A member of the faculty of Biblical Studies at Ashland Theological Seminary since 1995, deSilva has specialized in the fields of Second Temple Judaism, the social and cultural environment of the first-century Greco-Roman world, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Revelation of John. deSilva holds a bachelor of arts degree in English from Princeton University; a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, specializing in New Testament Studies; and a Ph.D. in Religion from Emory University, with emphases on New Testament interpretation, Roman history, and sociology of religion. Promoted to associate professor in 1999 and a full professor in 2002, deSilva has published eleven academic books, including 4 Maccabees: Introduction and Commentary on the Greek Text (Brill, 2006), An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation (InterVarsity, 2004), Introducing the Apocrypha (Baker Academic, 2000), Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Epistle “to the Hebrews” (Eerdmans, 2000), and The Hope of Glory: Honor Discourse and New Testament Interpretation (Liturgical Press, 1999). He has also published over sixty articles in refereed journals, collections of essays, and reference works. He has taken leadership roles in the Society of Biblical Literature as a member of several steering committees and founding program chair of the Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity seminar. In 2001, deSilva was elected to the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas. He received an Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship to study in Tuebingen, Germany, for the 2006-2007 academic year. deSilva is an ordained elder in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, and has served congregations as an organist and choir director since 1985. He has written extensively for adult Christian education and spiritual formation resources. In 2005, he was named the University’s sixth Trustees’ Professor, an academic honor awarded by the Board of Trustees to a professor who is recognized as an outstanding educator, researcher and campus leader.
General Interest
Lesson Analysis by Janice Catron, David A. deSilva, Michael Fink, and Craig S. Keener, New International Lesson Annual: 2009-2010 (2009)
General New Testament Studies
Jewish Martytology and the Death of Jesus, The Pseudepigrapha and Christian Origins: Essays from the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (2008)
Letter to the Hebrews
Miscellaneous
Musical Composition
Paul
Recasting the Moment of Decision: 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 In Its Literary Context, Andrews University Seminary Studies (2007)
Worthy of His Kingdom: Honor, Discourse and Social Engineering in 1 Thessalonians, Journal for the Study of the New Testament (1996)
Measuring Penultimate Against Ultimate Reality: An Investigation of the Integrity and, Journal for the Study of the New Testament (1993)
Revelation of John
On the Sidelines of the Pistis Christou Debate: The View from Revelation, The Faith of Jesus Christ: Exegetical, Biblical, and Theological Studies (2010)
Seeing Things John's Way: the Rhetoric of the Book of Revelation (2009)
The emotionally evocative power of the book of Revelation has been often noted and experienced...
A Socio-Rhetorical Investigation of Revelation 14:6-13: A Call to Act Justly toward the Just and Judging God, Bulletin of Biblical Research (1999)
Honor Discourse and the Rhetorical Strategy of the Apocalypse of John, Journal for the Study of the New Testament (1998)
The Revelation to John: A Case Study in Apocalyptic Propaganda and the Maintenance of, Sociological Analysis (1996)
Second Temple Judism
Using the Master's Tools to Shore Up Our House: A Postcolonial Analysis of 4 Maccabees, Journal of Biblical Literature (2007)
Five More Papyrus Fragments from a Greek Codex of Exodus, Bulletin of the International Organization of Septuagint and Cognate Studies (2007)
Jesus and James in the School of Ben Sira: The Impact of an Extracanonical Sage on the First Founders of Christianity, Theologie fur die Praxis (2007)
And Not a Drop to Drink: The Story of David's Thirst in the Jewish Scriptures, Josephus, and 4 Maccabees, Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha (2006)
Socio-cultural Context of the Early Church
An Example of How to Die Nobly for Religion: the Influence of 4 Maccabees on Origen's Exhartatio ad Matyrium, Journal of Christian Studies (2009)
In the course of his Exhortatio ad Martyrium, Origen retells the famous story of the...