BARTON, John 1948-

PERSONAL: Born June 17, 1948, in London, England; son of Bernard Arthur (an accountant) and Gwendolyn Harriet (a homemaker; maiden name, Cruchley) Barton; married Mary Burn (a teacher), July 16, 1973; children: Katherine Rachel. Education: Keble College, Oxford, B.A., M.A., 1973; Merton College, Oxford, D.Phil., 1974; St. Cross College, Oxford, D.Litt., 1988. Religion: Church of England.

ADDRESSES: Home—11 Withington Ct., Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 3QA, England. Office—Oriel College, Oxford University, Oriel Sq., Oxford OX1 4EW, England.

CAREER: Oxford University, Oriel College, Oxford, England, lecturer, 1974-89, reader, 1989-91, professor, 1991—, vicemaster of St. Cross College; writer.

WRITINGS:

Amos's Oracles against the Nations, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 1980.

Reading the Old Testament: Method in Biblical Study, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 1984.

Oracles of God: Perceptions of Ancient Prophecy in Israel after the Exile, Darton, Longman & Todd (London, England), 1986.

People of the Book: The Authority of the Bible in Christianity, S.P.C.K. (London, England), 1988, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 1989.

(Editor) Love Unknown: Meditations on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 1990.

What Is the Bible?, S.P.C.K (London, England), 1991.

(Editor, with Samuel E. Balentine) Language, Theology, and the Bible: Essays in Honour of James Barr, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1994.

(Editor, with David J. Reimer) After the Exile: Essays in Honour of Rex Mason, Mercer University Press (Macon, GA), 1996.

The Spirit and the Letter: Studies in the Biblical Canon, S.P.C.K. (London, England), published as Holy Writings, Sacred Text: The Canon in Early Christianity, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 1998.

How the Bible Came to Be, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 1998.

(Editor) The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 1998.

Ethics and the Old Testament, Trinity Press International (Harrisburg, PA), 1998.

(Editor, with Gerhard Sauter) Revelation and Story: Narrative Theology and the Centrality of Story, Ashgate (Burlington, VT), 2000.

(Editor, with John Muddiman) Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2001.

Joel and Obadiah: A Commentary, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 2001.

The Biblical World, Routledge (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: A respected biblical scholar, John Barton has edited several academic volumes and has written widely on current issues in his field. In The Spirit and the Letter: Studies in the Biblical Canon, he examines the uses of sacred texts in early Christianity, showing how a body of officially approved, or canonical, texts was formed from a larger body of scripture. "There is much food for thought" in the book, wrote Paul R. Noble in Journal of Theological Studies. Though Journal of Religion contributor John J. Collins observed that the author "stops short of answering the questions to which his work gives rise," he praised Barton's precise arguments and readable prose.

Ethics and the Old Testament received laudatory reviews. Walter Brueggemann, in Interpretation, commented that Barton is one of the "foremost contributors" to the discussion of this subject, and commended the book for its "clarity and honesty" in dealing with a complex subject. Ethics and the Old Testament, he concluded, "is a welcome example of how great learning can be articulated in ways that are accessible and helpful."

In The Oxford Bible Commentary, Barton and co-editor John Muddiman asked more than seventy Jewish and Christian scholars from around the world to contribute material on every book in the Bible. America reviewer Daniel J. Harrington called the book a "grand synthesis" of scholarship. In the Times Literary Supplement, Gabriel Josipovici wrote that "There are enough good things in this volume to make it a very superior Commentary indeed," and concluded that its few weaknesses only enhance its appeal as "a very human book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

America, March 6, 1999, review of Ethics and the Old Testament, p. 19; March 11, 2002, Daniel J. Harrington, review of The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 16.

Biblical Theology Bulletin, winter, 1999, review of How the Bible Came to Be, p. 168.

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, January, 1998, Steven L. McKenzie, review of After the Exile: Essays in Honour of Rex Mason, p. 179.

Choice, February, 1999, J. W. Wright, review of The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation, p. 1076.

Interpretation, July, 1998, Walter Brueggemann, review of Ethics and the Old Testament, p. 306; October, 1998, review of How the Bible Came to Be, p. 446; January, 1999, review of The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation, p. 109.

Journal of Biblical Literature, summer, 1995, John J. Collins, review of Language, Theology and the Bible: Essays in Honour of James Barr, p. 364.

Journal of Religion, January, 1992, Susan Ackerman, review of Oracles of God: Perceptions of Ancient Prophecy in Israel after the Exile, p. 92; July, 2000, John J. Collins, review of Holy Writings, Sacred Text: The Canon in Early Christianity, p. 500.

Journal of Theological Studies, April, 1995, Richard Coggins, review of Language, Theology and the Bible, p. 196; April, 1998, Paul R. Noble, review of The Spirit and the Letter: Studies in the Biblical Canon, p. 162; April, 1999, Eryl W. Davies, review of Ethics and the Old Testament, p. 172.

Library Journal, June 15, 2001, Craig W. Beard, review of The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 79.

Publishers Weekly, April 9, 2001, review of The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 72.

Religious Studies Review, October, 1997, review of After the Exile, p. 395; January, 1999, review of Ethics and the Old Testament, p. 69; April, 1999, review of How the Bible Came to Be, p. 187; July, 1999, review of The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation, p. 279.

Scottish Journal of Theology, spring, 1999, William W. Klein, review of Language, Theology and the Bible, p. 245; fall, 2000, Walter Moberly, review of The Spirit and the Letter, p. 528.

Theology, September-October, 1997, Robert P. Carroll, review of The Spirit and the Letter, p. 378; September-October, 1998, Richard Coggins, review of Ethics and the Old Testament, p. 370.

Theology Today, April, 2001, review of Holy Writings, Sacred Text, p. 136.

Times Literary Supplement, February 5, 1999, J. Leslie Houlden, review of The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation, p. 29; December 21, 2001, Gabriel Josipovici, review of The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 5.*