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).

Listen to Osvaldo Padilla discuss his book, The Acts of the Apostles: Interpretation, History and Theology, on the Beeson podcast.

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

  • The Speeches of Outsiders in Acts: Poetics, Theology and Historiography. SNTS Monograph Series 144. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
  • The Acts of the Apostles: Interpretation, History and Theology. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2016.
  • The Pastoral Epistles. Tyndale New Testament Commentary Series. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, Sept. 2022.
  • The New Testament in Colour, eds. Esau McCaulley, Jannette Ok, Osvaldo Padilla and Amy Peeler. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, forthcoming. 
  • The Vicarious Incarnation of Christ. Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, forthcoming.
  • James. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, forthcoming. 
  • The Gospel of Matthew. Proclamation: Preaching the New Testament. Eugene, Or.: Cascade, forthcoming.

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