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Philip Comfort

professor, writer, editor and expert on the Bible

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ25464461 ↗
Source-derived summary

Philip Wesley Comfort (28 October 1950–31 December 2022) was a professor, writer, editor and expert on the Bible who specialized in textual criticism of the New Testament. He served as Professor of Greek and New Testament at Trinity Episcopal Seminary, visiting professor at Wheaton College, and senior Bible reference editor at Tyndale House Publishers.

Education

Comfort studied English, Greek and New Testament literature at Ohio State University and the University of South Africa. He completed his doctorate under the guidance of a prominent textual critic, Jacobus H. Petzer, at the University of South Africa.

Career

Comfort taught classes at a number of colleges, including Wheaton College, Trinity Episcopal Seminary, Columbia International University, and Coastal Carolina University. Prior to his retirement he was a senior editor of Bible reference at Tyndale and served as editor of the New Testament for the New Living Translation. He contributed to various publications and Tyndale collections, both as a writer and editor. Among his works are The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament, The Origin of the Bible, The Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Essential Guide to Bible Versions, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts (with D. Barrett), New Testament Text and Translation Commentary, and Who's Who in Christian History. He also served as General Editor for the multi-volume Cornerstone Biblical Commentary.

Personal life

Comfort lived in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, United States.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Philip Comfort” as professor, writer, editor and expert on the Bible. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Philip, Comfort and professor.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1950, 2022—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1950-10-28. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Philip, Comfort and professor providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Philip Comfort”, the useful work is to connect “professor, writer, editor and expert on the Bible” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q25464461. VIAF identifies the subject as 54322721. The Library of Congress control number is n85161271. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950 and 2022.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Philip Comfort”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Philip Comfort primary sources, Philip Comfort archive and Philip research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Philip Comfort”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Philip Comfort” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.