Tucker Samson Ferda

Dr. Tucker Samson Ferda is the Errett M. Grable Professor of New Testament Exegesis and Early Christianity. He has taught New Testament at PTS since 2013. Dr. Ferda has expertise in a wide range of areas in biblical studies, including the Gospels, the life of Jesus, the Old Testament in the New, the history of biblical interpretation, Hellenistic Jewish literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the theological interpretation of Scripture. Many of these interests intersect in his first book, Jesus, the Gospels, and the Galilean Crisis (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019), published in the Library of New Testament Studies series. His most recent book is Jesus and His Promised Second Coming: Jewish Eschatology and Christian Origins (Eerdmans, 2024). Dr. Ferda ​is a frequent presenter at regional and national SBL meetings, and he has published numerous essays and 20 peer-reviewed articles in top-tier biblical studies journals, including Journal of Biblical Literature, Journal of Theological Studies, New Testament Studies, and Journal for the Study of Judaism, among others. Dr. Ferda earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, where he also served as teaching fellow. In 2015, he was named a Regional Scholar of the Society of Biblical Literature, an award which “recognizes and promotes outstanding entry-level scholars.” Dr. Ferda is a member at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and he frequently leads studies in area churches.

“Jesus of Nazareth, the Mountain of the Lord: Isaiah 2, Messianism, and the ‘Lifted Up’ Christ of the Fourth Gospel.” Novum Testamentum 67 (2025): 458-76.

“Crucifixion as Parodic Parousia: Eschatological Foreshadowing and the Death of Jesus in Mark.” Journal of Biblical Literature 144 (2025): 325-45.

“The Jerusalem Oracle Reconsidered (Matt. 23.37–39): The Grammar of Messianism and the Future Coming of Jesus in Matthew.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 47 (2025): 526-48.

Jesus and His Promised Second Coming: Jewish Eschatology and Christian Origins (Eerdmans, 2024) 

“The Messiah of that Most Mischievous Superstition: Jesus and the Parting of the Ways in the Study of Christian Origins.” Early Christianity 14 (2023): 9-34.

“John the Baptist: Prophet from the Margins,” in Character Studies in the Gospel of Matthew, ed. Craig Evan Anderson and Matthew Ryan Hauge, LNTS (London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2024)

Co-editor with Daniel Frayer-Griggs and Nathan C. Johnson. “To Recover What Has Been Lost”: Essays on Eschatology, Intertextuality, and Reception History in Honor of Dale C. Allison Jr. Novum Testamentum Supplements Series 183. Leiden: Brill, 2021.

“Doubling Down: Zechariah’s Oracle, Judah’s Blessing, and the Triumphal Entry in Matthew,” Journal of Theological Studies 71 (2020): 1-27

“The Ending of Mark and the Faithfulness of God: An Apocalyptic Resolution to the Gospel of Mark,” Journal of Theological Interpretation 13 (2019): 36-52.

“Flesh from Heaven: The Text of John 6:52 and its Intertext.” New Testament Studies 65 (2019): 371-87.

“Between Text and Sermon: Matthew 21:1-11,” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 73.3 (2019): 294-96.

Jesus, the Gospels, and the Galilean Crisis, Library of New Testament Studies 601 (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2018)

“Jesus and the Law: The Form of His Activity and the Impact of Social Reputation.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 80 (2018): 62-80.