Dr. J. Richard Middleton holds a Ph.D. from the Vrije Universiteit (Free University), Amsterdam (in a joint-degree program with the Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto); an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Guelph, Canada; and a B.Th. from the Jamaica Theological Seminary, Kingston, Jamaica. A native of Jamaica, he immigrated to Canada for graduate studies and moved to the USA for a teaching position. He is past president of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (2019–2021) and past president of the Canadian-American Theological Association (2011–2014). He is currently a Fellow of Every Voice for Kingdom Diversity and a Scholar with Global Scholars Canada. Middleton’s research area is Old Testament theology with a focus on creation, suffering, and the ethics of power.
Dr. Middleton is the author of Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God (Baker Academic, 2021); A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academic, 2014); and The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Brazos, 2005). He co-authored (with Brian Walsh) The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian World View (IVP Academic, 1984) and Truth is Stranger than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (IVP Academic, 1995). He is currently working on two new books, one on the power dynamics between prophet and king in 1 Samuel and the other on the biblical worldview for our troubled times.
Middleton has co-edited (with Garnett Roper) A Kairos Moment for Caribbean Theology: Ecumenical Voices in Dialogue (Pickwick, 2013) and (with Douglas Cullum) Orthodoxy and Orthopraxis: Essays in Tribute to Paul Livermore (Pickwick, 2020). He has published articles and book chapters on the doctrine of creation; lament prayer and the problem of suffering; the dynamics of human and divine power in the books of Genesis, Samuel, and Job; and the relationship of biblical faith to contemporary science. His books have been published in Korean, French, Indonesian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
