Powell was Professor of New Testament at
Trinity Lutheran Seminary in
Columbus, Ohio until his retirement in 2018. He is editor of the
HarperCollins Bible Dictionary and author of more than 100 articles and 35 books on the Bible and religion, including a widely used textbook,
Introducing the New Testament (
Baker Academic, 2009; 2nd ed., 2018). Powell has held a number of positions in the academic guild of theological studies. From 1992 to 1996, he served as co-chair of The Matthew Group, a section of the
Society of Biblical Literature devoted to the study of
Matthew's Gospel, and from 2000 to 2006, he served as Chair of The Historical Jesus Section for that same organization. He has also served for many years as editor of the Society of Biblical Literature's dissertation series (Academia Biblica), and he has been on the editorial boards of numerous professional journals, including
Catholic Biblical Quarterly,
Journal of Biblical Literature, and
Word and World. He is one of the founding editors of the
Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus. Powell's primary contributions in the field of biblical/theological studies have been in three areas: the application of modern literary criticism to the Bible, the interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew as a product of
early Christian formation developing out of
Judaism, and the scholarly appraisal of what can be reliably known about Jesus through the application of traditional historical methodology. Powell is best known to many students of religion as the author of a few widely used textbooks. His
Introducing the New Testament (Baker Academic 2009; 2nd. ed., 2018), is designed to serve as a college textbook for survey courses on the
New Testament. It is descriptive in tone, avoiding stands on contentious issues; well illustrated with color reproductions of artwork from various cultures depicting New Testament themes; and is filled with hyperlinks to a website (www.IntroducingNT.com)" offering extensive printable material, including hundreds of supplemental essays and bibliographies. Powell's
What Is Narrative Criticism? (Fortress Press, 1990) is a standard work for introducing students to modern literary criticism and its application to the Gospels. His
Jesus as a Figure in History (Westminster/John Knox, 1998; 2nd ed., 2012) is the standard text for many institutions that feature history courses on Jesus or Christian origins. Another book,
Fortress Introduction to the Gospels (Fortress Press, 1998; 2nd ed. 2020) is often used at a graduate level for courses focusing on the distinctive characteristics and theological messages of the four New Testament Gospels. == Popular Christian writings ==