Bruce N. Fisk

Bruce N. Fisk arrived at Westmont in 1999 and is Associate Professor of New Testament. He is currently serving as Chair for the Department of Religious Studies. His teaching includes the Life and Literature of the New Testament survey course (a GE requirement), New Testament Greek, and upper-division courses in Life and Teachings of Jesus, Pauline Literature, New Testament Theology and Ethics, and Cultural and Religious Diversity in the New Testament World. (We like long course titles.)

Dr. Fisk earned his Ph.D. at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1997, and yes, he is a hard-core Duke basketball fan. He also holds an M.A. in New Testament and an M. Div., both from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. His B.S. is from Philadelphia College of Bible. He is the author of Do You Not Remember? Scripture, Story and Exegesis in the Rewritten Bible of Pseudo-Philo and First Corinthians (Interpretation Bible Studies). He has published journal articles in New Testament Studies, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, Trinity Journal and in several other collections.

He is happily married to Janice, and together they run a taxi service for their three kids: Ben, Alison and Donovan. The name of their border collie is Strider.

The Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, a ‘rewritten Bible’ that follows the broad contours of Genesis to Samuel, includes numerous secondary, or out-of-sequence, episodes, and frequently juxtaposes unrelated biblical characters. The subtlety and significance of these inner-biblical linkages has up to now not been fully appreciated. Building on recent studies in intertextuality, Fisk shows how Pseudo-Philo is often guided by intertextual links and themes present within the canonical precursor, that he is heavily indebted to post-biblical midrashic traditions, and that ’secondary scripture’ is a strategic means by which Israel’s traditions are reconfigured in this enigmatic text.

Interpretation Bible Studies: First Corinthians (Westminster/John Knox, 2000)

In First Corinthians, Paul writes to a troubled church at Corinth, urging its members to live a life distinct from the ways of others, governed by the law of love, and affirming of the tenets of the faith. His direct responses to their shortcomings provide us a window into daily church life in the first century. But this letter also paints a vivid picture of what any church can become by the grace of God. First Corinthians is not merely a scandalous exposé intended to reveal where the church has gone wrong; it is a challenging invitation to get it right.

Interpretation Bible Studies offers solid biblical content in a creative study format. Forged in the tradition of the celebrated Interpretation commentary series, IBS makes the same depth of biblical insight available in a dynamic, flexible, and user-friendly resource. Designed for adults and older youth, Interpretation Bible Studies can be used in small groups, in church school classes, in large group presentations, or in personal study. Each volume focuses on ten key passages from a book of the Bible and can serve as the basis for a ten-session study or be easily modified for shorter or longer schedules.

Website: http://www.westmont.edu/~fisk/docs/