Osvaldo Padilla
Professor of Divinity
Beeson Divinity School
New Testament
 Divinity Hall
opadilla@samford.edu
205-726-2633

Osvaldo Padilla is professor of divinity with a concentration on the New Testament and Christian dogmatics. He teaches courses on a number of books in the New Testament (see below). Padilla came to Beeson in 2008 after teaching at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Padilla has been a pastor in Spanish speaking churches in Chicago and Birmingham. With his wife Kristen and their son Philip, they are members of The Cathedral Church of the Advent (Episcopal).

Education

  • Post-Doctoral Research, Institut Romand des Sciences Bibliques, Université de Lausanne
  • PhD, King’s College, University of Aberdeen
  • MA, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School 
  • BA, Moody Bible Institute 

Books

Areas of Teaching

  • Gospels and Acts
  • New Testament theology
  • Pastoral Epistles
  • Colossians

Selected Articles and Essays

  • “The Speech of Paul before Festus—Defense or Evangelism: A Response to David Tiede,” Ex Auditu 23 (2007): 18-21.
  • "Hellenistic paideia and Luke's Education: a Critique of Recent Approaches," New Testament Studies 55 (2009): 416-37.
  • “The Speeches of Luke-Acts,” in Issues in Luke-Acts: Selected Essays, ed. S. A. Adams and M. W. Pahl, pp. 171-93. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press: 2012.
  • "Postconservative Theologians and Scriptural Authority," in The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures, ed. D. A. Carson, pp. 644-68 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016). 
  • "The Wirkungsgeschichte of Henry Joel Cadbury as an Objective Historian: An Exploration of America's Premiere Luke-Acts Scholar," BBR 29 (2019): 499-510. 
  • “The Prison Epistles of Paul,” in The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary, ed. J. Scott Duvall and Daniel Hays, pp. 1167-1190, 1222-1226. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2020.
  • "The Speeches in Luke-Acts," in The Oxford Handbook on Luke-Acts, eds. Gregory Sterling and Michal Beth Dinkler (Oxford: OUP, forthcoming).

Selected Book Reviews

  • Grappe, Christian, ed. Le Repas de Dieu/Das Mahl Gottes. 4. Symposium Strasbourg, Tübingen, Uspal. WUNT 169; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004. Bulletin for Biblical Research 18 (2008): 178-9.
  • Eckey, Wilfried. Das Lukasevangelium unter Berücksichtigung seiner Parallelen. 2 Vols. Neukirchen: Neukirchener Verlag, 2004. Bulletin for Biblical Research 19 (2009): 115-6.
  • Alexander, Loveday. Acts in Its Ancient Literary Context: A Classicist Looks at the Acts of the Apostles. London: T & T Clark, 2005. Bulletin for Biblical Research 20.2 (2010).
  • Adam, Jens. Paulus und die Versöhnung aller: Eine Studie zum paulinischen Heilsuniversalismus. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 2009. Bulletin for Biblical Research 22.4 (2012).
  • Thompson, Alan, J. The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s Account of God’s Unfolding Plan. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011. Trinity Journal 35 (2014).
  • Senior, Donald, ed. The Gospel of Matthew at the Crossroads of Early Christianity. Leuven: Peeters, 2011. Bulletin for Biblical Research 24.1 (2014).

Selected Presentations

  • Hispanic Summer Program presentation. Title: “Jesús y los Evangelios.” (San Juan, Puerto Rico. 06/16/2012-06/29/2012, delivered in Spanish). 

Research Interests

  • Gospels and Acts
  • Pastoral Epistles
  • The theologies of Karl Barth and T. F. Torrance, with special attention to Christology and soteriology
  • The relationship between biblical studies and modern higher criticism

Involvement

  • The Society for New Testament Studies
  • Institute of Biblical Research
  • Society of Biblical Literature

Get to Know Dr. Padilla