Lidija Novakovic, Ph.D.
Professor of New Testament
Education
- Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary (2002)
- B.D. and Th.M., Baptist Theological Seminary Rüschlikon, Switzerland (1993 and 1995)
- B.S., University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia (1978)
Biography
A native of Croatia, Dr. Novakovic has been living in the USA since 1995. She joined the faculty in the Department of Religion at Baylor University in 2007, having taught previously at Bethel University in St. Paul. She is the author of three monographs and a co-editor/contributor of three additional books. She also serves as General Editor of the Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament (BHGNT) Series published by Baylor University Press. She is married to Dr. Ivo Novakovic, who teaches in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core.
Academic Interests and Research
The Gospel of Matthew; the Gospel of John; the Old Testament in the New; the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Jewish writings from the Second Temple period; resurrection belief in Judaism and Christianity.
Current Project: Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary: John. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing.
Professional Activities
General Editor of the Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament (BHGNT) Series, published by Baylor University Press
Member of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS)
Books
Philippians: A Handbook on the Greek Text. Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2020.
John 1-10: A Handbook on the Greek Text. Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2020.
John 11-21: A Handbook on the Greek Text. Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2020.
Resurrection: A Guide for the Perplexed. London/New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016.
Interpretation & the Claims of the Text: Resourcing New Testament Theology. Edited with Jason A. Whitlark, Bruce W. Longenecker, and Mikeal C. Parsons. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2014.
Raised from the Dead According to Scripture: The Role of Israel’s Scripture in the Early Christian Interpretations of Jesus’ Resurrection. Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies Series 12. London/New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2012.
Messiah, the Healer of the Sick: A Study of Jesus as the Son of David in the Gospel of Matthew. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament II/170. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003.
The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations. Vol. 3: Damascus Document II, Some Works of the Torah, and Related Documents. Edited with J. H. Charlesworth, H. W. M. Rietz, J. M. Baumgarten, C. Claussen, D. A. Hume, J. B. F. Miller, S. Pfann, E. Qimron, and L. L. Johns. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations. Vol. 6B: Pesharim, Other Commentaries, and Related Documents. Edited with J. H. Charlesworth, H. W. Rietz, and C. D. Elledge. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck; Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.
Selected Research Articles
“Messianic Interpretation of Israel’s Scripture and the Recognition of Jesus’ Identity in Luke 24.” Essays in Honor of David P. Moessner. Edited by Margaret M. Mitchell, Janet Spittler, and Tobias Nicklas. Novum Testamentum Supplements. Leiden: Brill [forthcoming in 2023].
“It is advantageous for you that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:50): A Reassessment of Caiaphas’s Argument from Expediency.” Review and Expositor (2023): 1-11; DOI: 10.1177/00346373231195634.
“Touching the Risen Jesus: Did Jesus Allow Thomas to Do What He Refused to Mary?” Pages 143-153 in Fountains of Wisdom: In Conversation with James H. Charlesworth. Edited by Gerbern S. Oegema, Henry W. Morisada Rietz, and Loren T. Stuckenbruck. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022.
“Matthew and Paul on Torah Observance: Is Matthew’s Gospel anti-Pauline, pro-Pauline, or un-Pauline?” Pages 104-121 in “To Recover What Has Been Lost”: Essays on Eschatology, Intertextuality, and Reception History in Honor of Dale C. Allison, Jr. Edited by Tucker Ferda, Daniel Frayer-Griggs, and Nathan C. Johnson. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
“The Resurrection of the Saints as a Prolepsis of the Resurrection of Jesus: A Reassessment of Matthew’s Portrayal of the Risen Jesus.” Pages 237-368 in Matthew Within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel. Edited by Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner. Early Christianity and Its Literature Series. Atlanta, SBL Press, 2020.
“The Gospel of Matthew: I. New Testament.” Pages 123-129 in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR), Volume 18. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2020.
“Turning the Other Cheek to a Perpetrator: Renunciation or Upholding of Justice?” Pages 39-55 in Anatomies of the Gospels and Beyond: Essays in Honor of R. Alan Culpepper. Edited by Mikeal C. Parsons, Paul N. Anderson, and Elizabeth Struthers Malbon. Biblical Interpretation Series. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
“Matthew’s Messianization of Mark.” Pages 15-27 in A Temple Not Made with Hands: Essays in Honor of Naymond H. Keathley. Edited by Mikeal C. Parsons and Richard Walsh. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2018.
“The Pesharim” and “Introduction to the Habakkuk Pesher.” Pages 466-480 in vol. 1 of Early Jewish Literature: An Anthology. 2 vols. Edited by Brad Embry, Ronald Herms, and Archie T. Wright. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2018.
"Healing Miracles in Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism.” Pages 481–483 in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR), Volume 11. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2015.
“The God Who Raised Jesus from the Dead: Toward a Theology of Resurrection.” Pages 17–28 and 218–221 in Interpretation & the Claims of the Text: Resourcing New Testament Theology. Edited by Jason A. Whitlark, Bruce W. Longenecker, Lidija Novakovic, and Mikeal C. Parsons. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2014.
“Jesus’ Resurrection and Historiography.” Pages 910–933 in Jesus Research: New Methodologies and Perceptions: The Second Princeton-Prague Symposium on Jesus Research, Princeton 2007. Edited by James H. Charlesworth with Brian Rhea and Petr Pokorný. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2014.
“The Scriptures and Scriptural Interpretation.” Pages 85–101 in The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts. Edited by Joel B. Green and Lee Martin McDonald. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013.
“Jews and Samaritans.” Pages 207–216 in The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts. Edited by Joel B. Green and Lee Martin McDonald. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013.
“Rereading the Past: Memory and Identity in Post-Communist Croatia and the Genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Mathew.” Pages 9–23 in Matthew: Texts @ Contexts. Edited by Nicole Wilkinson Duran and James P. Grimshaw. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013.
“זָכַר zākar.” Pages 840-849 in Theologisches Wörterbuch zu den Qumrantexten. Edited by Heinz-Josef Fabry and Ulrich Dahmen. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2011.
“Miracles in Second Temple and Early Rabbinic Judaism.” Pages 95-112 in The Cambridge Companion to Miracles. Edited by Graham H. Twelftree. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
“‘Yet Even the Dogs Eat the Crumbs that Fall from Their Masters’ Table’: Matthew’s Gospel and Economic Globalization.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 65.1 (2009), Art. #321, 7 pages, DOI: 10.4102/hts.v65i1.321.
“The Decalogue in the New Testament.” Perspectives in Religious Studies 35.4 (2008), 373-386.
“Matthew’s Atomistic Use of Scripture: Messianic Interpretation of Isaiah 53.4 in Matthew 8.17.” Pages 147-162 in Biblical Interpretation in Early Christian Gospels. Volume 2: The Gospel of Matthew, Edited by Thomas R. Hatina. Library of New Testament Studies 310. London: T&T Clark International, 2008.
“4Q521: The Works of the Messiah or the Signs of the Messianic Time?” Pages 208-231 in Qumran Studies: New Approaches, New Questions. Edited by Brent A. Strawn and Michael T. Davis. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2007.
Courses Taught at Baylor
- REL 1310 Christian Scriptures
- REL 3319 Interpreting the New Testament
- REL 3311 Jesus and the Gospels
- REL 4315 Jesus’ Resurrection
- REL 5111 New Testament Colloquium
- REL 5317 Greek Seminar
- REL 5314 Seminar in Johannine Literature
- REL 5311 Old Testament in the New