Longtime New Testament Prof Trades Books for Bikes – and More
After growing up in east Los Angeles, in what he termed “a very poor Spanish- and Russian-speaking area,” Dr. Gregory J. Riley launched an impressive academic career. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of California-Los Angeles, a master’s at UC-Santa Barbara, and master’s and doctorate degrees at Harvard University.
After graduation, Gregory’s first stop was the Philosophy and Religion Department at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. In 1992, he headed to Claremont School of Theology, where he was the John Wesley Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins.
Among his favorite courses was one he taught every year: Introduction to the New Testament. “That course allowed me to meet and interact with all of the incoming students at CST, since it is a required course,” Gregory said. “In addition, it allowed me to discuss with our students in a broad survey course all of the parts of the New Testament, which I love to do.”
Gregory’s main interests are the relationships between the diverse expressions of Christianity and their cultural context. He explained, “Christianity began as a religion diverse in both doctrine and practice. Christians did not believe the same things, nor did they worship in the same ways. The New Testament itself and the writings of the church fathers contain evidence of many different groups, ‘denominations’ as we might call them, and their many different beliefs and practices.
“Orthodoxy and standardized practice,” he added, “arrived only after several centuries of discussion and argumentation, and still, diversity persisted. The diversity arose from the differing cultural contexts of each group. Understanding the different expressions of Christianity depends on understanding the different cultural contexts of the founders and members of the various groups.”
Gregory said his goal as a scholar and researcher has been to understand what the many kinds of early Christians believed and why they did so. “To nurture that goal,” he said, “I am constantly reading the Greek New Testament and the literature of the ancient world. I nearly always have one text or another with me.”
“Author” is another designation for Gregory. His first book, Resurrection Reconsidered, examined the controversy among Christians (which, he said, persists today) over what happened at the Resurrection. “This is another place where the New Testament and church writers show evidence of deep-seated controversy based in the cultural differences of the proponents of one opinion or another,” he said.
Each of his books is special for different reasons, he noted. “Each uses the same method, a history of ideas.” River of God: A New History of Christian Origins answers the question: Where did Christianity come from? It centers on the Christian conception of God (theology). One Jesus, Many Christs: How Jesus Inspired Not One True Christianity, but Many looks at the great diversity of opinions among Christians concerning Jesus (Christology). Resurrection Reconsidered discusses the many-centuries-long controversy over a major Christian doctrine of resurrection, based on what it means to be a human being in Christian conception (anthropology).
During the last in-person American Academy of Religion meeting, a Festschrift – Greco-Roman and Jewish Tributaries to the New Testament – honored Gregory, who taught at CST, Claremont Graduate University, and The Episcopal Theological School at Claremont (Bloy House).
“The New Testament,” Gregory said, “is the most important book in Western culture. It is the basis for much of the values and ideals of our society. It is the foundation of the Christian faith, which is my own faith. Thus, it is also the guiding light for my own spiritual journey.”
Admitting that he misses his many friends – faculty, staff, and students – at CST, Gregory is learning to live in retirement. “I am occupying myself with mountain biking, sport climbing, golf and gardening in support of my gardening-gifted, dear wife,” he said.