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Gary Burge, Ph.D.Professor of New Testament Emeritus
On Faculty since 1992, Retired in 2017
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Gary studied at the University of California, Riverside; the American University of Beirut, Lebanon; Fuller Theological Seminary; and at King’s College, Aberdeen University, Scotland, where he earned a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies under I. Howard Marshall. He joined the faculty of Wheaton College in 1992 after five years teaching at North Park University in Chicago. His interests are in the gospels and in particular the Gospel of John where he has published a number of books and articles. He is well-known for his textbook, written with Dr. Gene Green, The New Testament in Antiquity and his widely-used commentary on the Gospel of John. He is an active member of the Society for New Testament Studies (SNTS) and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). He also writes and speaks on Israel, Palestine and the theological use of the Bible in this conflict today. His books Whose Land? Whose Promise? and Jesus and the Land are widely read and translated. For more on Gary’s work, see his website: www.garyburge.org.
Gary writes, "When Lebanon's tragic civil war broke out in the mid 1970s, I was a student at the American University of Beirut studying international politics and Islam. I never realized what an indelible mark this year would put on me as this dangerous and violent national tragedy unfolded. Since the university witnessed sporadic closures, I began studying at Beirut’s Near East School of Theology (an Arab-Armenian seminary) and there for the first time was exposed to the technical study of the New Testament (under Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey). It seemed that from here my life found its twin navigational markers: the New Testament and the world of the Middle East."
"My goal as a speaker, teacher and scholar is to help us realize how knowing the unique world of the Middle East and ancient Judaism can shape how we read the Bible today. This is particularly true of the gospels. Jesus' cultural reflexes were different than ours and unless we understand him in his world, we risk misrepresenting his story. In addition, knowing the context of the Middle East (and its churches) will also transform our understanding of modern issues that persist in that part of the world.”
In 2017 Gary retired from Wheaton and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. That same year Calvin Theological Seminary enlisted his efforts and he joined their faculty in a limited role for two years. From 2019-2022 he served as Calvin Seminary’s academic dean. Today he works with ThM and PhD students in New Testament at Calvin.
Ph.D., New Testament
King's College, The University of Aberdeen, Scotland, 1983
M.Div., Theological Studies
Fuller Theological Seminary, 1978
B.A., Political Science
University of California, Riverside, 1974
1992-2017