From 2014 to 2019, Keener was the editor of the Bulletin for Biblical Research.[5] He has authored a number of commentaries on New Testament books as well as books and articles.[6] His popular IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (1993) has sold over half a million copies.[2]
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.[6] Keener has an Arminian[10] theological standpoint on soteriology, supporting conditional preservation of the believer.[11] Keener holds egalitarian,[12] and continuationist views.[13]
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. [14]Richard Burridge, who was one of the key scholars who initially demonstrated that the Gospels were ancient biography, [15] praised Keener's volume as well. [16]
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.[2]
Personal life
He is married to Médine Moussounga Keener, who holds a Ph.D. from University of Paris 7.[2] He and his wife have two children, David and Keren.[7]
——— (1994). The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN978-0-830-81405-3. OCLC29313370.
——— (1997). The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts: divine purity and power. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson. ISBN9781565631694. OCLC1124144441. - based on the author's Ph.D. thesis
——— (1997). Matthew. IVP New Testament commentary series. Vol. 1. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN978-0-830-81801-3. OCLC35723512.
——— (2003). "Some New Testament Invitations to Ethnic Reconciliation". Evangelical Quarterly. 75 (3): 195–213. doi:10.1163/27725472-07503001.
——— (2003). "Spirit, Holy Spirit, Advocate, Breath, Wind". In Evans, Craig A.; Gowan, Donald E. (eds.). Westminster Theological Wordbook of the Bible. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press. pp. 484–96.
——— (2009). "We Beheld his Glory (Jn 1:14)". In Anderson, Paul N.; Just, Felix; Thatcher, Tom (eds.). Aspects of Historicity in the Fourth Gospel Vol. 2 of John, Jesus and History. SBL Early Christianity and Its Literature 2. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature. pp. 15–25.
——— (2010). "The Nativity Cave and Gentile Myths". Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism. 7: 59–67.
——— (2010). "The Pillars and the Right Hand of Fellowship in Galatians 2:9". Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism. 7: 51–58.
——— (2013). "John, Gospel of". In Green, Joel B.; Brown, Jeannine K.; Perrin, Nicholas (eds.). Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (2nd ed.). Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. pp. 419–36.
——— (2013). "Youthful Vigor and the Maturity of Age: Peter and the Beloved Disciple in John 20—21". In Chrupcala, L. Daniel (ed.). John: Essays on the Fourth Gospel in Honour of Frédéric Manns. Milan: Rdizioni Terra Santa. pp. 559–75.
——— (2014). "Luke-Acts and the Historical Jesus". In Charlesworth, James; Rhea, Brian; Pokorny, Petr (eds.). Jesus Research: New Methodologies and Perceptions. The Second Princeton-Prague Symposium on Jesus Research. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. pp. 600–623.
——— (2014). "Miracle Reports: Perspectives, Analogies, Explanations". In Charlesworth, James; Rhea, Brian (eds.). Hermeneutik der frühchristlichen Wundererzählungen: Historiche, literarische und rezeptionsästhetische Aspekte. WUNT. Vol. 339. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 53–65.
——— (2015). "Miracles". In Balentine, Samuel E. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Bible and Theology. Vol. 2. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 101–7.
——— (2016). "Paul's Positive Madness in Acts 26:24-25". In Lang, Manfred; Verheyden, Joseph (eds.). Goldene Anfänge und Aufbrüche: Johann Jakob Wettstein und die Apostelgeschichte. Arbeiten zur Bibel und Ihrer Geschichte. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. pp. 311–20.
——— (2016). "'What Is Truth?': Pilate's Perspective on Jesus in John 18:33-38". In Anderson, Paul N.; Just, Felix; Thatcher, Tom (eds.). Glimpses of Jesus through the Johannine Lens, Vol. 3 of John, Jesus and History. SBL Early Christianity and Its Literature 18. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press. pp. 77–94.
^TBT 1991. "C. _ Craig Keener will be ordained to the ministry of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. here Sept. 1, representing the culmination of the white scholar's identification with the black church."
^Graham Stanton in the Foreword to the 2nd ed of What are the Gospels? Eerdmans (2004)
^Burridge, Richard (2019). "Craig S. Keener, Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2019) (Review)". Sage: 213–215. doi:10.1177/0040571X20910716b.
Marberry, Thomas (1998). ""Matthew" in the IVP New Testament Commentary Series By Craig S. Keener". Contact: Official Publication of the National Association of Free Will Baptists. Vol. 45. The Association.
Oliverio, L. William (2022). Pentecostal Hermeneutics in the Late Modern World: Essays on the Condition of Our Interpretation. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers.