Contact Information

Biography

Dr. William Wright is a specialist in New Testament studies with special focus on the Johannine writings. His interests also include the role of Greco-Roman rhetoric, literary criticism, and aesthetics in the Gospels, the use of premodern reception history as a theological and interpretive resource in light of the Catholic Ressourcement, and the theoretical underpinnings of biblical exegesis. He is the author of numerous articles and several books: Rhetoric and Theology: Figural Reading of John 9 (Walter de Gruyter, 2009); the forthcoming The Bible and Catholic Ressourcement: Essays in Scripture and Theology (Emmaus Academic, 2019); and, with Francis Martin, The Gospel of John (Baker Academic, 2015) and Encountering the Living God in Scripture: Theological and Philosophical Principles for Interpretation (Baker Academic, 2019). He has been elected to the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas and serves on the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Ecumenical Dialogue. He is also a Lay Dominican.

Education

Ph.D., Religion (New Testament), Emory University, 2005
M.T.S., Theology, University of Notre Dame, 2001
B.A., History, Baldwin-Wallace College, 1999

School

Undergraduate

The Old Testament; The Gospels; Jesus of Nazareth: History and Theology

MA 

Introduction to the New Testament

Ph.D Seminar 

THEO 619: New Testament Seminar

William M. Wright IV and Francis Martin. Encountering the Living God in Scripture Theological and Philosophical Principles for Interpretation (Baker Academic, 2019).

This work gives a philosophical and theological account of the belief that Scripture enables people to encounter the life-giving reality of God. The authors examine the biblical foundations for this belief as given in a variety of witnesses from both Testaments and explain the philosophical and theological underpinnings of Christian exegesis. What results is a contemporary statement of the traditional belief that Scripture can put its readers in transforming contact with the living God.  

Encountering the Living God in Scripture sums up and makes accessible the teaching of revered senior scholar and teacher Francis Martin. Aimed squarely at students, the book assumes no advanced training in philosophy or theology and will work well in Bible, interpretation, and doctrine of Scripture courses.

Rhetoric and Theology: Figural Reading of John 9. BZNW 165.

Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2009.

This monograph on John 9 makes extensive use of premodern Christian exegesis as a resource for New Testament studies. The study reframes the existing critique of the two-level reading of Jo

hn 9 as allegory in terms of premodern exegetical practices. It offers a hermeneutical critique of the two-level reading strategy as a kind of figural exegesis, rather than historical reconstruction, through an extensive comparison with Augustine's interpretation of John 9. A review of several premodern Christian readings of John 9 suggests an alternative way of understanding this account in terms of Greco-Roman rhetoric. John 9 resembles the rhetorical argumentation associated with chreia elaboration and the complete argument to display Jesus' identity as the light of the world. This analysis illustrates the inseparability of form and content, rhetoric and theology, in the Fourth Gospel.

Articles

Include The Gospel of John, a blurb about which can be found in the first full paragraph under "About" at this site: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/the-gospel-of-john/314320

"Pre-Gospel Traditions and Post-Critical Interpretation in Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth, Volume 2," Nova et Vetera 10 (2012): 1015-1027.

"Patristic Biblical Hermeneutics in Joseph Ratzinger's Jesus of Nazareth," Letter and Spirit 7 (2012): 193-209.

"The Literal Sense of Scripture according to Henri de Lubac: Insights from Patristic Exegesis of the Transfiguration." Modern Theology 28 (2012): 252-277.

"Hearing the Shepherd's Voice: The Paroimia of the Good Shepherd Discourse and Augustine's Figural Reading." Journal of Theological Interpretation (2012).

"Pre-Gospel Traditions and Post-Critical Interpretation in Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth: Volume 2," Nova et Vetera 10 (2012): 1015-1027.

"Patristic Biblical Hermeneutics in Joseph Ratzinger's Jesus of Nazareth," Letter and Spirit 7 (2012): 193-209.

"Jesus' Identity and the Use of Scripture in John 6:1-21." Josephinum Journal of Theology 17 (2010): 24-40.

"'A New Synthesis': Joseph Ratzinger's Jesus of Nazareth." Nova et Vetera. English Edition 7 (2009): 35-66.

"Greco-Roman Character Typing and the Presentation of Judas in the Fourth Gospel." The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 71 (2009): 544-559.

"The Theology of Disclosure and Biblical Exegesis," The Thomist 70 (2006): 395-419.