Education
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, B.S.
Westminster Theological Seminary in California, MDiv
University of Edinburgh, Ph.D.
About Dr. Kruger
Dr. Michael J. Kruger serves as the President and Samuel C. Patterson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Charlotte campus of Reformed Theological Seminary.
He earned his Ph.D. under one of the world’s leading text-critical scholars, Larry W. Hurtado, at the University of Edinburgh, where he researched a parchment fragment of an apocryphal gospel, P.Oxy. 840. He graduated summa cum laude with a M.Div. from Westminster Seminary California, and received his B.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Since his appointment to the presidency in 2013, RTS Charlotte has experienced record growth in student enrollment, annual fundraising, and campus development. Under Dr. Kruger’s leadership, RTS Charlotte has launched the Center for Campus Ministry, the Center for Church Planting, and a new master’s degree in Christian counseling. In addition to his duties as president, Dr. Kruger has served on the faculty of the Charlotte campus since 2002. He is one of the leading scholars today in the study of the origins of the New Testament, particularly the development of the New Testament canon.
He is the author of thirteen books, including Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church (Zondervan, 2022), which won the 2022 “Book of the Year” award from The Gospel Coalition for the ministry category. His book Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College (Crossway, 2021), was awarded 2021 “Book of the Year” by the Southwestern Baptist Journal of Theology for the category of Worldview/Apologetics, and Christianity at the Crossroads: How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church (SPCK, 2017; IVP Academic, 2018) was awarded 2018 “Book of the Year” by The Gospel Coalition in the category of history and biography.
Other publications include The Gospel of the Savior (Brill, 2005), The Heresy of Orthodoxy (Crossway, 2010, with Andreas Köstenberger), Canon Revisited (Crossway, 2012), and The Question of Canon (IVP Academic, 2013). He is also the editor of and contributor to A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament (Crossway, 2016) and co-editor of The Early Text of the New Testament (Oxford, 2012) and Gospel Fragments (Oxford, 2009).
Beyond his work at the Charlotte campus, Dr. Kruger has served as president of the Evangelical Theological Society (2019), the largest society of evangelical scholars in the world, where he is also the co-founder of the New Testament Canon, Textual Criticism, and Apocryphal Literature study section. In addition, he is on the editorial board of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Bulletin for Biblical Research. He is also a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Institute for Biblical Research, the American Academy of Religion, and the Society for New Testament Studies (Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas). During his 2009-2010 research sabbatical, he was a visiting scholar at St. Edmund’s College and Tyndale House at Cambridge University, England. In 2023, he was named one of the inaugural fellows for the Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics.
Dr. Kruger regularly speaks, lectures, and teaches throughout the United States and the world—including conferences such as The Gospel Coalition and the Ligonier Conference. In addition to his academic publications, his popular-level articles have appeared in places like Modern Reformation, Tabletalk Magazine, The Gospel Coalition, and the Wall Street Journal. He also blogs regularly on his own website, Canon Fodder.
He is married to Melissa Kruger, Vice President of Discipleship Programming for The Gospel Coalition and author of numerous books, including Growing Together: Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests (Crossway, 2020). They have three children, Emma, John, and Kate.
Publications
BOOKS
- Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church (Zondervan, 2022)
- 5 Things to Pray for Your Spouse: Prayers That Change and Strengthen Your Marriage (The Good Book Company, 2022)
- Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College (Crossway, 2021)
- Hebrews For You: Giving You An Anchor for the Soul (The Good Book Company, 2021)
- The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity (Cruciform Quick, 2019)
- Christianity at the Crossroads: How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church (SPCK, 2017; IVP Academic, 2018)
- A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament (Crossway, 2016)
- The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate (IVP Academic, 2013)
- Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books (Crossway, 2012)
- The Early Text of the New Testament (co-authored, Oxford University Press, 2012)
- The Heresy of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture’s Fascination with Diversity has Reshaped Our Understanding of Early Christianity (co-authored, Crossway, 2010)
- Gospel Fragments (co-authored, Oxford University Press, 2009)
- The Gospel of the Savior (E.J. Brill, 2005)
SELECT ARTICLES
- “The New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers,” in Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies (ALNTS), Vol 4: The Apostolic Fathers, ed. Paul Foster (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, forthcoming).
- “Inspiration and the Formation of the New Testament Canon,” in The New Testament Canon in Contemporary Research, eds. Stanley E. Porter and Benjamin Laird (Leiden: E.J. Brill, forthcoming).
- “Miniature Codices in Early Christianity,” in Paratextual Features in Early New Testament Papyri and Manuscripts, eds. Stanley E. Porter, Chris S. Stevens, and David I. Yoon (TENT 15 ; Leiden: E.J. Brill, forthcoming).
- “Covenant in the Gospels,” in Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives, eds. Guy Prentiss Waters, J. Nicholas Reid, and John R. Muether (Crossway, 2020), 211-226.
- “2 Peter 3:2, the Apostolate, and a Bi-Covenantal Canon,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 63 (2020): 5-24.
- “The Origin and Authority of the Biblical Canon” in the ESV Systematic Theology Study Bible, eds. Christopher Morgan, Robert Peterson and Stephen J. Wellum (Crossway, 2017), 1639-1642.
- “Lessons Learned from the Church of the Second Century,” Expository Times 128 (2017): 467.
- “First Timothy 5:18 and Early Canon Consciousness: Reconsidering a Problematic Text,” in The Language and Literature of the New Testament: Essays in Honor of Stanley E. Porter’s 60th Birthday, eds. Lois K. Fuller Dow, Craig Evans, and Andrew W. Pitts (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2016), 680-700.
- “The Reception of the Book of Revelation in the Early Church,” in Book of Seven Seals: The Peculiarity of Revelation, Its Manuscripts, Attestation and Transmission, ed. Thomas Kraus and Michael Sommer (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016), p. 159-174.
- “Inerrancy, Canonicity, Preservation and Textual Criticism,” in The Inerrant Word: Biblical, Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspectives, ed. John MacArthur (Crossway, 2016), 304-316.
- “Heresy: New Testament” in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015), vol. 11, 845-848.
- “New Testament Textual Criticism,” in The Reformation Study Bible, R.C. Sproul, ed. (Reformation Trust, 2015), 2369-2371.
- “Origen’s List of New Testament Books in Hom. Josh. 7.1: A Fresh Look,” in Chris Keith and Deiter T. Roth, eds., Mark, Manuscripts, and Monotheism: Essays in Honor of Larry W. Hurtado (T&T Clark, 2014), 99-117.
- “A Roundtable Discussion with Michael Licona on The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach,” Southeastern Theological Review 3 (2012): 71-98.
- “The Definition of the Term ‘Canon’: Exclusive or Multi-Dimensional?,” Tyndale Bulletin 63 (2012): 1-20.
- “Deconstructing Canon: Recent Challenges to the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Writings,” in Did God Really Say?, ed. David B. Garner (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2012), 49-70.
- “The Date and Content of P. Antinoopolis 12 (0232),” New Testament Studies 58 (2012): 254-271.
- “Early Christian Attitudes Towards the Reproduction of Texts,” in The Early Text of the New Testament, eds. Charles E. Hill and Michael J. Kruger (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 63-80.
- “Manuscripts, Scribes, and Book Production within Early Christianity,” in Christian Origins and Classical Culture: Social and Literary Contexts for the New Testament, eds. Stanley E. Porter and Andrew W. Pitts (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2012), 15-40.
- “Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840” in The Non-Canonical Gospels, ed. Paul Foster (London: Continuum/T&T Clark, 2008), 151-162.
- “Bridging the Gap Between New Testament and Textual Criticism: The Legacy of T.C. Skeat,” The Expository Times 116 (2005): 374-376.
- “P.Oxy. 840: Amulet or Miniature Codex?” Journal of Theological Studies 53 (2002): 81- 94.
- “The Sufficiency of Scripture in Apologetics” The Master’s Seminary Journal 12 (2001): 69-87.
- “The Authenticity of Second Peter,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 42 (1999): 645-671.