When Lebanon's tragic civil war broke out in the early 1970s, I was a student at the American University of Beirut studying politics and Islam.  I never realized what an indelible mark this year would put on me as this dangerous national tragedy unfolded before our eyes.  Since the university witnessed sporadic closures, I began studying at Beirut's Near East School of Theology (an Arab-Armenian seminary) and there for the first time was exposed to the technical study of the New Testament (under the guidance of Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey).  It seemed that from here my life found its twin navigational markers: the New Testament and the world of the Middle East.

Following graduation from Fuller  Seminary in 1978, I completed a Ph.D. in New Testament at King's College, Aberdeen University, Scotland, under Professor I. Howard Marshall.  In 1987 my research was published as The Anointed Community, The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition (Eerdmans) and this launched a longstanding interest in the literature of John which continues to this day (see bibliography).  But in addition, I have also retained my passion for the Middle  East.  Here too there has been evolution and specialization.  Teaching the historical geography of Israel on site has today become a specialized interest in New Testament Galilee. But in addition, I have had the good fortune of being befriended by many Palestinian Christian pastors and learning with dismay about the suffering of the Palestinian church in modern Israel.  In 1993 I wrote a study of this dilemma entitled, Who Are God's People in the Middle East? (Zondervan). I have also become active in an evangelical advocacy group, Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding, which works to facilitate dialogue between Arab and western church leaders.  In 2003 I wrote a second, more thorough volume on Palestine entitled, Whose Land?  Whose Promise?  What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians (Pilgrim Press). 

• Institute for Biblical Research
• Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical Research [Cambridge, England]
• The Society of Biblical Literature
• Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding
• Holy Land Ecumenical Fellowship

• The Gospel and Letters of John
• The history of New Testament criticism
• The history and significance of Galilee for New Testament study
• 'Life of Jesus' research
• The political history of the Arab-Israeli conflict
• Evangelicals, Biblical theology and modern Israel
• The history of the Arabic and Syriac-speaking churches of the Middle East
• The "Holy Land" and theology in early Judaism and Christianity

• The Anointed Community. The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987)

• Interpreting the Gospel of John. [Guides to New Testament Exegesis] (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992, 1998 2) [Translated into Korean and Chinese.]

• Who Are God’s People in the Middle East? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993)

• Commentary on the Johannine Epistles. The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996)

• Commentary on the Gospel of John.The NIV Application Commentary ( Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000)

• Whose Land? Whose Promise?What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians ( Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, and London: Paternoster, 2003)

• Awards:Christianity Today Book Award: Honorable Mention, May 2004; Christian Century “Best Seller-Recommended List,” May 2004; Forward Magazine, Book of the Year Finalist, May 2004;

• John: The Gospel of Life ( Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008)

• The New Testament in Antiquity ( Grand Rapids: Zondervan, forthcoming, 2009)

• A Desert Spirituality, 4 Volumes ( Grand Rapids: Zondervan, forthcoming, 2009-2011)

• Volume 1: The Wilderness (2009)
• Volume 2: Jesus the Story-Teller (2009)
• Volume 3: The Festivals (2010)
• Volume 4: Encounters with Jesus (2011)

• The Evangelical One Volume Commentary on the Bible, general editor with A. Hill ( Grand Rapids: Baker, forthcoming 2009)

• The Land of Israel and the New Testament ( London: SPCK; Philadelphia: Westminster, forthcoming 2009)

Additional publications