Reuben J. Swanson is Emeritus Professor of Western Carolina University. He is a graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College and Augustana Theological Seminary (now Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago). His S.T.M. and Ph.D. degrees in New Testament Studies are from Yale. He was professor of Biblical Studies at Grand View Seminary and Lenoir Rhyne College, where he was also chairman of the Department of Religion and Philosophy. He has served on the faculties at California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, and St. John's Seminary at Camarillo, California. Dr. Swanson is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and has served parishes in Michigan, Connecticut, Iowa, North Carolina, and California.