Revd Canon Professor
Richard A. Burridge

The Revd Canon Professor Richard A. Burridge MA, PGCE, PgDipTh, PhD, FKC is an internationally recognised biblical scholar, ethicist, theologian and social commentator, who has published over a dozen books and hundreds of other articles or publications. During his career, he has been a schoolmaster, parish priest, university chaplain, academic, and professor, and he served as Dean of King’s College London for over 25 years from 1993 to 2019.

After leaving King’s College London, Professor Burridge became a Research Fellow in the Department of Theology at the University of Manchester, which is now his main academic base in the UK. From an international perspective, he also acts as a Visiting Professor at Virginia Theological Seminary, just outside Washington DC in the USA, and as a Research Associate in the Department of New Testament and Related Literature, University of Pretoria. Freed from many years of university administration and direction, he now seeks to devote more time to his research and writing, as well as his public ministry in undertaking theological training study days for clergy and lay people.

Professor Burridge is probably best known internationally for his doctoral work on Jesus and the biographical genre of the gospels, which was originally published by Cambridge University Press in the prestigious SNTS (Society of New Testament Studies) Monograph Series in 1992 as What are the Gospels? A comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography. This book overturned the previous scholarly consensus about the uniqueness of the genre of the gospels, demonstrating instead that they are actually a form of ancient biography. After the hardback edition sold out, it was reprinted as a paperback in 1995, and then updated in an expanded second edition by Eerdmans in 2004. More recently, further research on the impact and effects of his work over the last 25 years resulted in a greatly expanded third edition from Baylor University Press in 2018.

Professor Burridge’s academic scholarship and his contribution to the life of the world-wide church was recognised when he was awarded the 2013 Ratzinger Prize by Pope Francis, the first non-Roman Catholic to receive this prestigious prize. As a Ratzinger Prize Laureate, he is invited to return to Rome to attend the annual ceremony for each year’s winners.