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Biography
Dr Peter J. Williams is the Principal and CEO of Tyndale House, Cambridge. He seeks to combine making new technical discoveries about the Bible with growing a culture of researchers who are devoted to Christ. He also loves to share fresh perspectives on the Bible with popular audiences. Williams was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he received his MA, MPhil, and PhD in the study of ancient languages related to the Bible. After his PhD, he was on staff in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge (1997–1998) and thereafter taught Hebrew and Old Testament as an Affiliated Lecturer in Hebrew and Aramaic at the University of Cambridge and Research Fellow in Old Testament at Tyndale House, Cambridge (1998–2003). From 2003 to 2007 he was on the faculty of the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, where he became a Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Deputy Head of the School of Divinity, History, and Philosophy. Since 2007 he has been leading Tyndale House. Dr Williams is also an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity in the University of Cambridge and a member of the Translation Oversight Committee of the English Standard Version of the Bible. He assisted Dr Dirk Jongkind in Tyndale House’s production of a major edition of the Greek New Testament and his book Can We Trust the Gospels? (Crossway, 2018) has been translated into 14 languages. His latest book, The Surprising Genius of Jesus: What the Gospels Reveal about the Greatest Teacher (Crossway), was published in October 2023.
Qualifications:
M.A. (Cantab); M.Phil. (Cantab); Ph.D. (Cantab).
History:
Senior Lecturer in New Testament, University of Aberdeen, 2005-2007
Lecturer in New Testament, University of Aberdeen, 2003-2005
Research Fellow in Old Testament, Tyndale House, Cambridge, 1998-2003
Affiliated Lecturer in Hebrew and Aramaic, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, 1998-2003
Research Assistant, the Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database Project, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, 1997-1998
Currently:
Principal, Tyndale House, Cambridge
(as of 1 January 2017 the historic title Warden has been changed to Principal)
Affiliated Lecturer, University of Cambridge
Scholarly activities:
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Member of the Translation Committee of the English Standard Version of the Bible
Current research includes:
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The parables of Jesus; the languages of Jesus
Publications
Books:
Studies in the Syntax of the Peshitta of 1 Kings (E.J. Brill, 2001).
Early Syriac Translation Technique and the Textual Criticism of the Greek Gospels (Texts and Studies; Gorgias Press, 2004).
P.J. Williams, A.D. Clarke, P.M. Head and D. Instone-Brewer, eds., The New Testament in Its First Century Setting: Essays on Context and Background in Honour of B.W. Winter on His 65th Birthday (Eerdmans, 2004).
Editor, Syriac Word Sources, Senses and Functions (Perspectives on Syriac Linguistics; Gorgias Press, 2009).
Primi passi nello studio dell'Antico Testamento (Edizioni GBU, 2009).
Associate Editor, The Greek New Testament Produced at Tyndale House, Cambridge (Crossway and Cambridge University Press, 2017)
Can We Trust the Gospels? (Crossway, 2018). Translated into 14 languages.
The Surprising Genius of Jesus (Crossway, 2023)
Select articles and chapters:
‘The Difference between the Roots plṭ and mlṭ’, Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 114 (2002) 438–42.
‘On the Representation of Sahidic within the Apparatus of the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece’, Journal of Coptic Studies 8 (2006) 123–25.
‘Alleged Syriac Catchwords in the Gospel of Thomas’, Vigiliae Christianae 63 (2009) 71–82.
‘Expressing Definiteness in Aramaic: A Response to Casey’s Theory concerning the Son of Man Sayings’, in Larry W. Hurtado and Paul L. Owen, eds., “Who is this son of man?”: The Latest Scholarship on a Puzzling Expression of the Historical Jesus (T&T Clark, 2011) 61–77.
‘“Slaves” in Biblical Narrative and in Translation’, in James K. Aitken, Katharine J. Dell and Brian Mastin, eds., On Stone and Scroll (Festschrift G.I. Davies; De Gruyter, 2011) 441–52.
‘Not the Prologue of John’, Journal for the Study of the New Testament 33 (2011) 375–86.
‘An examination of Ehrman’s case for ὀργισθείς in Mark 1:41’, Novum Testamentum 54 (2012) 1–12.
‘The Bible, the Septuagint, and the Apocrypha: A Consideration of Their Singularity’, in Geoffrey Khan and Diana Lipton, eds., Studies on the Text and Versions of the Hebrew Bible in Honour of Robert Gordon (Leiden: Brill, 2012) 169–80.
‘The Syriac Versions of the New Testament’, in Bart D. Ehrman and Michael Holmes, eds., The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research (2nd edn; Leiden: Brill, 2013) 143–66.
‘Syriac Versions of the Bible’ in J. Carleton Paget and J. Schaper, eds., Cambridge History of the Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013) 527–535.
‘Semitic Long /i/ Vowels in the Greek of Codex Vaticanus of the New Testament’, in Nadia Vidro, Ronny Vollandt, Esther-Miriam Wagner and Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, eds., Studies in Semitic Linguistics and Manuscripts: A Liber Discipulorum in Honour of Professor Geoffrey Khan (Studia Semitica Upsaliensa, 2018) 15–26. View here.
'When Does συν- Assimilate' in H.A.G. Houghton, David C. Parker and Holger Strutwolf, eds., The New Testament in Antiquity and Byzantium (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019) 429–438. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110591682-029
Victor Gysembergh, Peter J. Williams and Emanuel Zingg, 'New evidence for Hipparchus’ Star Catalogue revealed by multispectral imaging', Journal for the History of Astronomy 53, 383–393 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221128289
Peter J. Williams, Patrick James, Jamie Klair, Peter Malik and Sarah Zaman, 'Newly Discovered Illustrated Texts of Aratus and Eratosthenes within Codex Climaci Rescriptus', The Classical Quarterly (2022). doi:10.1017/S0009838822000726
Other:
Member of Society of Biblical Literature
Member of Society for Old Testament Study
Member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas
Member of Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical Research
Member of Evangelical Theological Society
Editorial Board, Texts and Studies (2012–present)
Editorial Board, SOTS Monograph Series (2015–present)
Social media: @DrPJWilliams
Watch Dr Williams' talk on Can We Trust the Gospels?
Content from Peter J Williams
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Jesus the master craftsman
Dr Peter J Williams looks at three ways Jesus mastered the art of storytelling
Peter J Williams
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Can we trust the Gospels?
Dr Peter J Williams shares key insights from his book on why we can trust the Gospels.
Peter J Williams
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Did Jesus speak Greek?
How likely is it that Jesus used the lingua franca of the world of the New Testament?
Peter J Williams
