Education
MA, PhD, Claremont Graduate University
MTS, Harvard University
BA, Yankton College
Bio
Dr. Patterson grew up and attended college in South Dakota before pursuing graduate studies at Harvard, Claremont, and Heidelberg in (then) West Germany. For more than 20 years he taught at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis before coming to Willamette in 2010. He was a leading figure in the Jesus Seminar from 1988-2000 and has appeared on many documentaries, talk shows, and videos. He has taught in India and Africa, and lectured widely in Asia, North and South America and Europe. He is married to Senator Deborah Patterson.
Research
Dr. Patterson researches the origins of Christianity, especially those texts and traditions marginalized by the biblical canon and those hidden histories and traditions that have been lost along the way. He has written extensively on the Gospel of Thomas and is an authority on the historical figure of Jesus.
Courses
Rel 113 Scripting God: Reading the Bible Critically
Rel 114 History and Literature of Early Christianity
Rel 115 Introduction to the Study of Religion
Rel 225 Forgotten Scriptures
Rel 227 Paganism: The Religions of Greece and Rome
Rel 323 The Bible and American Culture
Rel 335W Race, Class, and Gender in the Life and Letters of Paul
Rel 490/496W Senior Seminar
Books
The Fifth Gospel (Trinity, 1998/T. & T. Clark, 2011) (with James M. Robinson and Hans-Gebhard Bethge).
The Apocalyptic Jesus: A Debate (Polebridge, 2001) (with Dale C. Allison, Marcus J. Borg, John Dominic Crossan, edited by Robert J. Miller).
The Search for Jesus: Modern Scholarship Looks at the Gospels (Biblical Archaeology Society, 1994/Smithsonian Seminars) (with Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan; edited by Herschel Shanks).
A Q-Thomas Reader (Polebridge, 1990) (with Marvin Meyer, John Kloppenborg, and Michael Steinhauser).
The Forgotten Creed: Christianity's original Struggle against Bigotry, Slavery, and Sexism (OUP, 2018).
The Lost Way: How Two Forgotten Gospels are Re-Writing the Story of Christian Origins (Harper, 2014).
The Gospel of Thomas and Christian Origins: Essays on the Fifth Gospel (Brill 2013).
Beyond the Passion: Rethinking the Death and Life of Jesus (Fortress, 2004).
The God of Jesus: The Historical Jesus and the Search for Meaning (Bloomberg, 1998).
The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus (Polebridge, 1993).
Awards
The Grawemeyer Award in Religion, 2020/2021
Lawrence Cress Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship, 杏十八新茶分享, 2016
Center for Religion, Law, and Democracy Research Grant, 杏十八新茶分享, 2015
Center for Ancient Studies and Archaeology Research Grant, 杏十八新茶分享, 2014
Hewlett Grant, 杏十八新茶分享 2013, 2014
Fulbright Fellowship, Karls-Ruprecht Universität Heidelberg, 1986-87