Biography: James R. Edwards

Jim Edwards, a Colorado native, is a graduate of Whitworth (1967), Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div., 1970), University of Zürich (1971), and Fuller Theological Seminary (Ph.D., 1978). He chaired the department of religion and philosophy at North Dakota's Jamestown College (1978-97), and in 1997 joined the faculty at Whitworth, where he is currently the Bruner-Welch Professor of Theology. His sabbatical studies include Tübingen, Germany (1988), Tyndale House, Cambridge, England (2000), and the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton (2007).

Edwards, an ordained Presbyterian minister, served as min­ister of students at the First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs (1971-78). He has been a short-term translation consultant for Wycliffe Bible Translators in Colom­bia, active in church visitations to the former East Germany, and a frequent visitor of archaeological sites in Turkey and Israel. He has published numerous articles in scholarly and popular journals, publishes the quarterly Edwards Epistle, is a contributing editor of Christianity Today, and has authored three New Testament commentaries for Community Bible Study. His published books include Romans (Baker Books, 1992), The Divine Intruder, NavPress, 2000), The Gospel According to Mark (Eerdmans, 2002), Is Jesus the Only Savior? (Eerdmans, 2005 [received Christianity Today's Book of the Year award in 2006 for apologetics and evangelism]); and The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition (Eerdmans, 2009). He is currently writing a commentary on the Gospel of Luke for Eerdmans Pillar New Testament Commentary series.

Edwards' wife, Janie, also a graduate of Whitworth, teaches dance there. The Edwardses are active at Whitworth Community Presbyterian Church, she in children's and women's ministries and he teaching an adult Bible class. They have two grown children and five grandchildren. In 2003 Jim and his son Mark climbed the Mittellegi Ridge of the Eiger, in Switzerland.