Michael R. Licona
| Michael R. Licona | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Michael R. Licona July 17, 1961 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Residence | Cumming, GA |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | BA (1983), MA (2000), PhD (2009) |
| Alma mater |
University of Pretoria Liberty University |
| Employer | Houston Baptist University. |
| Spouse(s) | Debbie Licona |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | Risen Jesus |
Michael R. 'Mike' Licona (born July 17, 1961) is an American New Testament scholar, Christian apologist and historian. He is Associate Professor in Theology at Houston Baptist University and the director of Risen Jesus, Inc. Licona specializes in the Resurrection of Jesus, and in the literary analysis of the Gospels as Greco-Roman biographies.
Licona was raised in a Christian family and became a Christian at age 10. When he entered Liberty University, he wanted to go into the ministry as a musician and obtained an undergraduate degree in music performance (saxophone). He is also an accomplished martial artist, having studied under Sang Ki Eun and Robert Fujimura, the former having studied under Taekwondo's founder, Choi Hung Hi, the latter having been Executive Director of the United States Taekwondo Union.
Licona has a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies (University of Pretoria) which he completed "with distinction" and the highest mark as well as an M.A. in Religious Studies from Liberty University. He was the Apologetics Coordinator at the North American Mission Board (Southern Baptist Convention) from 2005 through 2011. His book The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach is now regarded as one of the finest treatments of the subject and has been endorsed by many prominent New Testament scholars and historians. Licona has lectured on more than 100 university campuses and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including Faith Under Fire. He appeared in the DVD version of The Case for Christ and was one of the scholars interviewed in Strobel’s book The Case for the Real Jesus. Licona also appears in a documentary film that was released February 2015 titled "Mining for God" which deals with how Christianity is often misrepresented and misunderstood in modern western culture.
Licona’s most recent book is Why Are There Differences in the Gospels. Like the majority of contemporary scholars, Licona views the Gospels as bearing close affinities to the genre of ancient biography and contends they are best interpreted with this in mind, since ancient biographies were written with slightly different rules than those used with modern biographies. Licona’s book focuses on identifying compositional devices prescribed in the compositional textbooks of that period as well as those that can be inferred when reading how Plutarch tells the same stories on two or more occasions. Licona then assesses nineteen stories about Jesus that appear in two or more of the canonical Gospels while keeping in mind their biographical genre and asking whether compositional devices account for the differences one observes.
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