Background
Silva was born in Havana, Cuba, and has lived in the United States since 1960.
Silva was born in Havana, Cuba, and has lived in the United States since 1960.
University of Manchester.
He has taught biblical studies at Westmont College (1972–1981), Westminster Theological Seminary (1981–1996), and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (1996–2000), where he was the Mary French Rockefeller Distinguished Professor of New Testament until his retirement. He served as a translator of the New American Standard Bible, the New Living Translation (Ephesians–Philemon), the English Standard Version and the Nueva Versión Internacional, and as a New Testament consultant for Eugene Peterson"s The Message. He has also authored or coauthored several books and articles, including a highly acclaimed commentary on Philippians.
Invitation to the Septuagint (with Karen Jobes).
God, Language, and Scripture. Has the Church Misread the Bible?.
And An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics (with Walter Kaiser, Junior). He is editor of the second edition of the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDNTTE), formerly edited by Colin Brown (theologian).
He currently resides in Litchfield, Michigan, where he continues his work as an author and editors
Silva holds degrees from Bob Jones University (Bachelor, 1966), Westminster Theological Seminary (Bachelor's Degree, 1969. Master of Theology, 1971), and the University of Manchester (Doctor of Philosophy, 1972). At Manchester he studied under F. F. Bruce and James Barrister
The latter"s The Semantics of Biblical Language (1961) was a strong influence on Silva"s Biblical Words and Their Meaning (1983, 2nd ed 1994), which challenged many common linguistic fallacies in biblical interpretation.