Andreas J. Köstenberger’s Biography
Dr. Andreas Johannes Köstenberger was born on November 2, 1957, in Vienna, Austria. He grew up a nominal Roman Catholic and was converted to Christ in 1981. He earned a Mag. rer. soc. oec. (1980) and Dr. rer. soc. oec. (1982) from the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (Vienna University of Economics and Business). At age twenty-seven, he emigrated to the United States where he completed a Master of Divinity at Columbia Bible College and Graduate School of Missions (1988) and a Ph.D. at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1993). At Trinity he studied with the well-known scholar and co-founder of the Gospel Coalition, D. A. Carson. He published his dissertation The Missions of Jesus and the Disciples according to the Fourth Gospel in 1998.
Personal Life
During the last year of his Master of Divinity, Köstenberger met his wife, Marny Elizabeth Gerrard. They married December 2, 1989, in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, Canada. Marny holds a Bachelor of Science from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, a Masters in Intercultural Studies from Columbia International University, and a Doctor of Theology degree from the University of South Africa (UNISA). She is the co-founder of Biblical Foundations™ along with her husband (2006) and has served as professor of theology and director of women’s ministry at various churches and seminaries. Andreas and Marny have four grown children, two girls and two boys, and live in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
Teaching and Writing Career
In 1993–1995, Andreas Köstenberger served as professor of biblical studies and theology at Briercrest Seminary in Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1995–96, he returned for a one-year teaching stint at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In 1996, he took a position at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he served as professor (most recently, senior professor of New Testament and biblical theology) for twenty-two years (1996–2018) and as director of Ph.D. studies for twelve years (2000–2012). In 2018, he joined the faculty of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, where he served for 4 years as research professor of New Testament and biblical theology and founding director of the Center for Biblical Studies.
Köstenberger has authored or co-authored, edited or co-edited, and translated over sixty books as well as dozens of articles, essays, dictionary entries, and over a hundred book reviews (see complete list of publications here). Translations of his works exist in languages such as Armenian, Dutch, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Köstenberger served as the editor of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (JETS) for twenty-two years (1999–2020). He is editor or co-editor of several series including Biblical Theology of the New Testament (BTNT), Evangelical Biblical Theological Commentary (EBTC), Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (ECC), and Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (EGGNT).
Mentoring, Honors, and Memberships
Köstenberger has mentored dozens of students, many of whom are noted scholars and pastors around the world. These include Keith Campbell (Vice President, Global Scholars), Joshua Chatraw (Executive Director, Center for Public Christianity), David Croteau (Dean of Seminary and School of Ministry, Columbia International University), the Rev. Samuel Ferguson (Rector, Falls Church Anglican), R. Alan Fuhr (Professor of Old Testament, Liberty University), Scott Kellum (Professor of New Testament, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary), Alexander Stewart (Vice President of Academic Services and Professor of New Testament, Gateway Seminary), and Scott Swain (President, Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando).
Köstenberger’s work Invitation to Biblical Interpretation (2013) was one of five finalists in Commentary/Reference Works for the Gold Medallion awards. In 2014, he and his wife Marny received the Wayne Grudem Award for Complementarian Scholarship. Köstenberger’s book Truth Matters (2015, co-authored with Josh Chatraw and Darrell Bock) won the Christian Retailing’s Best Award in Evangelism. The volume The Holy Spirit (2020, co-authored with Gregg Allison) received an honorable mention in Academic Theology in the Gospel Coalition’s 2020 Book Awards and an Award of Merit in Theology/Ethics in Christianity Today’s 2021 Book Awards.
Köstenberger holds memberships in the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) and the Institute of Biblical Research (IBR).