Philip Esler

Born in Sydney, Australia on 27 August 1952, Esler completed secondary schooling at the then named Marist Brothers High School in the Sydney suburb of Eastwood. He read English, Greek and Law at the University of Sydney (B.A. Hons, LL.B) from 1971 to 1977. During 1977 he also worked as Associate to Mr Justice W. H. Collins of the New South Wales Supreme Court. From 1978 to 1981 he was employed as an articled clerk and solicitor at Allen, Allen and Hemsley, at the same time completing undergraduate Hebrew at Sydney University on a non-degree basis (1978-1980) and undertaking part of an LLM. In 1979 he and four others established National Outlook, an Australian Christian ecumenical monthly magazine devoted to justice and peace issues.{{Cite web |last=DUNCAN |first=Bruce |date=March 2001 |title=In the beginning... the National Outlook story |url=http://www.frbruceduncan.com/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=256&Itemid=29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201143025/http://www.frbruceduncan.com/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=256&Itemid=29 |archive-date=1 February 2014 |access-date=6 May 2013}} In October 1981, Esler went to Magdalen College, Oxford and undertook a D. Phil in New Testament.

At that time the new movement to apply social-scientific ideas and perspectives in biblical interpretation was gaining momentum. Esler adopted this broad approach in his doctorate and applied ideas from the sociology of knowledge and of sectarianism to investigate how social and political factors had affected the way Luke wrote his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Thus, Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s The Social Construction of Reality supplied the idea that Luke was legitimating a new social and religious movement to its members in the late first century AD. Esler’s doctoral thesis was accepted by Oxford in 1984 and a modified version was published by Cambridge University Press in 1987.

In 1984 Esler returned to Sydney, initially as a solicitor at Allen, Allen and Hemsley before being called to the Bar in 1986. He completed his LLM in these years. In 1985 he began teaching New Testament courses on a part-time basis at Sydney University. In 1990 Esler attended a meeting in Portland, Oregon of a group of mainly US biblical critics committed to social-scientific interpretation.Philip F. Esler, "The Context Group Project: An Autobiographical Account", in Mario Aguilar and Louise Lawrence, eds, Anthropology and Biblical Studies: Avenues of Research. Leiden: Deo Publishing, 2004, 46-61. At this meeting those present formally constituted themselves as "The Context Group: A Project for the Study of the Bible in its Socio-Cultural Context".The Context Group Although of diverse interests, all members accepted the importance of Mediterranean anthropology in understanding the context of ancient Greco-Roman world. Esler remains a member of the Context Group and has written on its history and modus operandi.

In 1992 Esler was appointed Reader in New Testament in St Andrews University, becoming Professor of Biblical Criticism there in 1995. At St Andrews Esler initially published research which drew on his initial focus on the sociology of knowledge and of sectarianism and his expanding interests in Mediterranean anthropology, millennialism and magic.Philip F. Esler, The First Christians in Their Social Worlds: Social-Scientific Approaches to New Testament Interpretation (1994) Esler returned to the application of Mediterranean anthropology to biblical texts in Sex, Wives, and Warriors: Reading Biblical Narrative With Its Ancient Audience (2011).{{Cite journal|url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/hls.2011.0017|title=Social-Scientific Methodology and Biblical Interpretation|first=Katherine E.|last=Southwood|date=1 November 2011|journal=Holy Land Studies|volume=10|issue=2|pages=249–253|access-date=1 November 2021|via=Edinburgh University Press Journals|doi=10.3366/hls.2011.0017}} Esler has formulated an approach called ‘archival ethnography’ to assist in the interpretation of the legal papyri from 70 to 200 CE that survive from caves in the Dead Sea region.Philip F. Esler, Babatha’s Orchard: The Yadin Papyri and An Ancient Jewish Family Tale Retold (Oxford: OUP, 2017). In 2018 he applied the anthropology and sociology of gossip to the Book of Ruth in an article in the Journal of Biblical Literature,Philip F. Esler, "‘All That You Have Done … Has Been Fully Told to Me’: The Power of Gossip and the Story of Ruth", Journal of Biblical Literature (2018) 137:645-666 an article that attracted a positive comment in a statement from the outgoing editor of the journal.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15699/jbl.1374.2018.foreword|jstor=10.15699/jbl.1374.2018.foreword|doi=10.15699/jbl.1374.2018.foreword|title=Editor's Foreword: Passing the Torch|year=2018|last1=Adele Reinhartz|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|volume=137|issue=4|pages=785–788}}

In the mid-1990s Esler began using both the social identity theory of social psychologist Henri Tajfel and the approach to ethnic identity of anthropologist Fredrik Barth and these have been prominent in his research since then. In 1996 he published an essay applying social identity theory and Barth’s ideas on ethnicity to Galatians.Philip F. Esler, "Group Boundaries and Intergroup Conflict in Galatians: A New Reading of Gal. 5:13-6:10", in Mark Brett, ed., Ethnicity and the Bible, (Leiden: E J Brill, 1996), 215-240. This was the first published application of social identity theory in New Testament studies.Jack Barentsen, Emerging Leadership in the Pauline Mission: A Social Identity Perspective on Local Leadership Development in Corinth and Ephesus (2011), p. 41. Social identity theory has now become a widely used approach in New Testament interpretation.See Social Identity Approaches to the New Testament, edited by Coleman A. Baker and J. Brian Tucker (London: T & T Clark), now in press.

Esler applied both social identity theory and ideas on ethnicity in Galatians (1998) and Conflict and Identity in Romans (2003). He has recently argued for the need to take seriously the reality of Judean ethnic identity in the ancient Mediterranean world and its asymmetrical relationship to Christ-movement socio-religious identity in the interpretation of New Testament texts.Philip F. Esler, "Judean Ethnic Identity in Josephus’ Against Apion", in A Wandering Galilean: Essays in Honour of Sean Freyne, edited by Zuleika Rodgers with Margaret Daly-Denton and Anne Fitzpatrick McKinley (Leiden: Brill: 2009), 73-91; "Judean Ethnic Identity and the Purpose of Hebrews", in Method & Meaning: Essays on New Testament Interpretation in Honor of Harold A. Attridge, edited by Andrew B. McGowan and Kent Harold Richards (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 469-89; and "Judean Ethnic Identity and the Matthean Jesus", in Jesus: Gestalt und Gestaltungen: FS Für Gerd Theissen, edited by Petra von Gemünden, David G. Horrell, and Max Küchler (NTOA; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013).

Esler also writes on the way that biblical stories have been represented in Western art, including his study of two Rembrandt depictions of Saul and David in 1998.Philip F. Esler, "The Madness of Saul: A Cultural Reading of 1 Samuel 8-31", in Exum, Cheryl J, and Moore, Stephen D, eds. Biblical Studies/Cultural Studies. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998), 220 262. In 2004 he co-authored with artist Jane Boyd a book on the Velázquez painting Christ with Martha and Mary in the National Gallery in London which was covered in The Independent on 18 February 2005 under the heading "Through the looking-glass: how a mirror explains the secrets of a masterpiece" (p. 3). A work Esler co-authored with Ronald A. Piper, Lazarus, Martha and Mary: A Social-Scientific and Theological Reading of John, contains a chapter on the Lazarus frescoes from the early Christian tombs in the Roman catacombs. More recently Esler has contributed a chapter on the biblical paintings of Welsh artist Ivor Williams to Imaging the Bible in Wales 1800-1975 (edited by Martin O’Kane and John Morgan-Guy).

Esler’s understanding of the role of the Arts and Humanities Research Council on his appointment as its chief executive in 2005 appeared in an article in The Guardian.{{cite news |last=Nordling |first=Linda |title=Philip Esler: Think big |newspaper=The Guardian |date=18 October 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/oct/18/highereducationprofile.highereducation |access-date=1 June 2013 |location=London}} His developing views were reflected in the evidence he provided to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology at their introductory meeting with him on 28 February 2007{{cite web |title=Examination of Witnesses (Questions 1-19): Professor Philip Esler |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmsctech/310/7022802.htm |date=28 February 2007 |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=1 June 2013}} While at the AHRC, Esler also chaired the Network Board of HERA: Humanities in the European Research Area, an EU-funded network of national Research Funding Agencies for collaborative research in the humanities.{{Cite web|url=http://archives.esf.org/media-centre/ext-single-news/article/podcast-heras-prof-philip-esler-on-the-1st-european-conference-for-collaborative-humanities-res.html|title=Podcast: HERA's Prof. Philip Esler on the 1st European Conference for Collaborative Humanities Research (ECCHR) : European Science Foundation|website=Archives.esf.org|access-date=1 November 2021}} For much of his last year at the AHRC, Esler was involved in a major project on impact published in 2009 as Leading the World: The Economic Impact of UK Arts and Humanities Research.{{cite web |title=Leading the World {{!}} The economic impact of UK arts and humanities research |url=http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/Publications/Documents/Leading-the-World.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201212747/http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/Publications/Documents/Leading-the-World.pdf |archive-date=1 February 2014 |access-date=2013-05-06 |df=dmy-all}} One of his initiatives in this project was commissioning essays by leading UK arts and humanities researchers on the public value of research in their areas. These were later edited by Jonathan Bate FBA and published in 2010 as The Public Value of the Humanities.{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zukodRN4NEsC&q=Value+of+Humanities+Jonathan+Bate+Esler&pg=PT9 |title = The Public Value of the Humanities|isbn = 9781849660631|last1 = Bate|first1 = Jonathan|date = 27 January 2011}}

While chief executive of the AHRC (2005-2009), Esler chaired the Research Councils UK Knowledge Transfer and Impact project that formulated an approach to impact that was then applied to Research Council grants.{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/aug/13/researchfunding.research | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Philip | last=Esler | title=A new economy for knowledge | date=13 August 2008}} Impact was also later adopted, after some development, by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Esler also brokered a collaborative agreement between all seven UK Research Councils and the Research Funding Agency of the State of São Paulo in Brazil ("FAPESP"). This agreement was signed by him on behalf of the Research Councils and by the president of FAPESP on 15 September 2009.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bv.fapesp.br/namidia/noticia/32170/ahrc-signs-groundbreaking-mou-brazil/ |title=AHRC signs up to groundbreaking MoU with Brazil |access-date=6 May 2013 |archive-date=1 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201144349/http://www.bv.fapesp.br/namidia/noticia/32170/ahrc-signs-groundbreaking-mou-brazil/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://fapesp.br/5340/memorandum-of-understanding-between-the-state-of-sao-paulo-research-foundation-fapesp-and-the-research-councils-of-the-united-kingdom-of-great-britain-and-northern-ireland|title=Memorandum of Understanding between The State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and The Research Councils of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|website=Fapesp.br|access-date=1 November 2021}} This agreement was renewed for a further three years in September 2012{{Cite web|url=http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/media/news/2012news/Pages/120926.aspx|title = UK Research and Innovation|website=Rcuk.ac.uk}}

On 1 October 2010 Esler became principal and professor of Biblical interpretation at St Mary's University College, Twickenham.{{Cite web|url=http://www.smuc.ac.uk/news/2010/056-new-principal.htm|title = News from St Mary's|website=Smuc.ac.uk}} In 2012 St Mary’s was the subject of a QAA report into a degree programme in Clinical Hypnosis provided with a partner institution, a programme that Esler and the Senior Management later closed.{{Cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/421128.article|title = Pendulum stops as St Mary's drops hypnosis|website=Timeshighereducation.co.uk|date = 13 September 2012}}{{cite web |url=http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Newsroom/PressReleases/Pages/Concern-St-Marys-University-College.aspx |title=QAA publishes St Mary's University College (London) investigation findings |access-date=2013-04-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130202080249/http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Newsroom/PressReleases/Pages/Concern-St-Marys-University-College.aspx |archive-date=2 February 2013 |df=dmy-all }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/419611.article|title = Complaints over standards on hypnosis course earn QAA scrutiny|website=Timeshighereducation.co.uk|date = 12 April 2012}} In the same year a number of other issues related to the University College were widely reported in the press: opposition to the decision to merge two academic schools;{{Cite web |url=http://www.thetablet.co.uk/latest-news/4581 |title=The Tablet - Protest at crisis-stricken college |access-date=15 April 2013 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024224407/http://www.thetablet.co.uk/latest-news/4581 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2012/09/25/top-historian-criticises-st-marys-for-grotesque-treatment-of-professor/ |title=Top historian criticises St Mary's for 'grotesque' treatment of professor | CatholicHerald.co.uk |access-date=15 April 2013 |archive-date=9 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209100149/http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2012/09/25/top-historian-criticises-st-marys-for-grotesque-treatment-of-professor/ |url-status=dead }} the unpopularity of the suspension of the head of one of those schools;{{Cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/421270.article|title = Head suspended after theology school protest|website=Timeshighereducation.co.uk|date = 27 September 2012}} protests against the merger and senior management by some theological and other students at the University College and at the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales;{{Cite web|url=http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=21482|title = StackPath|website=Indcatholicnews.com}} the legal proceedings preparatory to commencement of a defamation suit brought by Esler and two other members of staff against the editor of a Catholic news site, Josephine Siedleka (one of the three Catholic Women of the Year in 2012), proceedings from which Esler later withdrew;{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/nov/26/hugh-muir-diary-michael-o-higgins | location=London | newspaper=The Guardian | first=Hugh | last=Muir | title=Diary | date=26 November 2012}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=21489|title = StackPath|website=Indcatholicnews.com}} a vote of no confidence in Esler by the local branch of the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU).{{Cite web |title=Go-ahead for first Catholic universities since Reformation |url=http://thetablet.co.uk/issue/1000338/classifieds |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121204095029/http://www.thetablet.co.uk/issue/1000338/classifieds |archive-date=4 December 2012 |access-date=15 April 2013}}

From 2009 to 2015 Esler was one of fifteen members of the Council of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), one of the oldest learned societies in the US, with members from the US and other countries.

On 22 January 2013 Esler announced that he would step down as Principal of St Mary's on 31 March 2013.

On 1 September 2013 Esler was appointed Portland Chair in New Testament Studies at the University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham, England.{{Cite web|url=https://www.glos.ac.uk/staff/profile/philip-esler/|title=Philip Esler|website=Glos.ac.uk|access-date=1 November 2021}}

Esler's book, Babatha's Orchard: The Yadin Papyri and An Ancient Jewish Family Tale Retold, was published by Oxford University Press, Oxford on 23 February 2017.{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/babathas-orchard-9780198767169?cc=us&lang=en&|isbn = 978-0-19-876716-9|title = Babatha's Orchard: The Yadin Papyri and an Ancient Jewish Family Tale Retold|date = 23 April 2017|publisher = Oxford University Press}} Esler has written articles related to this book for OUP and for Bible and Interpretation.{{Cite web|url=https://blog.oup.com/2017/03/ancient-legal-papyri-jewish-scrolls/|title = Ancient legal papyri bring lost world to life|website=Blog.oup.com|date = March 2017}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2017/03/esl418021.shtml |title=The Bible and Interpretation - Babatha: The Ancient Jewish Woman About Whom We Know Most |access-date=25 March 2017 |archive-date=26 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326051454/http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2017/03/esl418021.shtml |url-status=dead }} The book has been reviewed.{{Cite web|url=https://rossonl.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/babathas-orchard/|title = Babatha's Orchard|website=Rosson1.wordpress.com|date = 13 March 2017}}{{Cite web|url=http://readingreligion.org/books/babathas-orchard|title = Babatha's Orchard |website=Readingreligion.org}} It has also attracted attention in the Jewish and regional press.{{Cite web|url=http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/dead-sea-documents-reveal-ancient-jewish-family-tale/|title = Dead Sea documents reveal 2,000-year-old Jewish family tale|website=Jewishnews.timesofisrael.com}}{{cite web |url=http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/professor-from-university-of-gloucestershire-discovers-ancient-family-tale-from-dead-sea-documents/story-30177129-detail/story.html |title=Gloucestershire's very own Indiana Jones discovers ancient family tale from Dead Sea documents | Gloucestershire Live |access-date=2017-03-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305172157/http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/professor-from-university-of-gloucestershire-discovers-ancient-family-tale-from-dead-sea-documents/story-30177129-detail/story.html |archive-date=5 March 2017 |df=dmy-all }}

In June 2017 The Blessing of Enoch: 1 Enoch and Contemporary Theology, which Esler edited, was published by Cascade Books in Eugene, Oregon. This book inaugurates a new area of theological research.[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blessing-Enoch-Contemporary-Theology/dp/1532614241] {{dead link|date=November 2021}}

In July 2017 Routledge published Esler’s second, enlarged edition of The Early Christian World.{{Cite web|url=https://www.routledge.com/The-Early-Christian-World/Esler/p/book/9781032199344|title=The Early Christian World|website=Routledge & CRC Press|access-date=1 November 2021}} He edited the first edition in 2000.

Esler's monograph, God's Court and Courtiers in the Book of the Watchers: Re-interpreting Heaven in 1 Enoch 1-36, was published in November 2017, with endorsements by John Collins and Loren Stuckenbruck.{{Cite web|url=https://wipfandstock.com/god-s-court-and-courtiers-in-the-book-of-the-watchers.html|title = God's Court and Courtiers in the Book of the Watchers|website=Wipfandstock.com}}

In mid-2019 Esler published Ethiopian Christianity: History, Theology, Practice with Baylor University Press.[https://web.archive.org/web/20250119181015/https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ethiopian-Christianity-History-Theology-Practice/dp/148130674X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=esler+ethiopian&qid=1578165635&sr=8-1]

Since 2015 Esler and his colleague Angus Pryor, practising artist and head of the School of Arts at the University of Gloucestershire, have been engaged in a research collaboration on the ancient Jewish text 1 Enoch (that survived from antiquity only in Ethiopia). This collaboration led to Pryor creating twelve 2m x 2m paintings on 1 Enoch and a large-scale, illuminated model of an Ethiopian church. These works have been exhibited online, with supporting iconographic documentation co-authored by Esler and Pryor, under the title Enoch: Heaven’s Messenger, since July 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bookofenoch2020.com/|title=Book of Enoch | An exhibition of twelve paintings on 1 Enoch and an illuminated model of an Ethiopian church by Angus Pryor|website=Book of Enoch|access-date=1 November 2021}}Philip F. Esler and Angus Pryor (2020) ‘Painting 1 Enoch: Biblical Interpretation, Theology and Artistic Practice’, Biblical Theology Bulletin 50: 136-153.

Esler’s latest monograph, 2 Corinthians: A Social Identity Commentary (420 pages), was published by Bloomsbury T & T Clark in September 2021.{{Cite book |last=Esler |first=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j0c-EAAAQBAJ&q=2+Corinthians:+A+Social+Identity+Commentary |title=2 Corinthians: A Social Identity Commentary |date=2021-09-23 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-66873-8 |language=en}}

• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |title=Community and Gospel in Luke-Acts: The Social and Political Motivations of Lucan Theology |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1987 |isbn=9780511554933 |oclc=967401479 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=The First Christians in Their Social Worlds: Social-Scientific Approaches to New Testament Interpretation |location=London |publisher=Routledge |date=1994 |isbn=9780415111225 |oclc=472779746 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=Galatians |location=London |publisher=Routledge |date=1998 |isbn=9780203319796 |oclc=52080852 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul's Letter |location=Minneapolis, MN |publisher=Fortress Press |date=2003 |isbn=9780800634353 |oclc=53896055 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |author2-last=Boyd |author2-first=Jane |author2-link=Jane Boyd |title=Visuality and Biblical Text: Interpreting Velázquez Christ with Martha and Mary as a Test Case |series=Arte e archeologia |volume=26 |location=Firenze |publisher=Leo S. Olschki |date=2004 |isbn=9788822253699 |oclc=803419566 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=New Testament Theology: Communion and Community |location=Minneapolis, MN |publisher=Fortress Press |date=2005 |isbn=9780800637194 |oclc=58536677 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |author2-last=Piper |author2-first=Ronald A. |author2-link=Ronald A. Piper |title=Lazarus, Martha and Mary: A Social-Scientific and Theological Reading of John |location=Minneapolis, MN |publisher=Augsburg Press |date=2006 |isbn=9780800638306 |oclc=68624004 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=Sex, Wives, and Warriors: Reading Biblical Narrative with Its Ancient Audience |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=James Clarke & Co |date=2011 |isbn=9780227901281 |oclc=44251604 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=Babatha's Orchard: The Yadin Papyri and An Ancient Jewish Family Tale Retold |location=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2017 |isbn=9780198767169 |oclc=994287444 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=God's Court and Courtiers in the Book of the Watchers: Re-interpreting Heaven in 1 Enoch 1-36 |location=Eugene, OR |publisher=Cascade Books |date=2017 |isbn=9781625649089 |oclc=1007062905 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=Ethiopian Christianity: History, Theology, Practice |location=Waco, TX |publisher=Baylor University Press |date=2019 |isbn=9781481306744 }}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=2 Corinthians: A Social Identity Commentary |location=London |publisher=T & T Clark |date=2021 |isbn=9780567668721 }}

• {{cite book|editor1-last=Esler |editor1-first=Philip Francis |editor1-mask=3 |title=Modelling Early Christianity: Social-Scientific Studies of the New Testament in its Context |location=London |publisher=Routledge |date=1995 |isbn=9780415129817

|oclc=31900112 }}

• {{cite book|editor1-last=Esler |editor1-first=Philip Francis |editor1-mask=3 |title=Christianity for the Twenty First Century |location=Edinburgh |publisher=T&T Clark |date=1998 |isbn=9780567086013 |oclc=39533733 }}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Esler |editor1-first=Philip Francis |editor1-mask=3 |title=The Early Christian World: Volume I |location=London |publisher=Routledge |date=2000 |isbn=9780203470626 |oclc=51914862 }}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Esler |editor1-first=Philip Francis |editor1-mask=3 |title=The Early Christian World: Volume II |location=London |publisher=Routledge |date=2000 |isbn=9780415241410 |oclc=42786254 }}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Esler |editor1-first=Philip Francis |editor1-mask=3 |title=Ancient Israel: The Old Testament in Its Social Context |location=Minneapolis, MN |publisher=Fortress Press |date=2005 |isbn=9780800637675 |oclc=60596115 }}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Esler |editor1-first=Philip Francis |editor1-mask=3 |title=The Blessing of Enoch: 1 Enoch and Contemporary Theology |location=Eugene, OR |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |date=2017 |isbn=9781532614255 |oclc=994746214 }}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Esler |editor1-first=Philip Francis |editor1-mask=3 |title=The Early Christian World (in one volume) |edition=Revised 2nd |location=London |publisher=Routledge |date=2017 |isbn=9781351678292 }}

• {{cite book|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |chapter=Poverty and riches in the Bible and the third world |editor1-last=Esler |editor1-first=Philip Francis |title=Christianity for the Twenty First Century |location=Edinburgh |publisher=T&T Clark |date=1998 |isbn=9780567086013 |oclc=39533733 |pages=145–180 }}
• {{cite journal|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=Ezra-Nehemiah as a Narrative of (Re-Invented) Israelite Identity |journal=Biblical Interpretation |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=413–426 |doi=10.1163/156851503322566822 |year=2003 }}
• {{cite journal|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=The Sodom Tradition in Romans 1:18–32 |journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture |year=2004 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=4–16 |doi=10.1177/014610790403400102 |s2cid=143164205 }}
• {{cite journal|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=Paul's Contestation of Israel's (Ethnic) Memory of Abraham in Galatians 3 |journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=23–34 |doi=10.1177/01461079060360010302 |year=2006 }}
• {{cite journal|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=Prototypes, antitypes and social identity in First Clement: outlining a new interpretative model |journal=Annali di Storia dell'esegesi |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=125–146 }}
• {{cite journal|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=Reading Matthew by the Dead Sea: Matthew 8:5-13 in Light of P. Yadin 11 |journal=Hervormde Teologiese Studies |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 }}
• {{cite journal|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=Intergroup Conflict and Matthew 23: Towards Responsible Historical Interpretation of a Challenging Text |journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=38–59 |doi=10.1177/0146107914564824 |url=http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/2543/1/Intergroup%20conflict%20and%20Matthew%2023.pdf |year=2015 |s2cid=143770001 }}
• {{cite journal|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |title=The World of Jesus and the Early Church: Identity and Interpretation in Early Communities of Faith |journal=Journal of Theological Studies |date=8 April 2015 |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=359–362 |doi=10.1093/jts/flu164 |url=http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/3032/ }}
• {{cite journal|author1-last=Esler |author1-first=Philip Francis |author1-mask=3 |author2-last=Mason |author2-first=Steve |author2-link=Steve Mason (biblical scholar) |title=Judaean and Christ-Follower Identities: Grounds for a Distinction |journal=New Testament Studies |volume=63 |issue=4 |pages=493–515 |doi=10.1017/S0028688517000145 |url=http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/4956/1/JUDAEAN%20AND%20CHRIST-FOLLOWER%20IDENTITIES.pdf |year=2017 |hdl=11370/c3909e99-c6ef-4b40-8a63-658edc9abf54 |s2cid=164991368 |hdl-access=free }}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/ AHRC website]
• [http://www.glos.ac.uk/faculties-and-schools/humanities/staff-profiles/pages/s2112332-philip-esler.aspx Professor Esler's academic webpage at University of Gloucestershire]

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