal Article Revue Biblique · January 1, 2018 This essay first affirms Tatum's account of the center of Paul's Gospel interms of participationist eschatology. It then briefly assesses Paul's "justification" motifs in the light of this center, suggesting liberational translations, principally of dikaio ... Full text Cite

Panoramic Lutheranism and apocalyptic ambivalence: An appreciative critique of N. T. Wright's Paul and the Faithfulness of God

Journal Article Scottish Journal of Theology · November 1, 2016 The basic agenda and resulting architecture of N. T. Wright's reconstruction of Paul's theology in Paul and the Faithfulness of God are a dramatic and brilliant break with most previous analyses and an important step forward. But closer analysis suggests t ... Full text Cite

Paul’s Apocalyptic Politics.”

Journal Article Pro Ecclesia · 2013 Cite

Beyond justification in Paul: the thesis of the deliverance of God

Journal Article Scottish Journal of Theology · January 1, 2012 Link to item Cite

Galatians 5.11: Evidence of an Early Law-observant Mission by Paul?

Journal Article New Testament Studies · 2011 Galatians 5.11. refers to Paul 'proclaiming circumcision'-a proposition that he is concerned to refute because he constructs two compact but powerful inferences designed to falsify it. One argues from present persecution, the other from the cross. Followin ... Full text Link to item Cite

2 Corinthians 4:13: evidence in Paul that Christ believes

Journal Article Journal of Biblical Literature · June 1, 2009 Link to item Cite

Our Mother Saint Paul

Journal Article THEOLOGY TODAY · 2009 Campbell reviews Our Mother Saint Paul by Beverly Roberts Gaventa. ... Link to item Cite

The deliverance of God : an apocalyptic rereading of justification in Paul: an apocalyptic rereading of justification in Paul

Book · 2009 This book breaks a significant impasse in much Pauline interpretation, pushing beyond both " Lutheran" and "New" perspectives on Paul to a non-contractual , "apocalyptic" reading of many of the apostle's most famous, and most troublesome, texts. His strong ... Link to item Cite

An Evangelical Paul.

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · 2006 Cite

The Quest for Paul’s Gospel: A Suggested Strategy

Book · January 1, 2005 Douglas Campbell gives a clear account of why much current description of Paul’s theology, and of his gospel and of his theory of salvation, is so confused. After outlining the difficulties underlying much of the current debate he lays out some basic optio ... Cite

The Quest for Paul's Gospel: Suggested Strategy

Book · January 1, 2005 Douglas Campbell gives a clear account of why much current description of Paul's theology, and of his gospel and of his theory of salvation, is so confused. After outlining the difficulties underlying much of the current debate he lays out some basic optio ... Cite

Jewish law in gentile churches: halakhah and the beginning of Christian public ethics

Journal Article International Journal of Systematic Theology · March 1, 2003 Link to item Cite

Paul and the Stoics: an essay in interpretation

Journal Article International Journal of Systematic Theology · November 1, 2002 Link to item Cite

Paul: the man and the myth

Journal Article International Journal of Systematic Theology · July 1, 2001 Link to item Cite

Paul in Pamphylia (Acts 13.13-14a, 14.24b-26): A Critical Note.

Journal Article New Testament Studies · 2000 Cite

Paul in Pamphylia (Acts 13.13-14a; 14.24b-26): A Critical Note

Journal Article New Testament Studies · 2000 Campbell examines Paul's journey to Pamphylia, as noted in Acts 13.13-14a. He asserts that this passage and Acts 14.24b-26 are deliberately asymmetrical, and it is this that betrays their almost certain accuracy in historical terms. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Natural Theology in Paul? Reading Romans 1.19–20

Journal Article International Journal of Systematic Theology · 1999 This reading of Romans 1.19–20 suggests that, viewed within the argumentative progression of the letter from 1.18–3.20, these verses are properly understood as a subversion of the premises of natural revelation, rather than an endorsement of them. The trad ... Full text Link to item Cite

The ΔΙΑϑΗΚΗ from Durham.

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · 1998 Cite

The Scythian Perspective in Col 3:11 : A Response to Troy Martin.

Journal Article Novum testamentum · January 1, 1997 Link to item Cite

The crisis in masculinity.

Journal Article Stimulus · May 1, 1996 Link to item Cite

The Fractured Witness.

Chapter · 1996 Cite

Unravelling Colossians 3.11b.

Journal Article New Testament Studies · January 1, 1996 Link to item Cite

The Second Epistle to the Corinthians

Journal Article Pacifica · October 1, 1995 Link to item Cite

The theology of Paul's letter to the Galatians

Journal Article Pacifica · October 1, 1995 Link to item Cite

A rhetorical suggestion concerning Romans 2.

Journal Article Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers · January 1, 1995 Link to item Cite

The Atonement in Paul.

Journal Article Anvil · January 1, 1994 Link to item Cite

Commentary on Philippians

Journal Article Stimulus · November 1, 1993 Link to item Cite

"The priesthood of all believers"--a Pauline perspective.

Journal Article Journal of the Christian Brethren Research Fellowship · December 1, 1992 Link to item Cite