Dale Allison

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Dale C. Allison Jr. (born November 25, 1955)^[1] is a historian whose areas of expertise include the historical Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew, Second Temple Jewish literature, and the history of the interpretation and reception of the Bible. Allison is the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary (2013- ). He was previously the Erret M. Grable Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (1997-2013). From 2001-2014, he was an editor for the multi-volume Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception.

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Dale Allison was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas. He attended Wichita State University as an undergraduate. He graduated summa cum laude with honors with majors in both philosophy and religion. He subsequently received both an MA and PhD in religion from Duke University, where he studied with W. D. Davies. Before taking his post in Pittsburgh, he was a research associate at Texas Christian University, a research scholar at Saint Paul School of Theology, and a research fellow at Friends University. He has further served as the Alexander Robertson Lecturer at the University of Glasgow (1996), the Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor at McMaster University (2003), Extraordinary Professor and Research Collaborator at North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa (2014–2017), and Visiting Griset Chair in Bible and Christian Tradition at Chapman University (2019). Allison has delivered the Kenneth W. Clark Lectures at Duke Divinity School (2008), the Stone Lectures at Princeton Seminary (2014), and the Kent Shaffer Lectures at Yale Divinity School (2023). He is married and has three adult children.

Allison has been called "North America's most complete New Testament scholar" (Scot McKnight) as well as "the premier Matthew specialist of his generation in the United States" (Benedict Viviano).[1] His three-volume commentary on the First Gospel (1988–97), co-authored with W. D. Davies, has been characterized as likely representing "the single most influential commentary on Matthew since the time of the church fathers" (Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner).[2] The commentary consistently interprets Matthew within a Jewish framework. That approach was continued in his monograph, The New Moses: A Matthean Typology (1993), which explored Matthew's Moses typology through comparison with other Moses typologies in antiquity. His later work, Studies in Matthew (2005), argued at length that various themes and critical issues in Matthew are much illuminated by serious engagement with the history of reception. He also sought to blur the lines between present scholarship and earlier work—ancient, medieval, theological, and popular—in his International Critical Commentary on James (2013). That commentary is further noteworthy for its controversial thesis that James does not address believers in Jesus alone but has in view Jews more broadly, some believers in Jesus, some not.

His first book on Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet (1998), offered criticism of prominent members of the Jesus Seminar, presented a thoroughly eschatological Jesus in the tradition of Albert Schweitzer, highlighted cross-cultural millenarian parallels, and emphasized ascetical elements in the tradition. The book generated replies from prominent members of the Jesus Seminar—John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, and Stephen Patterson. These replies appeared, along with Allison’s responses, in Jesus: The Apocalyptic Jesus: A Debate, edited by Robert J. Miller (2001).

Allison returned to the subject of eschatology in Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History (2010), which the Biblical Archaeological Society selected as "Best Book Relating to the New Testament" for 2009-2010. But the volume has become best known for its arguments about memory and method. While some have thought Allison too skeptical about human memory, many have thought him right about the problems with the traditional criteria of authenticity and about the need to explore alternative methods. The book is significant for its contention that "we should hold a funeral for the view that Jesus entertained no exalted thoughts about himself."[3]

Allison has contributed to the discussion regarding the origin of belief in Jesus’ resurrection. In Resurrecting Jesus (2005), he emphasized the equivocal nature of the evidence and explored at length many issues surrounding the nature of visions. Later, in The Resurrection of Jesus (2021), he expanded on these topics, responded to critics, and argued for the relevance of adding comparative materials such as Buddhist traditions about the Rainbow body. His main historical conclusions are, in his words, "within the broader context of critical study of the New Testament quite conservative" and "indeed border on the embarrassingly antediluvian":

Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, buried Jesus, perhaps in a family tomb. Shortly thereafter, some of Jesus' female followers found the entrance to that tomb open, his body gone. After that, likely quite soon after that, at least one of them, Mary Magdalene, had a vision of Jesus. Sometime later, in Galilee, Peter, probably aware of the story of the empty tomb as well as of Mary's encounter and presumably her interpretation of it, also believed that he had met Jesus. Not long after that, the apostle and his companions returned to Jerusalem, where they began to proclaim that God had raised Jesus from the dead. By that time, additional members of the twelve had become convinced that they, too, had seen their lord, whether in Galilee and/or Jerusalem.[4]

In addition to his exegetical works on Matthew and James, Allison has written commentaries on two Greek Jewish Pseudepigrapha, the Testament of Abraham (2003) and 4 Baruch (2019). He regards both as originally Jewish compositions but argues that they have been altered more by later Christian hands than most scholars have thought.

Allison has written several books aimed at readers outside the academic guild. The Sermon on the Mount (1999) seeks to clarify the ethical teaching attributed to Jesus in Matthew 5-7. The Luminous Dusk (2006) is a Pascalian exploration of the sources of spiritual experience and how they have been affected by recent cultural and technological changes. The Love There That’s Sleeping (2006) surveys the musical corpus of George Harrison in the light of his biography and religious convictions. The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (2009) presents Allison’s reflections on the theological meaning of the modern quest for the historical Jesus. Night Comes (2016) is a series of meditations on death and what might lie beyond. Encountering Mystery (2022) is a survey and interpretation of religious experiences in the contemporary world.

The relationship between Allison's personal religious experiences and his scholarship is discussed by Jeffrey Kripal in The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities (2023).

Allison’s writings have been translated into multiple languages.

● Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2022).

● The Resurrection of Jesus: Apologetics, Criticism, History (London: T. & T. Clark, 2021).

● 4 Baruch (Paraleipomena Jeremiou), Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019).

● Night Comes: Death, Imagination, and the Last Things (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016).

● A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle of James, International Critical Commentary (London/New York: Bloomsberry T. & T. Clark International, 2013).

● Editor, with Hans-Josef Klauck et al., Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, vols. 1-12 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2009-2016).

● Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010).

● The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009).

● The Love There That's Sleeping: The Art and Spirituality of George Harrison (London/New York: Continuum, 2006).

● The Luminous Dusk (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006).

● Editor, with Amy-Jill Levine and John Dominic Crossan, of The Historical Jesus in Context (Princeton Readings in Religion; Oxford/Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006).

● Studies in Matthew: Interpretation Past and Present (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005).

● Resurrecting Jesus: The Earliest Christian Tradition and Its Interpreters (London/New York: T. & T. Clark International, 2005).

● Matthew: A Shorter Commentary (London/New York: T. & T. Clark Intl., 2005).

● The Testament of Abraham, Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2003).

● The Intertextual Jesus: Scripture in Q (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press Intl., 2000).

● Scriptural Allusions in the New Testament: Light from the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins Library 5 (North Richland Hills, TX: BIBAL Press, 2000).

● The Sermon on the Mount: Inspiring the Moral Imagination, Crossroad Companions to the New Testament (New York: Crossroad, 1999).

● Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1998).

● The Jesus Tradition in Q (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1997).

● with W. D. Davies, An Exegetical and Critical Commentary on the Gospel according to St. Matthew, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1997), vol. 3 (on chapters 19-28).

● The Silence of Angels (Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, 1995).

● The New Moses: A Matthean Typology (Philadelphia and Edinburgh: Fortress and T & T. Clark, 1993).

● with W. D. Davies, An Exegetical and Critical Commentary on the Gospel according to St. Matthew, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark), vol. 2 (on chapters 8-18, 1991).

● with W. D. Davies, An Exegetical and Critical Commentary on the Gospel according to St. Matthew, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1988), vol. l (on chapters 1-7).

● The End of the Ages has Come: An Early Interpretation of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985).

[1] Dale C. Allison, Jr., The Resurrection of Jesus: Apologetics, Criticism, History (London: T. & T. Clark, 2021), 5.

[2] Dale C. Allison, Jr., Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2022), 46.

[3] Dale C. Allison, Jr., The Luminous Dusk (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006), 173.

[4] Dale C. Allison, Jr., Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1998), 5.

[1] Dale C. Allison, Jr., Studies in Matthew: Interpretation Past and Present (Baker Academic, 2005), cover of book.

[2] Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner, editors, Matthew within Judaism (Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2020), 11.

[3] Dale C. Allison, Jr., Constructing Jesus: Memory, History, and Imagination (Baker Academic, 2010), 304.

[4] Dale C. Allison, Jr., The Resurrection of Jesus: Apologetics, Polemics, History (London: T. & T. Clark, 2021), 336.

In 2008, Allison delivered the Kenneth W. Clark Lectures at Duke Divinity School.^[2] In 2023, Allison delivered the Kent Shaffer Lectures at Yale Divinity School.^[3]

• Princeton Theological Seminary - Dale Allison