William D. Davies (1911-2001), scholar

William D. Davies (1911-2001) was a New Testament scholar. Born in Carmarthenshire, Wales, Davies earned degrees from the University of Wales (B.D. 1938) and Cambridge (M.A. 1942). He was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Wales (D.D. 1948). A Welsh congregationalist minister, Davies was ordained to the ministry in 1941 and served several parishes in Cambridgeshire until 1946. Davies emphasized the rabbinic background of the New Testament writings in his scholarship. He studied at Cambridge with C. H. Dodd and David Daube; Daube especially influenced Davies to seriously consider the rabbinic background of the New Testament. Davies served as Professor of New Testament Studies at Yorkshire United College in Bradford, Yorkshire (1946-1950), Professor of Biblical Theology at Duke University (1950-1955; 1966-1981), and Professor of Religion at Princeton (1955-1959). While Professor of Biblical Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Louis Finkelstein (Pharisaism) and Saul Lieberman (Hellenism in Israel), both teaching at the Jewish Theological Seminary, significantly influenced the scholarship of Davies. Davies most important work is Paul and Rabbinic Judaism: Some Rabbinic Elements in Pauline Theology, written in 1948.

Works

Books

• Paul and Rabbinic Judaism (1948 Davies), book

• Introduction to Pharisaism (1954 Davies), book

• Christian Origins and Judaism (1962 Davies), book

• Invitation to the New Testament (1966 Davies), book
  • Aproximacion al Nuevo Testamento (1979 Davies), book (Spanish ed.)

• The Gospel and the Land: Early Christianity and Jewish Territorial Doctrine (1974 Davies), book

• Jewish and Pauline Studies (1984 Davies), book

Edited volumes

• The Cambridge History of Judaism: 1. Introduction, the Persian Period (1984 Davies, Finkelstein), edited volume

• The Cambridge History of Judaism: 2. The Hellenistic Age (1989 Davies/Finkelstein), edited volume

• The Cambridge History of Judaism: 3. The Early Roman Period (1999 Horbury/Davies/Sturdy), edited volume

Biography

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References

• Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters (1998 McKim), edited volume