Michael Holmes Named University Professor

Publication date: Mar 26, 2008 10:47 a.m.

I will assert, without fear of contradiction, that Michael would appear in any list of the top half dozen or so New Testament textual critics in North America and doubtless on every list of a dozen or two of those at top rank worldwide…That his scholarship is superb and that he is an intellectual leader in his field is clear indeed.

Eldon Jay Epp, Harkness Professor of Biblical Literature, Emeritus, Case Western Reserve University.

Michael Holmes, Ph.D., has been appointed to the position of University Professor of Biblical Studies and Early Christianity at Bethel University. He is the second Bethel faculty member to be given this prestigious recognition.

While chairing a large department, serving on more than 50 committees over his years at Bethel, and teaching a robust schedule, Holmes has been prolific as a scholar. Altogether, he has published:

-Eight books

-16 chapters in books

-19 articles (most in top-level journals)

-21 papers

-More than 200 book reviews in more than 20 journals

Mike Holmes, Ph.D., has been named University Professor of Biblical Studies and Early Christianity.

Bart D. Ehrman, James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, describes Holmes this way. “In the fields of New Testament textual criticism and of Apostolic Fathers, Dr. Holmes put Bethel… squarely on the map years ago, and it has remained there ever since….he has been one of the leading voices in the field [of textual criticism] in North America.”

“One of the ways of recognizing a teacher’s lasting commitment is to say that he touches the future,” Provost Jay Barnes said in his announcement of the recognition. “One of the consistent parts of Mike’s leadership at Bethel has been to launch generations of students who are thoughtful in handling Scripture and who go on to teach others.”

Holmes joined the Bethel faculty as assistant professor of biblical studies in 1982, when he was working toward the completion of his Ph.D. at Princeton Theological Seminary. Barnes says, “Little did we know the influence that Mike would have on Bethel, our students, or the fields of textual criticism and the early church fathers.”