Richard Middleton

J. Richard Middleton is Professor of Biblical Studies at Roberts Wesleyan College with a joint-appointment as Professor of Bible and Culture at Northeastern Seminary. Originally from Jamaica (he lived down the road from Bob Marley), Richard immigrated to Canada in the late seventies.

He has coauthored (with Brian Walsh) The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian World View (InterVarsity Press, 1984) and Truth is Stranger Than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (InterVarsity Press/SPCK, 1995), which received a Book-of-the-Year award (1996) from Christianity Today magazine. 

He is most recently the author of The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Brazos Press, 2005) and is presently working on two new books: a biblical commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel for the Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries series and a volume on eschatology for Brazos Press entitled A New Heaven and a New Earth: The Bible’s Holistic Vision of the Redemption of Creation. 

Middleton has published scholarly and popular essays on biblical creation theology, postmodern biblical interpretation, the problem of evil, and the theology of popular music.  His essay “Let’s Put Herod Back into Christmas” was awarded the Canadian Church Press prize for best inspirational theological reflection (1993) and another essay “Why the ‘Greater Good’ Isn’t a Defense: Classical Theodicy in Light of the Biblical Genre of Lament” received the annual Fall essay award of the Princeton Graduate Theological Forum (1997). 

Before teaching at Roberts Wesleyan College, he taught at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (Rochester, NY), Redeemer University College (Ancaster, ON) and the Institute for Christian Studies (Toronto, ON), and served as campus minister at two universities in Canada (the University of Guelph and Brock University) and in the United States (Syracuse University and the University of Rochester).

Quotes in response to a recent address
"Outstanding. He made the complex plain. I appreciated his knowledge, teaching style, and grace."
What did you like most?
"Richard's fresh and thought provoking approach to Scripture." "Richard's accessibility."