Hagner, Donald A(lfred) 1936-

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HAGNER, Donald A(lfred) 1936-

PERSONAL: Born July 8, 1936, in Chicago, IL; son of Carl Sture (a baker) and Marie (a clerk; maiden name, Gondek) Hagner; married Beverly Smith (a marriage and family therapist), September 2, 1962. Education: Northwestern University, B.A., 1958; Fuller Theological Seminary, B.D., 1966, Th.M., 1967; Victoria University of Manchester, Ph.D., 1969. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Presbyterian. Hobbies and other interests: Classical music, Swedish language and culture, hiking.

ADDRESSES: Office—Fuller Theological Seminary, 135 N. Oakland Ave., Pasadena, CA 91182. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER: Ordained United Presbyterian minister, 1977; Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, assistant professor, associate professor of biblical studies, 1969-74, Fuller Theological Seminary, professor of New Testament, 1976-93, George Eldon Ladd Professor of New Testament in the School of Theology, 1993—. Visiting professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1970-71. Military service: U.S. Navy, musician with U.S. Navy Band, 1958-62; became petty officer first class.

MEMBER: Society of Biblical Literature, Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical Research, Institute for Biblical Research, Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas.

AWARDS, HONORS: C. Davis Weyerhaeuser Award for Excellence, Fuller Theological Seminary; Golden Award from the Christian Booksellers, for Best Commentary of 1995.

WRITINGS:

The Use of the Old and New Testaments in Clement of Rome, E. J. Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), 1973.

(Editor, with Murray J. Harris) Pauline Studies: Essays Presented to Professor F. F. Bruce on His 70th Birthday, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1980.

Hebrews, Harper & Row (San Francisco, CA), 1983.

The Jewish Reclamation of Jesus: An Analysis and Critique of Modern Jewish Study of Jesus, foreword by Gösta Lindeskog, Academie Books (Grand Rapids, MI), 1984.

(Editor, with Craig A. Evans) Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity: Issues of Polemic and Faith, foreword by James A. Sanders, Fortress Press (Minneapolis, MN), 1993.

(Editor) A Theology of the New Testament, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1993.

(Editor) Martin Hengel and C. K. Barrett, Conflicts and Challenges in Early Christianity, Trinity Press International (Harrisburg, PA), 1999.

New Testament Exegesis and Research: A Guide for Seminarians, Fuller Seminary Bookstore (Pasadena, CA), 1999.

Encountering the Book of Hebrews: An Exposition, Baker Academic (Grand Rapids, MI), 2002.

Contributing editor to Word Biblical Commentary on Matthew, Volume 33a, Matthew 1-13, Nelson Publishing (Nashville, TN) and Word Biblical Commentary on Matthew, Volume 33b, Matthew 14-28, Nelson Publishing (Nashville, TN); The Reliability of Gospel Tradition, by Birger Gerhardsson, Hendrickson Publishers, 2001; and Revisiting Paul's Doctrine of Justification: A Challenge to the New Perspective, by Peter Stuhlmacher, InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 2001. Coeditor of the New International Greek Testament Commentary. Contributor of many articles and book reviews.

SIDELIGHTS: A Presbyterian minister and teacher at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, Donald A. Hagner has written books on biblical history as well as textbooks designed for undergraduate college courses and the lay reader. In his 1984 title, The Jewish Reclamation of Jesus: An Analysis and Critique of Modern Jewish Study of Jesus, Hagner delves into the methods and controversies surrounding the portrayals of Jesus by various Jewish scholars. He treats such topics as the authority Jesus claimed for himself, divorce and dietary laws, the Sabbath, and Jesus' ethical and eschatological teachings. Theology Today reviewer Bruce Chilton commented that Hagner "offers a helpful and accurate portrait of a major movement in modern research."

Other topics of interest to Hagner include the modern Jewish study of Jesus and anti-Semitism in the early Christian Church. Frank J. Matera of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly called Conflicts and Challenges in Early Christianity "an excellent companion volume for upper-level courses." Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity: Issues of Polemic and Faith is a collection of essays by various authors that form a textbook of Christian literature in the apocryphal, patristic, and Gnostic bodies of literature. According to Journal of Ecumenical Studies reviewer Susan Frank, "These studies of controversial writings in their original historical settings instruct with the surprises that close text work always yields."

Hagner's biblical textbooks include works on Hebrews, the Gospel of Matthew, and the Pauline epistles that form part of the New Testament. In Encountering the Book of Hebrews: An Exposition, which is part of the "Encountering Biblical Studies" series, Hagner summarizes the major themes of Hebrews using a "very conservative or evangelical perspective," wrote Library Journal contributor David Bourquin. Calling the book "excellent" in an Interpretation review, James W. Thompson added, "This books serves its purpose well as an undergraduate textbook by presenting current scholarship and alternative interpretations in a form appropriate for its readers."

As Hagner once told CA: "In my writing, I intend to serve Christ and his church. In our increasingly secular world, where life seems to have lost its meaning and where human values are displaced by such things as militarism and the insanity of the nuclear arms race, the Christian message needs to be heard anew. But this must be more than a simple repeating of the old formulas. Christianity must come to grips with the results of modern scholarship."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, July, 1995, Robert F. O'Toole, review of Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity: Issues of Polemic and Faith, pp. 620-621; July, 2000, Frank J. Matera, review of Conflicts and Challenges in Early Christianity, pp. 586-587.

Currents in Theology and Mission, June, 2003, Edgar Krentz, review of Encountering the Book of Hebrews: An Exposition, p. 226.

Interpretation, July, 2003, James W. Thompson, review of Encountering the Book of Hebrews, p. 330.

Journal of Ecumenical Studies, winter, 1995, Susan Frank, review of Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity, p. 140.

Journal of Theological Studies, April, 1996, Peter Head, review of Word Biblical Commentary on Matthew, Volume 33a, Matthew 1-13, pp. 209-211; April, 2001, Peter M. Head, review of Word Biblical Commentary on Matthew, Volume 33b, Matthew 14-28, pp. 230-231.

Library Journal, November 15, 2002, David Bourquin, review of Encountering the Book of Hebrews, p. 76.

Religious Studies Review, October, 1997, reviews of Word Biblical Commentary on Matthew, Volume 33a, Matthew 1-13, and Word Biblical Commentary on Matthew, Volume 33b, Matthew 14-28, p. 406.

Theology Today, April, 1987, Bruce Chilton, review of The Jewish Reclamation of Jesus: An Analysis and Critique of Modern Jewish Study of Jesus, pp. 155-156.