John Barton (born 17 June 1948) is a British Anglican priest and biblical scholar. From 1991 to 2014, he was the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Oriel College. In addition to his academic career, he has been an ordained and serving priest in the Church of England since 1973.
His research interests and extensive publications have been in the areas of the Old Testament prophets, the biblical canon, biblical interpretation, and Old Testament theology. From 2010 to 2013, he researched Ethics in Ancient Israel, having been funded by a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship. Barton is a foreign member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 2007.
As of 2013, he continued to assist in services and other activities in the parish of Abingdon, in which he resides.
Early life and education
John Barton was born on 17 June 1948 in London, England. He was educated at Latymer Upper School, a private school in Hammersmith, London. He was awarded a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) degree, a higher doctorate, by the University of Oxford in 1988. In 1974, he was elected a Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford, and made a university lecturer in theology (Old Testament) at the University of Oxford. He stepped down as Oriel and Laing Professor in 2014, Since 2014, he has been a Senior Research Fellow of Campion Hall, Oxford, a Jesuit-run permanent private hall of the University of Oxford.
Additional roles
He has been a Delegate of Oxford University Press since 2005. From 2004 to 2010 he was joint editor of the Journal of Theological Studies and is one of two Anglophone editors for the German monograph series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, published in Berlin.
Ordained ministry
In 1973, Barton was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon and priest. Concentrating on his academic career, he did not hold an ecclesiastical position until 1979 when he was made chaplain of St Cross College, Oxford. In 2013, Barton resigned from the office due to ill health, but he continues to serve on the editorial board of the periodical, Modern Church.
In 1998, Barton was awarded an honorary Doctor of Theology (Dr. theol.) degree by the University of Bonn. and won the 2019 Duff Cooper Prize. It was adapted for radio and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2020.
Books
Sole authorship
- - American edition How the Bible came to be
Joint authorship
Edited
- - English version Revelation and Story: Narrative Theology and the Centrality of Story
Festschrift
Personal life
In 1973, Barton married Mary Burn. Together they have one daughter.
Barton lives in the parish of Abingdon.