Charles Cousar

Charles B. Cousar was the Samuel A. Cartledge Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. He was an influential author, a New Testament scholar, and a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA. He worked extensively with the New Testament to give ministers and others resources from which to preach and to study.

Education

Charles Cousar was born in 1933 in Charlottesville, VA, and went to the McCauley school in Chattanooga, TN. He continued his education at Davidson College where he graduated with a BA in 1955. He proceeded to Columbia Theological Seminary where he earned a BD in 1958. In addition to studying at several other institutions around the world, he went on to earn a PhD from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland in 1960.

Career

Throughout his career he published a number of books that had a great impact on the churches of the Presbyterian Church USA. After earning his PhD, he returned to Columbia Theological Seminary and served as an Assistant Professor and an Associate Professor until 1966. After this time he was honored with the position of the Samuel A. Cartledge Professor of New Testament, in which he served until 2003. While in this position, he served a number of different roles for Columbia Theological Seminary. He was the Dean of Academic Affairs, twice an Interim Dean of Faculty, and Interim President twice as well. From 1962-1968 he was a visiting professor at Agnes Scott College and in 1969 he was a visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary.^[1]

His breakthrough work and publications earned him several awards throughout his career. These include the Alumni Distinguished Service Award from Columbia Theological Seminary, the Faculty Research Fellowship from the Association of Theological Schools multiple times, and the McCallie School Alumni Achievement Award.

Since 1960 he was a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, helping develop new ideas and breakthroughs of the New Testament.^[2]

Works

Cousar is best known for his extensive work on New Testament research and his publications of commentaries that are used widely as scholarly teaching tools. One of the most well known series he was involved with was Texts for Preaching, which he co-authored with a number of people including Walter Brueggemann. In addition to the several books he wrote, he published a number of scholarly articles and written sections for other larger books. Other works include:^[3]

• The Letters of Paul: Interpreting Biblical Texts Series. Abingdon Press(Nov 1, 1996)
• Galatians (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching & Preaching). Westminster John Knox Press (January 1, 1986)
• An Introduction to the New Testament: Witnesses to God's New Work. Westminster John Knox Press; annotated edition (September 19, 2006)
• Theology of the Cross (Overtures to Biblical Theology). Augsburg Fortress Publishing (May 1, 1990)
• Reading Galatians, Philippians, and 1 Thessalonians: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Reading the New Testament) (Volume 8). Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Incorporated (January 11, 2013).
• Philippians and Philemon: A Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press(April 2, 2009)
• Texts for Preaching, Year A: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV. Westminster John Knox Press (July 7, 1995)
• Texts for Preaching, Year B: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV. Westminster John Knox Press (July 7, 1995)
• Texts for Preaching, Year C: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV. Westminster John Knox Press (July 7, 1995)

References