Dr. Simon J. Joseph is a scholar of religion, author, and documentary filmmaker. Dr. Joseph is Lecturer in Early Christianity in the Interdepartmental Progam for the Study of Religion at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Joseph also teaches in the Department of Religion at California Lutheran University.
Dr. Joseph holds a Master's degree in Religious Studies from New York University and a Ph.D. in Religion (New Testament) from Claremont Graduate University. He is the author of four books: Jesus, Q, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Nonviolent Messiah, Jesus and the Temple, and Jesus, the Essenes, and Christian Origins.
His work has been published in the Harvard Theological Review, the Journal of Biblical Literature, New Testament Studies, Dead Sea Discoveries, Biblica, the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, Henoch, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, the Journal of Theological Studies, History of Religions, Gnosis, the Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, the Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting, Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, and Method and Theory in the Study of Religion.
Dr. Joseph is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the American Academy of Religion, the Association for Jewish Studies, the Writer's Guild of America, the British New Testament Society, and the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS).
An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Dr. Joseph has written and co-produced two critically acclaimed feature films, Finding God in the City of Angels and Holy Man: The USA vs. Douglas White, narrated by Martin Sheen.
Dr. Joseph is the co-founder of The Mitakuye Foundation, a 501 c 3 non-profit dedicated to empowering Native youth. www.MitakuyeFoundation.com