Nijay’s List of Top NT programs (at the request of a commenter)

Someone asked me how I would ‘rank’ NT programs in my ‘first tier’ category (see essay above: ‘Interested in a NT PhD?’)

This is challenging for many reasons: first, should it be internationally or by country?  Also, what kind of NT program – exegetically focused?  Jewish backgrounds?  Greco-Roman Backgrounds?  ‘New’ Methodologies (post-structuralism, Bhaktian influenced heremeneutics; post-colonialism?)?  Language centered (linguistics; philology)?  These are important factors.  Also, the list would change if professors (or readers/lecturers) moved to another institution.  That having been said.  I will attempt a rough ranking -but, please don’t criticise my list too harshly, it is very subjective.

LIST #1: USA Only (#1 is the highest in rank on my list)

1.  (3-way tie – is that cheating?): Duke Graduate School, Yale Graduate School, Princetion Theological Seminary [notes: I would pick Duke or Princeton for Jewish backgrounds; Yale for Greco-Roman]

2. (2-way tie – not a very helpful list anymore, is it?): Emory Graduate School, University of Notre Dame

3.  Catholic University of America (you don’t have to be catholic to study there)

4. Southern Methodist University

5. University of Chicago

6. Marquette Graduate School

List #2: UK ONLY (I have prioritised those places with Pauline scholars; as for Gospels or ‘other’ it is outside my academic expertise [as far as you can call it that!]).

1. University of Cambridge [Note: though they have lost Bockmuehl and Stanton is retiring, they are gaining Gathercole and Lieu; also, the staff of Tyndale House make Cambridge that much more attractive; IMHO, only Cambridge grads are able to compete with students coming out of Yale, Duke and Princeton]

2. (2-way tie) Oxford University; Durham University 🙂

3. (2-way tie) University of St. Andrews; U. of Sheffield

4. University of Aberdeen (bumped down to fourth since the staff exodus)

5. (2-way tie) University of Edinburgh; King’s College London

6. University of Notthingham

7. University of Gloucestershire

8. University of Exeter

9. University of Manchester

Where would I put Canada’s Univ. of Toronto and McMaster?  I haven’t decided yet.  I don’t know enough about them, I guess.