Craig S. Keener
Keener (born July 4, 1960) is an American Bapticostal theologian, Biblical scholar and professor of the New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Craig S. Keener
- Name
- Craig S.
- Born
- 4 July 1960
- Spouse
- Médine Moussounga Keener
- Education
- Central Bible College (BA) Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (MA, MDiv) Duke University (PhD)
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- editor · writer · theologian
- Languages
- English
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
wikidata · Q5181408 · wikipedia · Craig S. Keener
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Craig S. Keener • Born — 4 July 1960 • Title — F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary • Spouse — Médine Moussounga Keener • Education — Central Bible College (BA) Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (MA, MDiv) Duke University (PhD) • Thesis Year — 1991 • Doctoral Advisor — D. Moody Smith • Workplaces — Palmer Theological Seminary Asbury Theological Seminary • Notable Works — Acts: An Exegetical Commentary (in four volumes)(2012-2015) • Website — https: www.craigkeener.com/
Early life and education
Early life and education
Keener was born on 4 July 1960. He studied at Central Bible College (now part of Evangel University) and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1982. He then studied theology at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (now also part of Evangel University), earning a Master's degree in 1982 and a Master of Divinity in 1987. He earned his Ph.D. in 1991 from Duke University in New Testament and Christian origins.
Career
Career
In 1991 he was ordained as a minister by the National Baptist Convention, USA. In 2001 he became an associate pastor at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia until 2011. Keener became a professor at Hood Theological Seminary, then professor of New Testament at Palmer Theological Seminary at Eastern University for nearly 15 years. Since 2011, Keener has been (F. M. and Ada Thompson) professor of the New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Keener has taught in various countries, especially countries in Africa. From 2014 to 2019, Keener was the editor of the Bulletin for Biblical Research. He has authored a number of commentaries on New Testament books as well as books and articles. His popular IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (1993) has sold over half a million copies. In 2020, he served as the president of the Evangelical Theological Society.
Personal life
Personal life
He is married to Médine Moussounga Keener, who holds a Ph.D. from University of Paris 7. He and his wife have two children, David and Keren.
Articles and chapters
Articles and chapters
(n.b. partial list) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1960
Craig S. Keener was born on 1 January 1960.
Books
* * * • - based on the author's Ph.D. thesis * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Craig S. Keener”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q5181408: Craig S. Keener
General reference · Wikidata
Awards
The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, for which Keener authored most of the New Testament notes, won Bible of the Year in the 2017 Christian Book Awards, and also won Book of the Year in the Religion: Christianity category of the International Book Awards.
Scholarly expertise and views
Keener's expertise lies in New Testament background, the book of Acts, Jesus, miracles, the Gospels and ethnic/racial reconciliation. Bruce Chilton lauded Keener's 2009 book The Historical Jesus of the Gospels, writing that it "marks a notable moment in the critical study of Jesus." He based this claim on the fact that Keener uses the study of Jesus' Jewish environment to argue for the authenticity of the Gospels. Keener has an Arminian theological standpoint on soteriology, supporting conditional preservation of the believer. Keener holds egalitarian and continuationist views. Keener's book Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels argues that the Gospels should be considered ancient biography and analyzes their historical value in that light. Keener also interacts with the oral traditions behind the Gospels and memory theory. His work has been endorsed by Richard Bauckham, Markus Bockmuehl, James Charlesworth, and David Aune, among others. Richard Burridge, who was one of the key scholars who initially demonstrated that the Gospels were ancient biography, praised Keener's volume as well.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Craig S. Keener, revision 1362548411 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Keener, Craig. Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels. Eerdmans. 2019. 978-0802876751.
- 2.Graham Stanton in the Foreword to the 2nd ed of What are the Gospels? Eerdmans (2004)
- 3.Burridge, Richard. Craig S. Keener, Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels. Theology. 123. 3. 213–215. 2019. 10.1177/0040571X20910716b.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 13
- AS. Craig S. Keener's Asbury faculty page. Asbury Theological Seminary. 2020.
- Chilton, Bruce. The Historical Jesus of the Gospels. Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 73. 393–394. 2011.
- Doriani, Daniel M. Four Views on Moving beyond the Bible to Theology. Zondervan Academic. 2009.
- ETS. Craig S. Keener, Past President 2020. The Evangelical Theological Society. 2021.
- Hauerwas, Stanley. The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics. John Wiley & Sons. 2011.
- Hardman, Randall. Craig Keener. Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. American Theological Inquiry. 5. 2. 2012.
- Keener, Craig S. About Craig Keener. Bible Background. 2024.
- LC. Keener, Craig S., 1960-. Library of Congress. 2019.
- Marberry, Thomas. Contact: Official Publication of the National Association of Free Will Baptists. The Association. 45. 1998.
- Oliverio, L. William. Pentecostal Hermeneutics in the Late Modern World: Essays on the Condition of Our Interpretation. Wipf and Stock Publishers. 2022.
- Stovell, Beth M. A Short History of IBR. Institute for Biblical Research. 2020.
- TBT. White scholar to join black church. Tampa Bay Times. Times Publishing Company. 1991.
- Wilkin, Bob. Leading Evangelical Craig Keener Says Arminians and Calvinists Question Once-Saved-Always-Saved As It Is Commonly Taught. Grace Evangelical Society. 2019.
References
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References
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reference work
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General reference
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
The identifiers under which Craig S. Keener may be traced in institutional catalogues. Activity and practice. Keener is recorded as having studied at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Central Bible College and Duke University.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
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