Bock, Darrell L. 1953- (Darrell Lane Bock)

PERSONAL:

Born December 8, 1953, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; married; wife's name Sally; children: Elisa, Lara, Stephen. Education: Texas University, B.A., 1975; Dallas Theological Seminary, Th.M., 1979; Aberdeen University, Ph.D., 1983; post-doctoral study at University of Tübingen.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Richardson, TX. Office—Dallas Theological Seminary, 3909 Swiss Ave., Dallas, TX 75204. E-mail—dbockdts@aol.com.

CAREER:

Writer, religious studies scholar. Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, TX, research professor of New Testament Studies, and professor of spiritual development and culture at the Center for Christian Leadership. Visiting professor at Seminario Teologico Centroamericano, Guatemala City, Guatemala, 1994; visiting professor at Seminario Centro Americano, 1998; adjunct professor of the New Testament at Southern Theological Seminary, 1998, and Talbot Theological Seminary, 1999-2003. Visiting lecturer, including Evangelical Biblical Seminar Lecturer, Osaka, Japan, 1998. Consultant to search ministries, 1997. Frequent media guest on NBC, ABC, CNN, and NPR. Chosen People Ministries, board member; Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, editorial board member.

MEMBER:

Studiorum Novi Testament Studies, Institute of Biblical Research (treasurer), American College of Biblical Theologians, Society of Biblical Literature, Institute of Biblical Research, Evangelical Theological Society (president, 2000), Tyndale Society.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Teaching award, 1987; Alexander Hamilton scholar, 1995-96; David Edwards award for faculty excellence, 1999.

WRITINGS:

(With others; and editor, with Craig A. Blaising) Dispensationalism, Israel, and the Church: The Search for Definition, Zondervan Publishing House (Grand Rapids, MI), 1992.

(With Craig A. Blaising) Progressive Dispensationalism, BridgePoint (Wheaton, IL), 1993.

Luke ("IVP New Testament Commentary" series), Inter-Varsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 1994.

Luke (two volumes; "Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament" series), Baker Books (Grand Rapids, MI), 1994-96.

Luke: The NIV Application Commentary from Biblical Text—To Contemporary Life, Zondervan Publishing House (Grand Rapids, MI), 1996.

Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus: A Philological-Historical Study of the Key Jewish Themes Impacting Mark 14:61-64, Mohr Siebeck (Tübingen, Germany), 1998, published as Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism: The Charge against Jesus in Mark 14:53-65 ("Biblical Studies Library" series), Baker Books (Grand Rapids, MI), 2000.

(Editor, with others) Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond, Zondervan (Grand Rapids, MI), 1999.

(Editor) The Bible Knowledge Key Word Study: The Gospels ("Bible Knowledge" series), Victor (Colorado Springs, CO), 2002.

Jesus According to Scripture: Restoring the Portrait from the Gospels, Baker Academic (Grand Rapids, MI), 2002.

Purpose-directed Theology: Getting Our Priorities Right in Evangelical Controversies, InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 2002.

Studying the Historical Jesus: A Guide to Sources and Methods, Baker Academic (Grand Rapids, MI), 2002.

Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyone's Asking, Thomas Nelson (Nashville, TN), 2004.

(Editor, with Gregory J. Herrick) Jesus in Context: Background Readings for Gospel Study, Baker Academic (Grand Rapids, MI), 2005.

Interpreting the New Testament Text: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis, Crossway Books (Wheaton, IL), 2006.

The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth behind Alternative Christianities, Nelson Books (Nashville, TN), 2006.

Acts, Baker Academic (Grand Rapids, MI), 2007.

Can I Trust the Bible?, InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 2007.

(With Daniel B. Wallace) Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture's Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ, Thomas Nelson (Nashville, TN), 2007.

Consulting editor to books, including (with Eugene H. Merrill) Roy B. Zuck, editor, A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, Moody Press (Chicago, IL), 1991; and Roy B. Zuck, editor, A Biblical Theology of the New Testament, Moody Press, 1994. Christianity Today, corresponding editor; Bulletin for Biblical Research, member of editorial advisory board; contributor to journals, including Southwestern Journal of Theology, Bibliotheca Sacra, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, and Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, and to works by others. Contributor to online journals, including BeliefNet and Bible.org. Author of blog, Darrell Bock's Blog.

SIDELIGHTS:

Darrell L. Bock is a religious studies scholar whose particular fields of interest include hermeneutics, the use of the Old Testament in the New, Luke-Acts, the historical Jesus, and gospel studies. He is the author and editor of a number of volumes, including, with Craig A. Blaising, Progressive Dispensationalism. Christianity Today reviewer Walter A. Elwell wrote that "those who thought that dispensationalism was a monolithic system should begin with [the] chapter ‘The Extent and Varieties of Dispensationalism,’ where three major stages of dispensationalist thinking, along with several subvarieties, are carefully traced: from classical through revised to progressive." Elwell noted that the new dispensationalism is moving toward being more in line with mainstream evangelicalism and takes the approach that evangelicals have more in common than they have differences. He also noted that the focus is now less on historical salvation and more on Christology.

Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus: A Philological-Historical Study of the Key Jewish Themes Impacting Mark 14:61-64 is a four-part study, the first of which contains Bock's review of how the charge of blasphemy was leveled against Jesus, a charge that led to his death. He reviews twentieth-century scholarly literature and particularly discussions of whether blasphemy can be committed without pronouncing the Divine Name. In the second part, Bock studies blasphemy in Judaism, from the Hebrew scriptures through the rabbinic materials, including both the Talmud and the Midrashim.

"This investigation allows him to conclude that the scope of blasphemy is broader than one might expect," wrote Frank J. Matera in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, "that it includes actions such as arrogant disrespect toward God and insulting God's chosen leaders. Limiting blasphemy to uttering the Divine Name, then, misrepresents how it was understood in the life and culture of Judaism."

Bock next studies the portrayal of human and heavenly figures by Judaism and notes the number of different ways they were exalted by God. Finally, he looks at the charge of blasphemy in Mark's gospel. Matera concluded by noting Bock's contributions on this subject, first that he has shown that blasphemy is not restricted to saying the Divine Name. "Second, he has correctly related the charge of blasphemy to Jesus' claim that he will be exalted at God's right hand."

Studying the Historical Jesus: A Guide to Sources and Methods was reviewed by Mark Allan Powell in Interpretation. Powell noted that the book is geared toward conservative Christian students, and that it explains the process of the historical-critical method, including source, form, and redaction. Bock feels that these methods are sometimes misused by skeptical scholars but are nevertheless useful. Powell wrote that "Bock's respect for biblical authority begs many of the questions that most historical Jesus scholars want to engage," but he felt that the book is a good introduction for those who do not wish to argue with Christian tradition.

Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyone's Asking is Bock's response to Dan Brown, author of the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novel suggests that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had children with her. It also purports that the early Church hid the fact that Christ's "family" fled to France in order to protect his claim of divinity, and that Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci uncovered a Vatican plot to conceal these facts and represented them in his painting The Last Supper. As quoted in the National Review Book Service Web site, Bock calls his book an "effort to clarify the difference between virtual reality and historical likelihood…. I hope clearly to distinguish between fictitious entertainment and historical elements of the Christian faith…. Each chapter will probe what we know, how we know it, and what we have to think about together. We will review ancient texts, for they unlock much of the history that The Da Vinci Code attempts to portray." Bock's book reached the New York Times best-seller list for nonfiction in 2004.

Working with Gregory J. Herrick, Bock edited the 2005 work, Jesus in Context: Background Readings for Gospel Study, "a wonderfully concise and affordable volume, a cache of primarily Jewish but also Greco-Roman and early Christian texts," according to Michael Schufer, writing on the Review of Biblical Literature Web site. Schufer went on to explain: "These source texts provide what these editors feel are glimpses of first-century Jewish customs relevant for background study of Jesus in the Gospels." Schufer also pointed out that the texts lean heavily toward the early Jewish writings rather than Greco-Roman.

With his 2006 title, The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth behind Alternative Christianities, Bock takes on another aspect of Dan Brown's fictional best seller. In The Da Vinci Code, Brown argues, as a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted, "that the emergence of Christian orthodoxy was based not on its merit but on the politics of the winning side." Bock challenges this assertion, attempting to demonstrate rather that if any orthodoxy actually came forward in the early years of Christianity, it was one that came from the teachings of Christ and the apostles. He also argues against rewriting the history of the church because of discoveries in archaeology or the translation of texts, and also repudiates the use of Gnostic teachings in such reevaluations. The Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that Bock produced a "lively and readable survey of competing beliefs in Christianity's earliest days."

Working with Daniel B. Wallace, Bock argues against further reevaluations and reinterpretations of Christianity in Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture's Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ. Here he and Wallace attempt to debunk a modern trend that would make Jesus merely a historical figure, a "wise and revered leader rather than as the Christ of Christianity," a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted. The authors focus on six claims by writers such as James Tabor and Elaine Pagels, among others, who contend, for example, that Christ was mainly a political figure, or that the New Testament manuscripts do not present the true teachings of Christ. The Publishers Weekly reviewer went on to term Dethroning Jesus "a concise and well-researched evangelical Christian response to numerous popular theories."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, January, 2000, Frank J. Matera, review of Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus: A Philological-Historical Study of the Key Jewish Themes Impacting Mark 14:61-64, p. 137.

Christianity Today, September 12, 1994, Walter A. Elwell, review of Progressive Dispensationalism, p. 28.

First Things, August-September, 2004, Jeff McAlister, review of Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyone's Asking, p. 80.

Interpretation, July, 2003, Mark Allan Powell, review of Studying the Historical Jesus: A Guide to Sources and Methods, p. 326.

Publishers Weekly, June 12, 2006, review of The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth behind Alternative Christianities, p. 48; September 10, 2007, review of Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture's Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ, p. 55.

Shofar, April 30, 2000, review of Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus, p. 204.

ONLINE

Dallas Theological Seminary Web site,http://www.dts.edu/ (November 7, 2007), "Darrell L. Bock."

Darrell Bock Home Page,http://web.mac.com/darrellbock (November 7, 2007).

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Web site,http://www.gcts.edu/ (November 7, 2007), "Dr. Darrell Bock, Visiting Professor."

National Review Book Service,http://www.nrbookservice.com/ (July 7, 2004), review of Breaking the Da Vinci Code.

Nelson Ministry Services,http://www.nelsonministryservices.com/ (November 7, 2007), "Darrell L. Bock, PhD."

Review of Biblical Literature,http://www.bookreviews.org/ (November 7, 2007), Michael Schufer, review of Jesus in Context: Background Readings for Gospel Study.

Washingtonpost.com,http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (May 18, 2006), "Debunking Da Vinci; Cracking the Code."