
James D. G. ("Jimmy") Dunn (born 1939) was for many years the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology at the University of Durham. Since his retirement he has been made Emeritus Lightfoot Professor. He is a leading British New Testament scholar, broadly in the Protestant tradition. Dunn is especially associated with the New Perspective on Paul, along with N. T. (Tom) Wright and E. P. Sanders. He is credited with coining this phrase during his 1982 Manson Memorial Lecture. Dunn has an MA and BD from the University of Glasgow and a PhD and DD from the University of Cambridge. For 2002, Dunn was the President of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, the leading international body for New Testament study. Only three other British scholars had been made President in the preceding 25 years. In 2005 a festschrift was published dedicated to Dunn, comprising articles by 27 New Testament scholars, examining early Christian communities and their beliefs about the Holy Spirit. (edited by Graham N. Stanton, Bruce W. Longenecker & Stephen Barton (2004). The Holy Spirit and Christian origins: essays in honor of James D. G. Dunn. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. ISBN 0-8028-2822-1.) Dunn has taken up E. P. Sanders' project of redefining Palestinian Judaism in order to correct the Christian view of Judaism as a religion of works-righteousness. One of the most important differences to Sanders is that Dunn perceives a fundamental coherence and consistency to Paul's thought. He furthermore criticizes Sanders' understanding of the term "justification", arguing that Sanders' understanding suffers from an "individualizing exegesis".

2005

1970

Christianity in the Making, Volume 2
2008

A New Testament Inquiry Into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation
1980

The New Testament Evidence
2010

2003

Christianity in the Making, Volume 1
2003

A Study of the Religious and Charismatic Experience of Jesus and the First Christians as Reflected in the New Testament
1997

1990

2011

The Parting of the Ways, A. D. 70 to 135
1992

A Contested Identity
2015

An Introduction
2010

Between Christianity and Judaism and Their Significance for the Character of Christianity
1991

2003

1993

1996

1986

A Fresh Look at the Old Doctrine of Justification by Faith
1994

1987

1983

2013

1997

1993

An Inquiry into the Character of Earliest Christianity
1977